1 of 6 goldfish rubbing belly in gravel

[MaggstAa]

I have 6 male goldfish + a CAE and two snails in a 50 gallon aquarium, and the past week or so only one of them has been continuously rubbing his belly in the gravel and at times hangs out near the bottom of the tank with his belly hovering over the gravel. Otherwise behavior is normal (eating/swimming normally), and he is the only one in the entire tank doing this. Water levels are pristine, and I've taken a good look and can't find any signs of ich or other parasites I've seen in the past. Also I figured that if it was something in the water then they all would have it? All of them are males and have been heavily in breeding mode (thus why I had to remove the females months ago and put them in a separate tank), idk if that is relevant or not. Should I be concerned or is he just going through a phase?..


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[Delapool]

One for the experts

Is he making a depression in the gravel or anything? Also is it right on the belly and not the fins or anus?

 

[MaggstAa]

Right on the belly, and I haven't really taken notice as to if he's making an impression in the gravel or not. Any ideas?


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[Delapool]

I'm out unfortunately. I've seen flashing on the gills after feeding or flicking possibly from filter wool in water but that is a new one.

I did wonder if some sort of nesting thing but really stretching. Hopefully someone can chime in.

 

[absolutangel04]

In general, that sort of behavior indicates a fish showing discomfort. I believe you when you say that your water is pristine, but would you be able to go through your basic water parameters anyways, including things like temperature please? Also, any additional history of the tank like time set up would be helpful too like how long has it been set up and how long have the fish been in it? Anything new recently?
You said you see no signs of ich, but it is possible that fish has an internal problem going on that you don't see. Unfortunately, that rubbing is a pretty common symptom for a myriad of possible parasites, fungus, bacteria, infection, or other irritants. If you have a quarantine tank (or a bucket or tote) you can set up, I would suggest removing him from the tank for observation for a bit to see if anything changes.

 

[MaggstAa]

Water levels as of a couple days ago:
Nitrate/nitrite 0
Carbonate hardness 6
pH 7.0
Chlorine 0

We just moved to a new apartment so I re- set up the tank about a month ago, which included (prior to putting the fish back in the tank of course), pressure washing the tank and the gravel.

Aside from the belly rubbing, his behavior is still otherwise normal and still none of the other fish are doing it. Strange...


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[Delapool]

Is it better or worse that he is doing it at any stage eg after feeding, water change, filters on/off?

 

[MaggstAa]

Well after you mentioned it, I do notice now that he is making impressions in the gravel, so much so that the gravel is wavy. There's no pattern with when he does it, also no changes in behavior and no signs of the other fish doing it as well. He also picks up a lot of gravel in his mouth and spits it back out (they all do a little bit but he does it excessively). What was that nesting thing you mentioned? Sounds maybe plausible...


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[Delapool]

It was a bit of a long shot that one.

Nitrates were a bit odd at 0. I was wondering if you have ammonia reading at all? Also if tested with a solution / vial kit? The cardboard test strips can read wrong for both aquarium and pool tests (least ways the ones in Australia anyways).

 

[bracey87]

I think they do it for fun to be honest I have a comet goldfish and a oranda fancy goldfish in a 120l long and they like to do it in one certain corner of the tank if parameters check out and the fish seems happy I wouldn't think to much of it unless that changes of course and I did have a mirror carp in the tank at one point and he used to love rubbing herself up everything they even do it in the wild lakes, rivers etc when they spawn they like to rub up the reeds etc just a thought hope this helps

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