Scrapes on my fishy :(

[jrevoman]

I just noticed my zebra dartfish has very minor scrapes on one side, he does this thing where he like dive bombs into the sand on the bottom of the tank, he does it all the time and i never really thought anything of it. However most of the front of the tank where he does it has small rocks/gravel that slowly accumulated, so i think this is whats scraping him. Is this behavior normal? Is he trying to tell me something i need to do for him? And should i try and like rake the sand to get some finer stuff on the top? He has a scrape on his other side too, but thats because he got in a scuffle when he swam into my YWG’s cave and i think hit some rocks on his mad dash outta there lol

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I just noticed my zebra dartfish has very minor scrapes on one side, he does this thing where he like dive bombs into the sand on the bottom of the tank, he does it all the time and i never really thought anything of it. However most of the front of the tank where he does it has small rocks/gravel that slowly accumulated, so i think this is whats scraping him. Is this behavior normal? Is he trying to tell me something i need to do for him? And should i try and like rake the sand to get some finer stuff on the top? He has a scrape on his other side too, but thats because he got in a scuffle when he swam into my YWG’s cave and i think hit some rocks on his mad dash outta there lol

Think of it this way - dartfish in the ocean live all around rocks and sand, but they don't get scraped up. The dive bombing you are seeing is the fish trying to get parasitic flukes off of its skin.

If you post a video of it scratching, I can tell you better, but you may need to treat your tank for flukes. Praziquantel / Prazipro is reef safe.

Jay

 

[jrevoman]

Sorry i should also add that he shows no signs of flukes or ich, and seems happy, he’s as active as ever and eating normally
Edit: just saw your response

 

[jrevoman]

Think of it this way - dartfish in the ocean live all around rocks and sand, but they don't get scraped up. The dive bombing you are seeing is the fish trying to get parasitic flukes off of its skin.

If you post a video of it scratching, I can tell you better, but you may need to treat your tank for flukes. Praziquantel / Prazipro is reef safe.

Jay

Thank you for the super fast response, im heading into work now but will try and get a video asap, he’ll probably be asleep when i get home tonight

 

[jrevoman]

Think of it this way - dartfish in the ocean live all around rocks and sand, but they don't get scraped up. The dive bombing you are seeing is the fish trying to get parasitic flukes off of its skin.

If you post a video of it scratching, I can tell you better, but you may need to treat your tank for flukes. Praziquantel / Prazipro is reef safe.

Jay

I hope these video files work, but i think something happened today, i was at the shedd aquarium all day so I didn’t get to monitor them at all, but i fed them when i got home and took these videos during the feeding. However my YWG, who i thought had established himself as the tank boss, he was always front and center, always eager to feed and peeking out of his cave looking for intruders 24/7 was nowhere to be found. He didn’t come out for food at all, and that scuffle i mentioned between the two fish happened literally when i was typing out the original post, and tonight i saw the dartfish swim through the YWG’s cave several times with no problem. I saw him peek out of the back of his cave so i know he is alive, but i wonder what happened. Anyway I’m planning on going to the fish store tomorrow to get that medicine you mentioned.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I hope these video files work, but i think something happened today, i was at the shedd aquarium all day so I didn’t get to monitor them at all, but i fed them when i got home and took these videos during the feeding. However my YWG, who i thought had established himself as the tank boss, he was always front and center, always eager to feed and peeking out of his cave looking for intruders 24/7 was nowhere to be found. He didn’t come out for food at all, and that scuffle i mentioned between the two fish happened literally when i was typing out the original post, and tonight i saw the dartfish swim through the YWG’s cave several times with no problem. I saw him peek out of the back of his cave so i know he is alive, but i wonder what happened. Anyway I’m planning on going to the fish store tomorrow to get that medicine you mentioned.

That seems to be a reaction to gill flukes. I think you need to treat the tank with Prazipro, two times, 8 days apart with really good aeration. Remove all carbon filtration material and if you have a skimmer, continue to run it, but don't collect any of the skimmate.

Jay


Jay

 

[jrevoman]

That seems to be a reaction to gill flukes. I think you need to treat the tank with Prazipro, two times, 8 days apart with really good aeration. Remove all carbon filtration material and if you have a skimmer, continue to run it, but don't collect any of the skimmate.

