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Hi, I noticed that my fishes scratch themselves some times on the bottom of the tank or rocks. I tot they hv ick. But on close examination, they looks ok on their skin. Should I add salt or medication ? I don't hv a test kit, but I do a 25-30% water change weekly. Thanks.

Sometimes fish just scratch, it could be something in the water, or they could really just have an itch. I would take some preventive measures however... Do two 20% water changes a week for a few weeks with water that matches the PH and TEMP perfectly. I would then dose with melafix and maybe a 1/4th dose of RidIch+ or QuickCure.

What kind of fish do you have first?

My YoYo loaches scratch on the gravel sometimes too (he was doin it this morning)

They did it about a month ago, and stopped, and their doing it again, but they do act like they have ich, but i just think something is bothering them, since i have yet to have an ich outbreak in my tank

Thanks for the advice. I will keep a close watch on them. My only worry is that medication on the cories. I read that cories are sensitive to medication.

It's true that sometimes cories can be sensitive to medication. This just means you should probably dose a bit less than recommended on the label, or if you want to be safe, remove them from the tank altogether.

I think it's important for you to invest in a test kit. Although it may not be such a big deal here, it could be later, and you don't want to end up hurting your fish with accidentaly extreme pH changes.

Also, if it doesn't look like they have any spots on their scales that look like ich, well, it probably isn't Ich. I think a more likely possibility is skin flukes or another type of parasite. Watch if the fish flash in addition to scratching themselves.

Also, the disease page on this site is very good. I recommend looking up the symptoms there.

Good luck!