SarahNightingale

Hi everyone,
Please help! I am new to this and was wandering if anyone could help me or point me in the right direction. I am a beginner at fishkeeping and have relatively low maintenance fish, Platy, balloon Molly, Gourami, Guppy, (All pairs) Cardinal Tetras (6), Pleco (3), 1 Siamese Fighter and 1 Rainbow shark. They keep rubbing themselves up against the stones in the aquarium in a fast, flicking motion. I asked the guy at the local store and he said it was whitespot and advised me to treat the tank, so I did. They continue to do this, even though I have checked each one of my babies for the physical signs of whitespot but they show no physical signs.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Wolfgang8810

how long has the tank been setup and how big is it?

SarahNightingale

The tank has been set up for about 1 and a half months. Its a little 125L capacity. When I first set it up, the stupid pet shop man told me I could put fish in straigt away so I introduced 4 fish into it. As expected, the nitrite levels were completely wrong and i lost 1 but managed to help the remaining 3. Strangely enough, after 3 water samples were taken (Just to be sure) the water was deemed as 'perfect' after just one week. I cant see any whitespot on them at all and have treated the water twice now with Protozin.

susitna-flower

WELCOME to FISHLORE!!! Let's see what we can do.

Your fish are "flashing", which is an indication of parasite infection, but it can be one of several, not just "whitespot" Which I believe is commonly referred to as Ick.
Ick shows up as white grains like salt on the fish, but they can also be in the gills where you can not see.
The best way to treat ick is to raise the temperature of the tank to between 82 -84 F and hold it there for 3 or 4 weeks. There are several medications that can help, but I wouldn't treat the whole tank unless the higher temperature fails to help.

If you look in the disease section of this forum, there are links to sites that will give more descriptions of diseases that show flashing as a symptom. Good Luck!

SarahNightingale

Thanks,
I will raise the temperature as you have recommended. I have fish In here that prefer 72-79F. The temperature raise will not affect them in any bad way will it? The only fish i have seen 'flashing' are my Guppies and Rainbow shark, everyone else seems fine.

COBettaCouple

welcome to Fishlore.

With Ich, fish can be infected before showing symptoms and it's usually best to treat the entire tank population. What I would do is raise your tank's temperature slowly to about 28C and keep it there for 2 weeks. Change 25-50% of your water now, after 1 week of treatment and then when the 2 weeks is up. Vacuum your substrata every few days.

SarahNightingale

Thanks Everyone. I will turn up the temperature and do a water change now. Thanks for your help.