Flashing
- Thread starter Holly9937
- Start date
It's a sign of gill irritation, most external parasites will attack the gills simply because they don't have a slime coat and they are full of blood. Ammonia burns the gills and causes the same reaction from the fish. Likewise any tixin in the water that might cause ithcing or pain in the gills will induce flashing.
Additionally some fish will flash as when trying to intimidate other fish. my firemouth always does this immediatly after he wrestles with the Oscars. In this case, the flashing immediatly follows other behavior and is consistant enough that it isn't hard to seperate it from Flashing caused by other problems.
It's always a treat trying to locate the cause of Flashing. most of the time in the average tank, it's ich or ammonia. Simply because these two issues are very common. I had one guppy tank where flashing continued for nearly a year. I knew ich was not present, and knew there were not and never had been ammonia issues. many of the fish in that tank were born there. I eventually narrowed it down to gill flukes and killed them.
Fish that have had significant ammonia burn will sometimes flash for the rest of their life. This is not real common, but does happen.
If you have continual flashing I am convinced that is definately a sign of an issue, and not just normal fish behavior. I have always managed to eventually cure my fish of flashing.
Dave
Additionally some fish will flash as when trying to intimidate other fish. my firemouth always does this immediatly after he wrestles with the Oscars. In this case, the flashing immediatly follows other behavior and is consistant enough that it isn't hard to seperate it from Flashing caused by other problems.
It's always a treat trying to locate the cause of Flashing. most of the time in the average tank, it's ich or ammonia. Simply because these two issues are very common. I had one guppy tank where flashing continued for nearly a year. I knew ich was not present, and knew there were not and never had been ammonia issues. many of the fish in that tank were born there. I eventually narrowed it down to gill flukes and killed them.
Fish that have had significant ammonia burn will sometimes flash for the rest of their life. This is not real common, but does happen.
If you have continual flashing I am convinced that is definately a sign of an issue, and not just normal fish behavior. I have always managed to eventually cure my fish of flashing.
Dave
scraping or scratching of the gill plates against objects in the tank. Fish usually approach an object slowly, and then when they get close the lighlty slap against it in a sort of sideways accelleration movement.
Dave
Dave
Someone needs to take a bunch of video clips of fish flashing and stich them together into one big long Fish Gone Wild video. 
The thread came back from the dead!! I knew someone out there knew something 
I see maybe one fish do it once a month, literally...very random. I'm not too worried about it, but I would like to know what to keep my eyes out for. Definately not ich or ammonia
I see maybe one fish do it once a month, literally...very random. I'm not too worried about it, but I would like to know what to keep my eyes out for. Definately not ich or ammonia
Holly,
In my case it was Flukes which hide well and work slowly. every once in a while I would have a death by fungus which virtually never happens in my tanks. I read somewhere that gill flukes typically aren't fatal but that they will weaken fish and allow other things to kill the fish. I treated for flukes and the flashing stopped as well as the occasional sudden fungal outbreak.
Dae
In my case it was Flukes which hide well and work slowly. every once in a while I would have a death by fungus which virtually never happens in my tanks. I read somewhere that gill flukes typically aren't fatal but that they will weaken fish and allow other things to kill the fish. I treated for flukes and the flashing stopped as well as the occasional sudden fungal outbreak.
Dae
Dave~What is the best treatment for flukes? I hate to treat for something that I'm not sure I have but would you recommend that I do? The clown loaches are the only fish I've ever seen flash, like I said, maybe once a month. I've had them in the tank for about 2 months give or take and they were in QT for almost a month before being added to the main tank. **I did have a guppy randomly die a few weeks ago (actually, he was still alive, but chewed down to nothing so I euthanized him, still not sure what happened, I never saw any signs of illness/weakness that would have caused the other fish to go after him...I've had him and another for almost a year, the other one is doing fine)
I'm paranoid now
!! I would have liked to just continue thinking its nothing!!
I'm paranoid now
!! I would have liked to just continue thinking its nothing!!
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