Fish scratching against tanks objects...

[silentskream]

I agree with Hooked Newbie.

keep your ammonia levels below .25 and do as many (or as large) water changes that you have to in order to keep it below that. anything over that causes big problems.

usually when a fish "flashes" its because of a problem on the surface of their scales (the first assumption is external parasites) it could be that the high ammonia/ nitrite levels have made your fish's immune systems weak, and so made them suseptable to these parasites (which you may or may not be able to see in the beginning stages)
once you get the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels where they need to be, the fish's immune system will improve and there's a good chance the flashing problem (whether its parasites or not) will go away on its own. so i would definitely agree that getting the water taken care of is the first priority. good luck and keep us updated!

 

[fishorama]

Use Prime to control the immediate toxic effects of ammonia & nitrites. Dose the entire tank volume. Read the bottle, it tells how much is safe.

Fish "flash" from irritation not necessarily from parasites. I think ANY of the "off the chart" water parameters would be very irritating. Parasites, if any, are secondary to very the poor water quality right now.

 

[Master Zero]

Here’s an update, very single parameter except ammonia has dropped down to their lowest number as possible (nitrate and nitrite are at 0 which seems a little odd). Ammonia has been at a constant 4.0 for about a week now. I have been doing 50% percent water change every two days, while using Prime as my conditioner. I am beginning to think that it is the non-toxic form of ammonia that the test kit is picking up, so I will be going back to two water changes every week. The flash is not as aggressive as before... Thanks for all your helps...

 

[Hooked Newbie]

Here’s an update, very single parameter except ammonia has dropped down to their lowest number as possible (nitrate and nitrite are at 0 which seems a little odd). Ammonia has been at a constant 4.0 for about a week now. I have been doing 50% percent water change every two days, while using Prime as my conditioner. I am beginning to think that it is the non-toxic form of ammonia that the test kit is picking up, so I will be going back to two water changes every week. The flash is not as aggressive as before... Thanks for all your helps...

With ammonia present and no nitrite or nitrate, you are not cycled. It was lost somewhere... I wish you and your fish the best of luck.

 

[iamgroovy]

What are you using to test your water? If you are using the strips, invest in a liquid test kit. They are much more accurate!

 

[Master Zero]

I am using the liquid master test kit. I don’t know, guess one too many water changes...as long as they are healthy, eating, then all is well.

 

[silentskream]

even the non toxic form of ammonia "called ammonium" is still toxic in large doses and is not present at all in a cycled tank.
find another source of bacteria ASAP.

 

[Ulan]

Some test kits will pick up the ammonia from chloramine in the water, if your water provider uses this. In that case, the ammonia reading is meaningless.