# Urgent advice needed. My fish are all displaying signs of being itchy



## FishMad (Sep 28, 2010)

Just this evening I have noticed that 99% of my fish appear to be scratching themselves like a child with headlice. 

My Silver Dollars on particular have been so out of character that they have been somehow smashing into the glass lids of the tank. My Clown Loaches, Corys, Angels and Gouramis are all displaying the same disturbing 'itchy' behaviour.

I am scared that they will die overnight. I also have a Royal Whiptail and Black Ghost Knife so am very wary of chemicals for treating diseases/parasites etc.

I have noted that this behaviour all began approx 1 hour after I put some fresh Java Moss into the tank along with, the small snails that everyone generally hates. I put those in particularly for my Clown Loaches as they have been nipping the fins of my Angels so I decided to give them more things to keep them occupied, ie on the hunt for food.

PLEASE......is there anything I can do overnight? I have checked PH etc, all good however, I did put some Prime into the water just as a precaution against high Ammonia.

I am waiting in anticipation for some help........


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## kitten_penang (Mar 26, 2008)

ich does come to mind.did the plant come from a tank that has fish? it could have brought the ich into the tank. to be safe do a small water change and up the heat a little to see if they stop scratching


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## Freddy (Nov 17, 2009)

The only things I can think of that might cause "itchyness" in fish are either high ammonia (which you have acted against) or a disease, maybe ich. Use some Melafix on the tanks, it helps against many diseases. There's another --fix that protects against non-bacterial infections, I think, but I can't remember the name of it.


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## FishMad (Sep 28, 2010)

The Java Moss came bagged on its own and the snails came from a tank which had assorted fish in it.

How long is the incubation period of ich? Last weekend, I also bought plant which came with a dozen or so of those small snails.

Saturday I did a 40% water change giving the gravel a good clean (as between the Royal Whiptail and the Bristlenose huge quantities of waste accumulate in the gravel), all fish were happy until tonight.

There are no signs of white spots on the fish at all. My temp is already sitting around 28-29 Degrees Celcius, how much higher could I safely go? Should I add salt or Stress Enzyme?


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## kitten_penang (Mar 26, 2008)

no salt!!! my tank temp is at 30. havent had ich ever since i put the temp at 30.some fish will be ok up to 32 but you better check and see whether yours does. you might wanna know melafix makes the ich go into overdrive to fasten the recovery period.the safes way to know whether ich if present in your tank is to (if you choose meds) to medicate and extra week after the last white spot disappears.


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