Jay


Jay

Got it thank you so much Jay, you truly are doing gods work. Reason i said at first I didn’t think it was flukes was because i thought they were pretty visible on the skin, but I’ll do more research into illnesses for sure.

 

[jrevoman]

Okay so I did the first dose, a teaspoon of prazipro after doing a 20% water change, and i just have a couple questions. First is i noticed the new salt water i got from the lfs was cloudy after about the first two gallons i put in, i think thats normal because they add things to help reef tanks in it, but i think ive never seen it before because i usually go get the new water right after i do a water change, which means it sits for like a week before i actually go to use it. This time i just got the water, and also it became more cloudy after i put in the prazipro which makes sense. I’ll test the prameters either later tonight or tomorrow, but i tested them just a few days ago and everything looked good, no nitrates or ammonia.
Second is simply do i feed the same? I feed a small tablet of frozen everyday, just wanted to make sure i dont need to worry about it affecting the medicine at all.
I took the activated carbon and the small foam piece out of the filter, i also only filled to about an inch below the filter, to allow the water to drop further and increase aeration.
After the second dose in 8 days, how long should i wait before putting the filter and water level back to normal?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Okay so I did the first dose, a teaspoon of prazipro after doing a 20% water change, and i just have a couple questions. First is i noticed the new salt water i got from the lfs was cloudy after about the first two gallons i put in, i think thats normal because they add things to help reef tanks in it, but i think ive never seen it before because i usually go get the new water right after i do a water change, which means it sits for like a week before i actually go to use it. This time i just got the water, and also it became more cloudy after i put in the prazipro which makes sense. I’ll test the prameters either later tonight or tomorrow, but i tested them just a few days ago and everything looked good, no nitrates or ammonia.
Second is simply do i feed the same? I feed a small tablet of frozen everyday, just wanted to make sure i dont need to worry about it affecting the medicine at all.
I took the activated carbon and the small foam piece out of the filter, i also only filled to about an inch below the filter, to allow the water to drop further and increase aeration.
After the second dose in 8 days, how long should i wait before putting the filter and water level back to normal?

A couple of things - you need to still run the foam in the filter, you should only remove the carbon. Then, I don't think the tank has good enough aeration, that's why I stressed good aeration, water falling back into the tank from a HOB filter usually isn't enough. I use an air stone and an air pump.

You should feed as normal. Don't overfeed though - the animals should eat the food you added and not leave it in the tank.

Jay

 

[jrevoman]

A couple of things - you need to still run the foam in the filter, you should only remove the carbon. Then, I don't think the tank has good enough aeration, that's why I stressed good aeration, water falling back into the tank from a HOB filter usually isn't enough. I use an air stone and an air pump.

You should feed as normal. Don't overfeed though - the animals should eat the food you added and not leave it in the tank.

Jay

Ok got the air pump and air stone in, buried the stone under the sand and its been running for maybe five minutes now, is this many bubbles normal? Also was it a mistake to put the stone right under the filter?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Ok got the air pump and air stone in, buried the stone under the sand and its been running for maybe five minutes now, is this many bubbles normal? Also was it a mistake to put the stone right under the filter?

That is a LOT of bubbles - you can turn it down a bit, and make sure the bubbles don't get sucked up into your HOB filter.

Jay

 

[jrevoman]

That is a LOT of bubbles - you can turn it down a bit, and make sure the bubbles don't get sucked up into your HOB filter.

Jay

Yeah, going to buy a control valve in a couple hours here when the shop opens, once again did not realize that is a necessity. Thank you for helping me through this

 

[jrevoman]

That is a LOT of bubbles - you can turn it down a bit, and make sure the bubbles don't get sucked up into your HOB filter.

Jay

Okay so I got the control valve, this is about as closed as I can get it, I can open it little more but I'm wondering if this is good enough? I got really freaked out yesterday after it was on full blast, I only had it on for a few minutes and after I turned it off I noticed there were actually air bubbles inside my cleaner shrimp, he was like pulling them out of himself and I felt so bad.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Okay so I got the control valve, this is about as closed as I can get it, I can open it little more but I'm wondering if this is good enough? I got really freaked out yesterday after it was on full blast, I only had it on for a few minutes and after I turned it off I noticed there were actually air bubbles inside my cleaner shrimp, he was like pulling them out of himself and I felt so bad.

