So I have a pair of blue rams in my 60L tank and they are regularly scraping themselves against tank objects. They have been doing this for sometime now.

Also in the tank:

10x Neon Tetra

4x Glowlight Tetra

3x Black Neon Tetra

2x Golden Bristlenose

None of the other fish seem to be exhibiting any of the scraping that the rams are.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Hi Floater, I believe this behaviour is called 'flashing'. Fish generally do it to relieve irritation – like that caused by parasites, or maybe (I've read) an ammonia spike in your tank (but I guess this is unlikely since the rest of your fish seem okay). Blue rams are prone to ich (whitespot) which could make them itchy – any sign of little white spots on them? If so, 'white spot cure' from your LFS will do the trick. If there are no visible parasites, you could talk to your LFS and they might be able to figure out what kind of parasite it might be and provide you with an anti-parasitic.

Also, just wondering what temp you keep your tank at? Blue rams like it very warm – 28-30 deg suits them. I had mine in a tank at 26 deg and they got white spot. (Your other fish will be comfy at around 28 so if you haven't changed your temp already, it might be a good idea to do so prevent any future illnesses.)

Yeah my tank is always around 28 degrees, pretty sure they don't have whitespot. They've been doing this for months... I figured it was probably about time that I tried to figure out why... is there any chance that it is just because they are itchy or something? I mean we scratch too and there isn't necessarily anything wrong with us to cause us to do so.

They really have no visible signs of disease or damage. Other than that behaviour and everything else is fine, they eat, look colourful etc. Maybe I should just continue to ignore it...

It may still be parasite that you can't see – it's probably a good idea to try and sort it out, especially if you see them doing it a lot since that indicates that the fish probably aren't feeling too comfy. Sorry I can't be more help, but maybe you could have a search online for more info?

With no other visible symptoms the list of possible causes is pretty big. I'll continue to look, perhaps I should just try the least lethal treatment for parasites.

I'm leaning towards flukes.

Treatment can best be done with a 10 to 30 minute bath in 10 mg per liter of potassium permanganate. Or treat the whole tank with 2 mg per liter, but this method is messy and dyes the water.

Source: http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/i ... htm#Flukes

Where would I get potassium permanganate from?

Hmmm ... I think I remember someone talking about potassium permanganate it a few weeks ago on here – I believe that it's sold as some kind of horse treatment on TM and maybe garden centres sell it? Have had a look, but I can't find the thread anymore.

It does sound like it might be some kind of flukes – would be best to ask at your LFS about it before buying the potassium purple stuff, though – they might be able to suggest a proprietary treatment or tell you where you could get some potassium permanganate from. Sorry I'm not being much help! I had thought by now that one of the expert peeps 'round here might have dropped in on this!

I found out the vet here doesn't keep pp anymore. Nor does the pet shop. They suggested I try a pharmacy or CRT. I'm going to get some droncit tomorrow and try that first. Sounds like it is a lot less radical and works too.

Thanks for you help,

Scott

Here is a link to an auction site that does have someone selling it. I believe they also sell it in larger quantities.

http://www.sella.co.nz/general/business ... ry/52ybnr/

Goodluck

There is some on trademe at the moment, also called condys crystals.

It works well for gill flukes, I treated my clown loachs a while ago with it.

There is some on trademe at the moment, also called condys crystals.

It works well for gill flukes, I treated my clown loachs a while ago with it.

How did you use it to treat?

I can't quite remember the dosage, but I think it was 10mg of PP per litre of water

So I put it in a bucket and mixed it up then put my loaches in with an airstone running, VERY IMPORTANT to have the airstone running in the bucket, and left them in for 20mins I think, I only did them for 10mins the first time as I was nervous but they didn't seem stressed at all so went up to 20mins for the next couple of treatments, I think I did about 4 treatments, 1 per day, and it cleared them up nicely.

/edit I looked it up, was 10mg per litre

link http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/i ... htm#Flukes

Measuring it out is a pain, my scales are only accurate to 1gram, so I measured 2grams then divided it up until I had 100mg or so (10litres in the bucket)

My Blue Rams have done this since I got them. I also have a Golden Balloon Ram who does it every now and then. It doesn't happen all the time but every now and then (the male ram usually) will throw himself down at the rocks and rub on them and carry on. None of my other fish do it and I have similar fish to you (9 neons, two bristlenose and a couple of swords) in tanks with them. They seem fine but i've always wondered what was going on.

I did have a big outbreak of Whitespot after introducing neons awhile back but it was treated and everyone lived through it, and there is no sign of it now. I also keep my tank at 28 and check them all everyday so I would have surely seen it by now. Very strange.

The fact that whatever has been irritating them for the past... 6 months or more, hasn't displayed any other "negative" symptoms, they still do their breeding behaviour as well as look healthy. I'm beginning to doubt that it's flukes. Maybe something in the water... I think I will add some fresh carbon to the filtration once my course of droncit is finished.

So this is a bit of an old post, but my rams are no longer flashing. I dosed the 60L tank with prazi (multiple times) and I noticed they still flashed. They are in my 400L tank now for about 3 weeks and I haven't seen them flash once.

I have a theory as to what was making them flash...

I used to to about 40% water change a week on my 60L tank and the water I was added was roughly a ph of 6.0 and the tank sat around 7.0 I'm wondering if the flashing was a sign of irritation due to the sudden change in ph that would then stabilize back up to 7.0 over the course of the week?

Going from 6.0 to 7.0 is a big jump (remember it is a logarithmic scale) so it is quite possible as I believe these fish are sensitive to pH (don't have them myself so can't comment on experience :-? )