fish glancing of gravel-possible causes?

[alli13zeal]

Two of my fish have started glancing off/rubbing against the gravel once in a while throughout the day. I know this is definitely a symptom of some parasites but I can't really see any visible signs of any. Is ich harder to spot on corys? And what are other symptoms of different parasites. I know there are parasite symptoms/description pages but I really don't notice anything else with these fish besides irritation/itchiness. Could water quality cause something like this? If not, what else could?
my water levels are:
ammonia: less than .1 (tank is still cycling unfortunately)
nitrites: 0
nitrates: around 5 ppm
pH: i'm still having problems with flucuations (which is getting to be reeeeeeeally frustrating:wall:), but it is usually around 6.6 or so. Could pH flucuations cause the glancing behavior?

Thanks in advance for any ideas!

[ct-death]

Ich could be a culprit, but also too high ammonia can lead to sever irritation to the skin (Corys do not have scales). As such they do not do well in a cycling tank at all... :(

As for your pH, yes this can cause an issue. Variances of greater than +/- 0.5 or more can have a profound impact on fish and lead them to be very aggitated. I would personally leave your pH alone unless it is extremely high. Fish have even been know to jump out of a tank just to gte some relief where the pH spiked too high too fast! :eek:

[alli13zeal]

Yeah, I learned pretty much right away that they are not good in a cycling tank. I've just been trying to be really vigilant with the water changes. However, I've been having problems with the pH because my tap water's pH will drop after it sits out for a day. I was told that adding crushed coral to the tank would help stablize and buffer the pH and I added some to my tank over a week or two (i currently have 2.5 teaspoons inside filter and around 1.5 tablespoons in the gravel). I'm not sure if I should add more for a 15 gallon. However I am still having problems and I'm getting so frustrated and confused and I don't want to kill anymore fish!!! Argh.. I'm really just feeling overwhelmed at this point.

[ct-death]

Tap water that has "aged" (left out for 24+ hours) is essentially the same as Tank water. Thus whatever your tap water stabalizes at after being left out for a day is where your tank pH will likewise naturally wish to be at.

Deviating from this natural stability will only lead towards instability unless truly maintained over time manually through such techniques as crushed coral. However, the amount, when to replace, add more, etc. are all continually changing factors. For example, did you know that just the amount of dissolved CO2 can have a large impact on pH within a tank's water? Thus with plants your pH will flucuate depending on time of day, amounts of plants, and even indirectly Fertz as this will determine plant growth and the greater conversion of CO2 into O2, etc.

Clearly, this gets complicated, but in the end, if your water is safe and within the tolerances of the fish you choose to keep it is my personal advice to simply leave it alone and stabilize naturally.

What is the pH of the Tap from the spout and that of the "aged" tap water?

[alli13zeal]

The tap water pH that I tested was 6.6 at first and then the next day it was at 6.4. But at that time (a couple of weeks ago) my pH was flucuating between 7.0 and 6.0 at which point other AC users suggested the addition of the crushed coral. It helped at first, the pH stayed at 6.5 for a few days throughout the day (I tested in the morning before the light was turned on, the middle of the day, and then again at night right before I unplugged the light). But then it started to flucuate again so I added a couple more teaspoons over a few days.

I do have 2 rubbermaid containers that I am storing tap water in, but I don't have a 2nd heater. When I did a water change today I used mostly the aged water but then I had to add some hot, new tap water to bring it up to the right temp (79 deg) since the aged water sits at around 72 degrees. I tried using my 1 heater to bring it up to 79 but it was taking way too long. I should probably just buy a second heater, huh?

What would you do if you were me? Obviously it seems like a good idea for me to use aged tap water, but should I remove the crushed coral, adjust the amount, or just leave it for now? And what about my plants? I really like the look of them, but if they are causing problems i don't know if it is worth it right now. Thanks for trying to help me out!

[Star_Rider]

adding CO2 ti a tank may cause a drop in oH but if the tank has a high enough kH the CO2 will not affect the hardness of the water. CO2 added can create carbonic acid but it will go back to normal when the CO2 is turned off.

you need to test for kH and gH to get an idea where yout water is in creating a stable pH.
kH(carbonate hardness) is the one used to determine stable pH usually you want the kH to be atleast 3-4 on the hardness scale.

adding crushed coral will release calcium carbonate in the tank. that's how it helps to stabilize the kH.

my ph is 6.8 -7.0 depending on time of year wht kH however reads around 3-4 dh


I suspect the issue that needs to be dealt with here is getting that ammonia reading down

you'll need to do water changes as the best course of action.

[alli13zeal]

I've been having a hard time finding gH & kH liquid tests around here. I did manage to find a kH test, but I'm pretty sure it is expired.. either that or my kH numbers are reeeeally high but that would be surprising. And the printed stamp on the bottle says 0302.. which if it is over 5 yrs old it is probably expired, correct? Pretty annoying since a paid 14 bucks for it :hypnotized:. I will definitely keep looking though.. or I'll just bring in a water sample to a LFS.

Also, I'm not really sure what my ammonia readings are. When I test my water (liquid API test) it is usually pure yellow (aka 0ppm) and if it is any darker I do a 25% water change. I definitely don't let it get high enough to match the second color/level on the test card (which would be .25 ppm) so the .1 ppm is my estimate right before a water change. I usually end up doing a water change every day or once in a while every other day (according to test results).

I guess I will just get another heater, use the aged water for water changes, and leave the crushed coral in for now and see how it goes unless anyone has different advice (which I am definitely open to!! :D). Oh yeah and I'll try to find gh/kh test kits that actually work.