A little higher would be better, but this will help! The idea is to have bubbles breaking the surface of the water, as well as bubbles going up the entire water column.

Jay

 

[jrevoman]

A little higher would be better, but this will help! The idea is to have bubbles breaking the surface of the water, as well as bubbles going up the entire water column.

Jay

Okay so I’m still dealing with the flukes, i did the second treatment on Friday, 8 days after the first, the airstone is working beautiful now, turns out all the bubbles were because it was under the filter. But the problem seems to be getting worse, my dartfish is constantly just diving into the sand when he isn’t in his rock. One night i got home and my YWG was like halfway up the glass just pressed against it swimming, after i turned the lights on i could see he was just covered in them. I was able to net him and do a freshwater dip and sure enough all the flukes came off and he has seemed fine since then, but i have no hopes of netting the dartfish, if i even go from sitting in front of the tank to standing he’s gone in an instant. Maybe it wasn’t effective because it didn’t have good aeration for the first few days? But even the day after i treated it he was still doing the scratching.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Okay so I’m still dealing with the flukes, i did the second treatment on Friday, 8 days after the first, the airstone is working beautiful now, turns out all the bubbles were because it was under the filter. But the problem seems to be getting worse, my dartfish is constantly just diving into the sand when he isn’t in his rock. One night i got home and my YWG was like halfway up the glass just pressed against it swimming, after i turned the lights on i could see he was just covered in them. I was able to net him and do a freshwater dip and sure enough all the flukes came off and he has seemed fine since then, but i have no hopes of netting the dartfish, if i even go from sitting in front of the tank to standing he’s gone in an instant. Maybe it wasn’t effective because it didn’t have good aeration for the first few days? But even the day after i treated it he was still doing the scratching.

So, what was your YWG covered in? Could it have been bubbles? You can't see live flukes on a fish, only when they are dying. You can see the damage that flukes do, but just not the flukes themselves.

Sorry - I don't know what else could make the dartfish scratch other than flukes. Prazi doesn't always work to clear flukes 100% (they sometimes come back) but if dosed correctly, it always gives relief for a time. I'm stumped at what else it could be. Can you post another video?

Jay

 

[Asagi]

Mods can we move this to the emergency forum?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

It's in the correct forum, we've been working on this case for about two weeks now.

Jay

 

[jrevoman]

So, what was your YWG covered in? Could it have been bubbles? You can't see live flukes on a fish, only when they are dying. You can see the damage that flukes do, but just not the flukes themselves.

Sorry - I don't know what else could make the dartfish scratch other than flukes. Prazi doesn't always work to clear flukes 100% (they sometimes come back) but if dosed correctly, it always gives relief for a time. I'm stumped at what else it could be. Can you post another video?

Jay

So, what was your YWG covered in? Could it have been bubbles? You can't see live flukes on a fish, only when they are dying. You can see the damage that flukes do, but just not the flukes themselves.

Sorry - I don't know what else could make the dartfish scratch other than flukes. Prazi doesn't always work to clear flukes 100% (they sometimes come back) but if dosed correctly, it always gives relief for a time. I'm stumped at what else it could be. Can you post another video?

Jay

It wasnt bubbles, it was just tiny white specks, kind of drifting in the current, and after i did the fresh water dip they were all gone. He seemed extremely stressed, darting all around the front of the tank, thats the only reason i was able to net him. After the dip he didnt have any more specks on him and went right back into his cave and has seemed fine since. Heres a short video i took of that when i got home and saw it.

As for the dartfish, here is some more videos as well as the airstone, just to make sure its working properly. I just tested all the parameters, 0 nitrates, 0 phosphates, kh and calcium are good, salinity is .026 and i should also add i’ve done 20% water changes before each dose of prazipro. I’ll do another dose 8 days after the last.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

The fish look good except for the dart fish’s flashing. In rare instances, flashing can be behavioral, but I’ve seen that mostly in wrasses and sometimes tangs - not this species.
I guess just run the second dose, and check your dose to ensure it is correct.

Jay