Guppies rubbing on surfaces?

[Mustangman11224]

Hey all... I recently moved all my fish from

My ten gal to my 36 gal... The water was just getting too toxic too fast... They have been in the 36 gal for about 9 hrs and when I got home from work I noticed my guppies are rubbing them selfs against the surface of my fake skull that's in there... I have never seen them do this... Is it normal? Thanks for the help
Dan

 

[armymp327]

that rubbing could be because of the change in tanks, do to changes in PH, Temp, or the fact they went from a dirty to a clean tank all of a sudden, id give it a day or two, and if they are still rubbing on things then it could mean some type of parasite.

Some of my fish will rub on things in the tank right after a water change, but it goes away the next day.

 

[Mustangman11224]

Ok thank you so much for the help I'll keep an eye on them...

 

[Mustangman11224]

Ok well it's been a couple days and I still see them rubbing on plants... Drift wood... Idk what it could be... It's not all the time just every once and a while.... I tested my water and the only thing that's high is my ph which is above 7.6 ... There's no white spots on any of them, there find and skin is all clear... Any ideas
Thanks for the help
Dan

 

[armymp327]

could be internal parasites? not really sure

 

[Mustangman11224]

Ugg I really hope not... They only started doing this when I moved them from my ten gal to my 36 gal.... Which had never had fish in it before, but was just about to finish its cycle.

 

[Fishanatic]

Ugg I really hope not... They only started doing this when I moved them from my ten gal to my 36 gal.... Which had never had fish in it before, but was just about to finish its cycle.

I'm afraid this sounds like parasites. I would take a close look at them and look if you can see anything on them.

 

[Mustangman11224]

I just looked at them and I shined a bright led light on them, but I really can't see anything... There very active and there very colorful and not pale or look sick... But I still Can't see what there trying to rub off... there skin is so clear.... Should I add some more stress coat to the water??? I have been testing all my parameters, would high ph do this... I have alot of driftwood in my tank would that cause anything... are they going to get sick now... They always eat alot... I feed them tetra color tropical flakes... Should I feed them something els?

 

[bennyrw]

Unfortunately I think you have some kind of parasite. I would step up water changes and vacumes of substrate and keep an eye out for white spots or clear stringy poos.
Depending on what other fish you have but you want to add some aquarium salt to the tank as guppies can handle a bit of salt just to help kill of any potential parasites.

 

[Mustangman11224]

I have 5 guppies 3 neon tetra and 1 pleco... Will they be ok with the salt as well ? And ok I'll do more water changes... Should I get a uv sterilizer to help get rid of it?

 

[Westoxonfish]

How big is your Pleco at the moment? I'm just wondering because I had 3 which were sold to means were all about an inch long. Cute you may think, but about a year later I had 3 monsters in my tank that were highly destructive. Sadly I had to rehome mine but my tank would of been ruined had I kept them

 

[bennyrw]

I'm pretty sure plecos aren't to fond of salt but if you add small amounts gradually (1 or 2 tea spoons per wc i) they should be fine but I haven't kept plecos so maybe get a second opinion on that, I have treated my tank with salt that has corys in there and they handled it for the short period of ich that broke out.
The uv steriliser definitely won't hurt your tank and will help keep parasites down but I wouldn't be buying one just for this unless money isn't a problem.

 

[bennyrw]

You could also try chems if the wc and/or salt doesn't work. I've used one called melafix which worked pretty well but for me chems are last resort.

 

[Mustangman11224]

Ok thanks everyone ill double check the salt for the pleco? And try that And hopefully that will work.... Otherwise I'll try the chems last if I have to use them.

 

[bshenanagins]

What your referring to is "flashing." How often do you do WC's? High nitrates will cause them to do this also. Medication is the last resort so check EVERYTHING else first.

 

[Mustangman11224]

Hmm... Maybe it's the food I'm putting in the tank for the plants.... Whenever I add the food I get a nitrate boost of about 20ppm I do a 25% water change every 2-3 days... When I get done with work today... I will do a full test again with the API test kit And I'll post all the results...

 

[Spanky]

get some quick cure use for 3 days then do 25% water change that'll cure anything guppies get i used that for years no issues. if still rubbing do another 3 days then another wc after that it should definetly have cured what ever happened