Flashing Fish

[Ericka Ketchum]

Hello, 

I have a highly planted community tank. It has been established for 9 months. Water parameters are stable at:

Ph 7.6- 7.8
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 30-40

Hardness hard 300+

Buffer high

Temp 75 degrees

I change roughly 15 to 20% water every 2- 3 weeks or so, testing water with aquarium coop multi strips and Api master test kit (for comparisons) weekly. 

About two months ago, I noticed a fish flashing repeatedly a few times every hour, a few days later more fish started. After researching a bit, I figured it was flukes so I treated with paracleanse. The issue went away for a couple weeks, then slowly returned. I read I may have to treat 2- 3 rounds, so I treated a second round with paracleanse. Issue resolved for a week, then some flashing started again. I waited the two week period from the last dose and treated a third time with paracleanse. Today was day 5 of the treatment, and I just did the 15% water change. A few fish were already flashing, and some were flashing throughout this last treatment. 

Is this not flukes? What else could it be? If it is flukes, is there a stronger treatment? There are zero visual issues or signs of disease. I also have shrimp, snails, and scaleless fish, so it needs to be safe for all.

Also, not sure if it matters but, after the 2nd round of paracleanse, my betta had a tear in his fin, so I treated with maracyn. Since I had just treated with paracleanse, I'm not sure it had an effect on the flashing since it came back anyway.

[nabokovfan87]

What fish?  pH can cause flashing.

On 1/28/2024 at 9:41 PM, Ericka Ketchum said:

I also have shrimp, snails, and scaleless fish, so it needs to be safe for all.

A lot of loaches could flash when they get into higher pH like that.  Is it loaches?

Lastly, can you test gh, kh, and ph in the tank and your tap water?  Maybe they just cleaned the pipes as well and that caused some issues?

Edited January 29 by nabokovfan87

[Ericka Ketchum]

On 1/28/2024 at 10:01 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

What fish?  pH can cause flashing.

A lot of loaches could flash when they get into higher pH like that.  Is it loaches?

Lastly, can you test gh, kh, and ph in the tank and your tap water?  Maybe they just cleaned the pipes as well and that caused some issues?

I tested my tap when I started the tank, as well as every few months. The tap water has not changed.

They all used to be in ph 8.0- 8.2 with no issues, when I started the tank. I rescaped my tank with fluval stratum 4 months ago, which brought the ph down. 

The gh, kh and ph have stayed the same (noted above) since I rescaped. Before I rescaped, the only difference was the ph was higher, but they all did well.

I have a betta, honey gourami, neon tetras, porkchop rasboras, a siamese algae eater, a hillstream loach, wood shrimp and snails. The loach is the one I see it doing the least.

[nabokovfan87]

On 1/28/2024 at 10:25 PM, Ericka Ketchum said:

fluval stratum 4 months ago

I would imagine that active substrate helps the fish in the tank a bit.  Betta, hillstream, SAE, rasboras, all like the closer to 7.0 or below pH.  It's not a hard and fast rule because a lot of fish are aquarium raised and have various conditions they've been adapted to.  There are a lot of the fish that you have that are hillstream/river species or part of the cypranidae family of fish.  Hopefully that helps a bit when you're looking for signs of stress or causes for issues.  Generally speaking, cypranidae would like 7.0ish water (usually the high range I see is around 7.4 or 7.6).  The general thing here I'm trying to get across though apart from PH is just the environment, stress, and things like temperature/pH playing a role.  As temps go up, that means that stress increases.  I understand that the temp is higher for the betta, but the other fish would likely do better cooler.  It increases the oxygen in the water for them.  Higher temps increases their metabolism and reduces their lifespan.

Moving the betta to it's own tank might be helpful on the temp side of things and allow you to drop it below 78 degrees. 

Any sort of video or photos of the fish would help.  Maybe someone else can gleam something from the setup notes, test results, and the photos.  Fingers crossed things improve for you and the fish return to normal.

Edited January 29 by nabokovfan87