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For months I have seen periodic flicking against objects by my fish, but nothing steady. I've watched after water changes to see if it was just subtle changes in pH with new water, but no flicking. After months, I finally got smart enough to suspect one of my ferts. I use the flourish line. This past week I've been adding some of each fertilizer, one each day. I observed the tank on and off for the next half hour. I had not seen any flicking in my tank for the past week, but I had not added ferts.

No itching after Flourish
No itching after Flourish Potassium
No itching after Flourish Iron
No itching after Flourish Trace

Within 10 minutes of putting Flourish Excel in the tank, I had a flicker. It will be gone by tomorrow.

Has anyone else seen this with a fertilizer or additive, especially Excel?

Di,

Have you ever noticed that some people just love to jump to conclusions? Flicking! It must be gill flukes or protozoan parasites or red state liberals or something else! Sometimes it is just a new item in the environment.

My fish often flash (flick?) after a water change. Just an environmental change to make them shake.

Last edited by bob wesolowski at 19-Mar-2005 08:47

__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

its probably like snorting at a new smell for horses, or modifying your breathing at a strange sensation associated with air in humans.

have you tried halving the dose of Excel?

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

- The excel I'm using is less than full strength because I suspected it was the culprit. Instead of two fish flicking, I have just one. It was pretty obvious that it was something in the environment because any time I seen it, it was a different 2-3 fish that were flicking and it always subsided by the next day. One time it could be a guppy and a rasbora, the next time it could be two white clouds. Never consistent.

My habrosus were flicking too and I do believe that they are dealing with some type of parasite/protozoan. I've had them in a sterile tank with no additives and one continues to flick and scratch every day. I've had them through copper sulfate among some other things. My next step will be formalin if it continues. I had to put them in the bare bottom tank because I strongly believe their flicking on the flourite led to severe barbel erosion. If they never flicked, I think their barbels would have been fine.