Texas cichlid flashing alot. Every 5 minutes.

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
sealife

sealife

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Aug 7, 2013
Messages
739
Location
Australia.
No sign of white spots at all. Still swims like normal. But so itchy. Always scratching on rocks and gravel. Could it be gill flukes?
Really no other symptoms. Gills look fine, but I cant think of anything else.

Thanks.

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
Anyone know what constant flashing means? No other symptoms yet.
Water specs are:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 5


Sent from my GT-I9305 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
Is it flashing after feeding or any change in tank eg water change when it could be just irritation.

Flashing always - what about velvet?

Have you introduced fish recently at all?


Edit - is he flashing all over or just on gills?
 
Hello,
Thank you for responding.
It flashes mostly in mornings before 12. (I feed about 7am every morning) but sometimes flashes at night too. No water or tank changes.
I see no other symptons on scales or gills.
Its been flashing a little on and off for a few weeks, however I bought a new pepermint bristlenose and added it to tank, and 12 hours later he flashes ALOT more know. Catfish has no symptoms of anything.

Texas seems to scratch gill areas. But I cant see anything wrong with them. What should I look for at gills?
This morning he seems to have stopped flashing. Not sure if it will start again.

Thanks again.

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
Hard one. I had cotton wool from new plants causing problems with the yo yo loaches.

Not smokers cough? :)

See if you can find any pattern eg is ph stable, better/worse after a water change, feeding, any dosing eg ferts, tank clarity, filter cleans, etc. Can anything get into the tank eg pesticides, soaps. Just to close off.

I've noticed my tap water changes between summer and winter for example.

If there are no signs it's pretty hard to pick what's going on.

If nothing else works then looking at QT and say a salt dip or meds and see if any improvement.

Edit - if it gets worse and nothing has changed in tank, then I'd go for meds.
 
Last edited:
Ok thank you for your help.
Weather here in Australia has changed. From a hot summer, to a recently now cold near winter in a month or 2. That's all I can think of as far as water changes....

Texas cichlid is alone with peppermint (starlight) Bristlenose catfish in tank. No other fish. No live plants. Silk plants and plastic rock. Although in about a week I will be adding gold vine driftwood to tank (its currently being treated) for decorative purposes and for bristlenose. Is this drift wood ok to use with my fish? I hope it doesn't change water parameters...

Im glad this happened now, cause if it happened after I added driftwood, I would be blaming wood spread disease to my fish lol

I took out Seachem Phosguard from filter (had brown algae, I thought it would help, it didn't) and took out Seachem Purigen too.( water is crystal clear, don't need purigen) about a 3 weeks ago. Not sure if that does anything.

No one smokes lol.

I will wait this out to further investigate symptoms. As I said, fish was not flashing as much this morning. So I will see what happens in for about a week.

Thanks again.
 
I'm in Perth and my kh has recently shot up - same thing I think going into winter as it droped at start of summer. Could be worth checking with your lfs if they are getting anyone complaining about the water.

I have the same driftwood and also just australian hardwood. I just soaked in tap water but I know they will have been inspected/treated when bought into Australia. Never had any problems with them (fingers crossed!).

Keep us posted on how it goes. To me everything looks great in your water specs.
 
Fish still flashing again tonight. Must be some bacteria infection. Mainly itching gill areas. Whats a safe med to use for texas cichlid and pepermint bristlenose? Not a strong one. Something gentle that wont kill off the fish and beneficial bacteria in filter?
I got an empty 4 g tank I could try put them in for 3 days to treat and then put them back in main tank, if meds affect beneficial bacteria.

Thanks.

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
Thats actually a really good product! I will search a few stores for it. I only have a really strong anti bacterial tablet which kills ALL bacteria in water, including possible beneficial bacteria in filter, and another product used for white spot.
Do flukes ever go away on their own? With just water changes?
Also is 4 gallons too small for a quarantine tank? Bristlenose is about 1.2 inch, texas is about 2 inch. Still small fish, but I dont want to stunt them.
Will flukes die off in main tank, if I remove the fish from the tank to quarantine?

