# Fish are "flashing"? Ich, fluke..?



## Pumpkin (Jan 16, 2015)

So I have a 35g with:

- 1 female opaline gourami
- 4 female guppies
- 6 peppered cories
- 6 black neon tetras
- 6 glowlight tetras

Just under a week ago, I noticed one of the glowlight tetras was itching itself ("flashing") on the driftwood and leaves of plants. I looked this up and saw it could be an indication of ich. I inspected them but could not see any white spots. Regardless, to be safe, I raised the temp by 2 degrees over the next few days. I went from 24C to 26C to 28C to 30C (86F) to kill off possible ich. I only left it on 30C for a day, then put it back down to 28C, because I was afraid it might be too high. Also, I still could not see any outer indication of ich.

I haven't seen them flashing a lot. This made me think it was a one-time thing, maybe they just had an itch. Afterall, I only saw 1 or 2 glowlights do it. But then today I saw my guppy do it as well. Now I'm sure there is something wrong, but I don't know what. They act fine otherwise. They don't do it often, but then again I'm not watching them 24/7. If it is not ich, what could it be? And how can I treat it? (preferably naturally, while it's not severe at the moment).

Other details:

- planted tank
- cycled (0 amm, 0 ni, 10 - 20 nitrate weekly)
- had a water change on friday but I might change it tomorrow again

Thanks


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## MikeG14 (May 31, 2014)

Fish can flash for lots of reasons and not all of them are bad. What's your PH? Sometimes fish will flash if your water is too acidic. They will also do it when the become stressed. Cichlids will to do it as a threat display, kinda like cursing. Or it can simply be an itch like you stated.

Just keep a close eye on things. Raising the temperature to 86° is good because that is the temperature the Ich will stop reproducing at. I would make sure the tank is aerated with the increase of temperature as well so the fish don't stress out.

I would stay away from aquarium salt with the corys. They are not very tolerant of it. And be careful if you choose to medicate, tetras can be sensitive to certain meds if given at a full dosage. I used a heat treatment to cure my rummies of Ich and it worked fantastic with no salt or medication.


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## Pumpkin (Jan 16, 2015)

MikeG14 said:


> Fish can flash for lots of reasons and not all of them are bad. What's your PH? Sometimes fish will flash if your water is too acidic. They will also do it when the become stressed. Cichlids will to do it as a threat display, kinda like cursing. Or it can simply be an itch like you stated.
> 
> Just keep a close eye on things. Raising the temperature to 86° is good because that is the temperature the Ich will stop reproducing at. I would make sure the tank is aerated with the increase of temperature as well so the fish don't stress out.
> 
> I would stay away from aquarium salt with the corys. They are not very tolerant of it. And be careful if you choose to medicate, tetras can be sensitive to certain meds if given at a full dosage. I used a heat treatment to cure my rummies of Ich and it worked fantastic with no salt or medication.


My pH is around 7, maybe upper 6 (like 6.8). 

I guess I'm gonna keep the temp up for a while and wait and see if anything else occurs. Thanks for your response


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