Flashing...or just playing?

Sea Sprite · Post by **Sea Sprite** » Thu May 21, 2009 4:22 pm

Is it possible that my yo yo is not flashing, with an on set of ich imminent...but maybe just ammusing himself?
I noticed today that for a couple of mins he would roll over a slam himself into the gravel. Over & over again. The only new member added to this tank (75g) is the Botia kubotai. I added the kub my netting (not pouring) after the acclimation period...and the kub seems to be ok.

StrangeSavant · Post by **StrangeSavant** » Thu May 21, 2009 7:28 pm

I'm by no means an expert, but I added a few yo yos to my tank a couple weeks ago and they all flashed heavily for the first few days and then stopped.

How old is the yo yo? Also, a reputable fish keeper in town told me that loaches flash sometimes to, as he put it, "impress the ladies".

raecarrow · Post by **raecarrow** » Thu May 21, 2009 7:56 pm

I have one yoyo that only flashes when I feed or when all my yoyos are very active. I think it is an expression of happiness for him as he has never gotten ich.

Sea Sprite · Post by **Sea Sprite** » Thu May 21, 2009 9:17 pm

Savant & Rae...Thanks for the quick response. I am leaning that direction in thinking, too. I've had this yo yo for 5 months and everybody has been seemingly healthy & happy. Maybe he is 'showing off' for the newest resident...but I was ready to set up the Q tank & move him into it, if not
Thanks again!

newshound · Post by **newshound** » Fri May 22, 2009 5:58 pm

fish don't flash over and over again for kicks.
what is your water quality like etc...
putting any new fish in a tank with out doing the Qthing for at least 3 weeks is just asking 4 trouble.

chefkeith · Post by **chefkeith** » Fri May 22, 2009 6:58 pm

I 2nd what newshound said.

Sea Sprite · Post by **Sea Sprite** » Sat May 23, 2009 7:32 pm

Ok newshound & chefkeith...it's been about 2 wks since I checked my parameters. I've been purchasing R.O. water from my LFS to do weekly water changes (for the past 8 mo's or so) and have had few to no problems. But now I see my :
'Total Alkalinity' is high. On 4/22 is was 120 (which is average for my tanks). 2 wks later it was 180..still considered Ok. Now it is 300

pH levels which are normallyin the neutral range at 7.2 are now 7.8 for the 75g and 8.4 in the 55g.

Water changes? Don't have RO water so will need to treat the water with PRIME & do you think I should add http://aquariumpharm.com/Products/TechS ... SheetID=35 API pH Down?

55g has a rhino pleco, striped danios, long finned blk skirt tetras, mollys, ruby tetras, serpea tetras, sissortail rasboras

75g has a king pleco, a peppermint pleco, a yo yo loach, a burmese border loach, 6 kuhli loaches, and 5 rainbow fish.

chefkeith · Post by **chefkeith** » Sat May 23, 2009 9:16 pm

Don't add pH down. You need to find out why the KH is raising. Something is probably leaching. Can you post a picture of the aquarium? It's probably some rocks or something.

What additives are you adding to the RO water before water changes?

chefkeith · Post by **chefkeith** » Sat May 23, 2009 9:29 pm

Quarantining new fish shouldn't be forgotten either. This is what I agreed with newshound about.

Sea Sprite · Post by **Sea Sprite** » Mon May 25, 2009 8:14 am

And you are both right. My little QT was knocked over & broke (a mess that was), thankfully with no one in it at the time. However the angelica/polka dot botia seems fine...just lonely for a couple more like him. A friend/fish farmer sells to LFSs and has told me there is no need to QT if I skip the middle man (LFS) which was NOT the case with my kub. Your thoughts on skipping the QT in that instance?

I add nothing to the water privious to a water change. If I need to add xtra water to fill the rest of thwe way to top, afterwards I add Prime & then ofcourse Flourish (phosphorus) for the plants. Maybe I measured improperly last w. change...?

Keith Wolcott · Post by **Keith Wolcott** » Mon May 25, 2009 6:33 pm

Many loaches are wild caught and thus can and do have parasites. So even without the middleman, I think it is wise to quarantine and possibly treat with levimasole and/or fubendazole.

chefkeith · Post by **chefkeith** » Mon May 25, 2009 11:05 pm

I don't recommend skipping quarantine, no matter where the fish come from, even if from a reputable friend who claims that the fish are parasite free and 100% healthy.

Quarantining is only half of the solution though. I've quarantined new fish for up to 3 weeks and still had ich outbreaks a few months afterwords. The reason being is that low level ich infestations can just infect the gills for many many months. The ich won't spread to the body until the fish become stressed or until a super strain of ich is generated.

Quarantining really needs to include prophylactic treatments for the most common parasites. Prevention has got to be the toughest thing to understand about fish keeping.

Sea Sprite · Post by **Sea Sprite** » Tue May 26, 2009 12:26 am

chefkeith & k. wolcott...I was so saddened to see that tonight my new kub was coming out of his hidy-hole only to flash. Seems I have to treat my pets for ich. Please help me through this as I hate losing ANY fish. But I would really hate to loose my loaches.

chefkeith · Post by **chefkeith** » Tue May 26, 2009 2:52 am

Still, you must figure out why the alkalinity went from 120 to 300. It's important that you do this.

Can you post some pictures of the aquarium? Maybe we'll be able to see something. Sometimes it can be some old rocks that are breaking down with age.

The treatment methods for ich depend on how serious you need to be about prevention. There is less risk if you have just one small tank and only a few fish. When you have multiple large tanks, and many many fish, then it's a complex situation.

If you have multiple tanks and share the same gravel vac or other equipment for all the tanks, then you'll probably have cross contamination issues. You'll have to treat all the tanks to eradicate the parasites completely. Otherwise the problem could be bouncing back and forth from one tank to the next.

Heat treatment is the easiest method for treating ich. You turn up the heater to about 86F, add more aeration, and reduce the water level in the tank. Heat may eradicate some infestations, but IMO it's not a failsafe plan. If you can visually inspect each fish everyday, then I'd probably just use the heat treatment method. But if you have lots of fish and/or if some like to sleep in hidey holes all day, then you might want to step up the treatment to something more than heat.

There are many products to choose from at the LFS that should work. There are some newer organic products that are made specifically for ich prevention. "Prevent Ich" or "Ich Attack" is what I'd probably use.

http://www.novalek.com/kordon/prevent_ich/index.htm
http://www.novalek.com/kordon/ich_attack/index.htm

Then there is always the salt treatment method. I usually don't recommend the salt method because it takes more work and patience than the other methods.

Here are a few links that will help if salt is the treatment of choice -
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/ich.php
http://www.geocities.com/chefkeithallen ... lator.html

Only thing I disagree with in the article is the water change % after the treatment. I recommend that smaller water changes be done of no greater than 20%.

Sea Sprite · Post by **Sea Sprite** » Tue May 26, 2009 7:38 am

Sorry I forgot to post it last night, but I think I know what prompted chng in my water. 7 dy pyamid feeders Used 1 in each tank before going away for a wkend & left what seemed like the last 1/3 in the tanks after I came home & just reduced my feeding some.

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