On Fri, 21 May 2004, Velvet wrote:

Chris Palma wrote:

Hi.

I've had a few fish losses that I chalked up to stress from the move
(Otos, pygmy corys). Unfortunately, I'm starting to think that I may have
a more serious problem developing. I've seen a few of my fish who look
like they are scratching themselves on the substrate & plants, which I
have heard is a symptom of parasites.



What're your water parameters? Flicking can be ammonia irritation as
well as a disease.

You're right to think that a major hoovering exercise will place
additional stress on the fish - you really want to work out what's going
on first.

Test the water for ammonia/nitrate/nitrite etc before water change.
Doing a water change won't hurt at this point - use something to get rid
of the chlorine in the stuff you put in again of course.


Thanks for the advice. I have slowed down the frequency of my water
testing now that it has cycled. The last time I checked was two weeks
ago, and ammonia & nitrites were both at 0ppm, pH is 7.2. The only
significant change I noticed last time was that my water hardness had
creeped up -- my water out of the tap is pretty hard so I mix with RO
water to bring it down before doing a water change. I think evaporation
led to the higher hardness readings, so I'm upping my mixture of RO water
for the change I'm planning on doing tonight. I still don't have a
nitrate test kit -- I guess it is time to get one.

My procedure for doing water changes has been to fill a plastic container
at least a day before, add tap water conditioner, then agitate it with
either an air pump or powerhead until I'm ready to do the water change.
I'm hoping tonight's water change will help with the mild symptoms I've
been seeing.

--chris