fish rubbing on sand?

[dviper150]

I have a uv sterilizer on my tank and the fish for some reason rub their bodies on the sand once in awhile. Not all my fish are doing this but just 3 of them. Any idea of why they are doing this and how do I solve the problem? Thanks for any help

[75gsalt]

I had a couple Damsels do that, other than that I'm sure fish just itch sometimes. Do they ever scratch on the rock?

[Shane Hoffman]

Pending on the type of fish this may be normal behavior. It also may be the beggining signs of ICH or some other parasite. Most likely ich.

What type of fish are you referring to?

Nitrates?

Amonia?

Nitrites?

PH?

Temp?

SG?

[dviper150]

pending on the type of fish this may be normal behavior. It also may be the beggining signs of ich or some other parasite. Most likely ich.

What type of fish are you referring to? blue hippo, cleaner wrasse, annularis angel

nitrates? 40ppm

amonia? 0ppm

nitrites? 0ppm

ph? around 8.2


temp? went a little high today. Normally around 79-80. Today it was at 84.

sg? 1.025


They don't scratch on the rock, just the sand. I don't think its ich because the fish would have had it by now. They have been doing this for about 2-3 months. If ICH was the case, they would have had it by now.

[Tuscaquatics]

It really could be ich. Especially with a hippo in there. You need to get a good look at them and try and find any spots on them. Don't assume that ich has to happen fast. It can linger for a long time waiting for the fish to become stressed so it can take over. In an otherwise healthy tank with relatively happy fish, it might take weeks for them to become affected.

[dviper150]

I don't have another tank to put the fish into and wait for the ich or whatever is in the water to die off so is there another way to solve this? I look at the fish everyday and look for signs of distress. all their colors are vibrant with no spots and besides the occasional rubbing on the sand, they seem pretty healthy to me.

[Tuscaquatics]

You could try soaking their food in garlic. A lot of people have had success keeping ich at bay with this. But I wouldn't do it long term as recent studies supposedly found that long-term garlic use can cause damage to fish organs.

But then again, we're not positive that's what you're dealing with.

[Shane Hoffman]

I don't have another tank to put the fish into and wait for the ich or whatever is in the water to die off so is there another way to solve this? I look at the fish everyday and look for signs of distress. all their colors are vibrant with no spots and besides the occasional rubbing on the sand, they seem pretty healthy to me.

Ich at its worst will cover your fish in anywhere from a few salt like white grains to dozens and dozens of grains. When it is in it begging stages it isnt always visible. it can manifest in the gills and remain invisible.

[Tuscaquatics]

Ich at its worst will cover your fish in anywhere from a few salt like white grains to dozens and dozens of grains. When it is in it begging stages it isnt always visible. it can manifest in the gills and remain invisible.

+1 for putting that idea into the words I couldn't quite find. When I stupidly put a powder brown tang into my display without QTing him, and everybody else got ich, it took a little while to figure it out. The tang was covered in spots, but the other fish didn't show symptoms at all, until they started flashing on rocks and sand. After that it only took another week or so to wipe everyone out.

[Shane Hoffman]

remove seen answers copied and pasted



The high Nitrates alone is enough to stress a blure hippo, that combined with the fact they are more prone to ich than most fish still has me leaning towards ich.

I also have another question.....you said only a few of your fish are rubbing in the sand....then in your fish list you only list a few. Are the 3 you listed the ones itching or is that your whole fish list???

[75gsalt]

How well does he eat? I just put a Ragal into my tank, he got ich. I'm feeding pretty heavy as I don't have a qt setup yet, that guy is a pig. He is half the size of my clown and will oush the clown out of the way for food.

[Tuscaquatics]

What type of fish are in the tank. Can you list them and your parameters. So far all I see is someone asking for advice and then refuseing the suggestions given. Which in and of itself is ok. But its not a very valid rebuttle without the info I asked for. We could possibly help you much more if you would give us the parameters I listed a few posts above.

Aside from the fish question, he did answer the parameters within a quote a few posts up.

[dviper150]

All the fish eat like pigs, especially the hippo. The annularis isn't as bold as the hippo and usually waits for the food to come down to him.

Any suggestions on how to solve the problem? The parameters are all fine as I posted above. I can put the tank into hypo if that will help with the ich?

[Shane Hoffman]

Aside from the fish question, he did answer the parameters within a quote a few posts up.

Ya I saw that right after I submitted..I usually dont reread quoted sections because I assume they are quotes....I editted that 10 seconds later

[Tuscaquatics]

Hypo will kill everything else in the tank. You would have to have a QT to do this. Considering you're dealing with a hippo tang that wasn't QTd, I would almost guarantee you're dealing with ich.

Is the hippo rubbing on the sand?

[Shane Hoffman]

If you have corals I wouldnt do HYPO. If not then hypo could be a great way to go. Read up on it carefully and follow it to the letter.

[Tuscaquatics]

If you have corals I wouldnt do HYPO. If not then hypo could be a great way to go. Read up on it carefully and follow it to the letter.

Aside from corals, isn't hypo going to kill every other invert in his tank, including bacteria?

[dviper150]

I do have corals so hypo wouldn't be the way to go. Considering all the evaporation that takes place in my tank, I would probably need to do hypo in another tank to maintain the specific level without it fluctuating a lot.

Thanks for all the quick replies! I appreciate all the help. It probably is ich.

[Tuscaquatics]

I would really try garlic for a few days before you go for the hypo, especially if you have to set up another tank.

[dviper150]

I will give garlic a try. I do have it but haven't used it in weeks. I am using selcon and vita chem right now.

[Tuscaquatics]

Use them all.

[DrewPalmer04]

Depending on the type of "rubbing" that is going on...this could be a sign of stress

Or the fish feel treatened by something (be it a powerhead, etc) and can rub to show signs of territorial dominance.

The best product I've used for Ich prevention (keep in mind it can stay dormant for months) is Herbtana. 100% natural and can be used with inverts.

Every time I add a fish from the LFS I dose for a few days (because you never REALLY know what they have)

Also treats:
Flukes
Chilodonella
Costia
Trichodina
Oodinium


Dee's Pets carries it believe it or not (Marion, IL)

[Palting]

Hey Drew, this thread is, like, ummm, 7 months old, man.