Thanks heaps

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
Parasite. Treat with seachem paraguard, hikari prazi pro, generic metronidazole, or tetra parasite guard. Whatever you can get the fastest before your fish gets too sick. These 4 meds are safe on most catfish and does almost zero harm to your biological filter. Follow box for dose instructions. You can even stack paraguard with any of the other 3 meds for broader spectrum coverage.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
mattcham said:
Parasite. Treat with seachem paraguard, hikari prazi pro, generic metronidazole, or tetra parasite guard. Whatever you can get the fastest before your fish gets too sick. These 4 meds are safe on most catfish and does almost zero harm to your biological filter. Follow box for dose instructions. You can even stack paraguard with any of the other 3 meds for broader spectrum coverage.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Aquarium Advice mobile app
Click to expand...

Thank you for the reply.
I cant seem to find any of those products in my area. Not even the Seachem Paraguard, which is odd, since Seachem is such a big brand.

I can find and use what "Delapool" suggested, which is this:
Sterazin

I have a few questions about it:

1. Will it affect my Beneficial Bacteria in my filter?
2. Will it affect or kill my Peppermint (starlight) Bristlenose Catfish?
3. Will it alter water PH or any other water parameters?
4. If I don't treat it with anything, and just do lots of water changes, could that cure the problem without using any meds?

Thank you. Sorry about silly the questions. Its just sometimes the fish looks ok, other times it looks very itchy. Not sure how serious this problem is.

Thanks.
 
I'm not familiar with sterazin and its active ingredients. Google tetra parasite guard and if the active ingredients are the same then its safe for biological filter and catfish.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
sealife said:
Thank you for the reply.
I cant seem to find any of those products in my area. Not even the Seachem Paraguard, which is odd, since Seachem is such a big brand.

I can find and use what "Delapool" suggested, which is this:
Sterazin

I have a few questions about it:

1. Will it affect my Beneficial Bacteria in my filter?
2. Will it affect or kill my Peppermint (starlight) Bristlenose Catfish?
3. Will it alter water PH or any other water parameters?
4. If I don't treat it with anything, and just do lots of water changes, could that cure the problem without using any meds?

Thank you. Sorry about silly the questions. Its just sometimes the fish looks ok, other times it looks very itchy. Not sure how serious this problem is.

Thanks.
Click to expand...




I don't think water changes would provide a cure.

Edit - oops, hit reply early. I've never noticed anything with ph or ammonia changing or any problems with any meds but my catfish are 4 inch and the tank pretty mature. 4 gal might be a bit small for both - the main trouble I've had is getting the dose right when the tank is small.
 
Last edited:
Thanks guys.

I just bought Sterazin, as I didnt want to wait any longer. I care too much for my fish.

I wish I knew what ingrediant they used so I can compare.
Its got that blue dye in it. (There goes my clear silicone on glass tank)
I hope it works.

I did a water partial change, then added the medication.

Delapool, have you used this for flukes before? If so, did it work?

Thanks again.

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
I've mainly used Waterlife Myxazin. Tried Sterazin once but I think the flashing was from cotton wool and the loaches getting into it so I'm not positive it made a difference (although the flashing went away but I had buried the cotton wool as well by then). I haven't really seen anything bad on waterlife products (although med choices are so limited here anyway) but it is pretty frustrating they don't list the ingredients and the dosage. I've tried googling for it but haven't had any luck.
 
Ok thanks. I will use the full course of 5 serves over 10 days and see how it goes. Ill keep you all posted.

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
Mainly I've found it is the night after the dose that you have to watch them. If they are 'panting' too much or have lost balance then I'd do a water change.

I do like with waterlife that they dose over a decent time period and their dosing allows for that. After that I think pot luck.

A water change may be suggested before hand to clear organics out of the water which will soak up meds. I like to do that the day before to make sure the tank is settled.
 
24 hours since initial does with Sterazin.
Catfish shows no signs of any flashing and no signs of any disease.
Texas still flashing. No other symptoms of any other disease (no white spot, no red gills, no no velvet)
Both fish swimming as usual. Not sure if texas is showing signs of lethargic or if its just my imagination. Second dose tomorrow.

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

B
White spot on neon tetra--ich or something else?
Replies
3
Views
443
Aiken Drum
Aiken Drum
F
Black Moore sitting on floor not moving and panting
Replies
12
Views
926
Jacky12
Jacky12
S
Unknown cause of flashing.
Replies
6
Views
565
Sarah.louise
S
C
Mystery Ich on Sick Pike Cichlid
Replies
4
Views
314
charliebankston
charliebankston
B
Mysterious Molly Disease?
Replies
2
Views
2K
LavaLamps
L

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom