# fish diving and rubbing their sides against the sand



## Guest (Apr 23, 2011)

so i notice that some of my fish are diving down and like scraping their sides on the sand at the bottom of the tank.. is this normal? levels are all good


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## Kanorin (Apr 8, 2008)

This is called "flashing."
Some amount of flashing is totally normal (maybe around 0-10 flashes per hour? - I'm just estimating), but excessive flashing could be indicative of an infection in the scales, which is most often Ich.

Note that fish will often flash more often right after a water exchange. This isn't cause for alarm.


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## Guest (Apr 23, 2011)

yea i did my water changes thursday morning... it was only 1 fish in my big tank and i noticed a few days ago one fish in a diff tank doing it its not all of them or that often i jus didnt know what it was


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## misterted (Sep 12, 2003)

check your water temperature. If they are cold or hot they will also do this.


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## Guest (Apr 24, 2011)

78.8 and 80.0


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

What is 80.0?


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## Guest (Apr 24, 2011)

i have 2 tanks i saw this happening in those were the temps in both tanks when that person posted that i went and looked lol


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

I believe it's more common with a change in hardness, rather than temperature.


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## newforestrob (Feb 1, 2010)

check the ph out of the tap(let sit for 24 hrs with aeration)then check ph of tank water right before your water change


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## Guest (Apr 24, 2011)

my ph is 7.8 in the tank.. idk i do my changes the same way all the time so idk why all of a suddne theyd be flashing more... you mean let the water sit that im going to use for the water changes sit out for 24 hours before i add it? cuz thats no possible i have 8 tanks that all need water changes once a week and only a few tubs to do it with


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

You do just a test of water standing 24 hours after being drawn from the tap. For some there is a dramatic drop in pH. If that is happening in your tanks, it could explain flashing.


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## Guest (Apr 25, 2011)

so if thats the case what do i do about that?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

You would treat the water according to the pH after sitting 24 hours since that is what will happen in your tank and you would want to avoid the swing.


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## Guest (Apr 25, 2011)

yea but id still have to add the water to the tank first i dont have enough holding space to have 24 gallons of water sitting out for 24 hours.. er actually thatd only be for one tank so itd be ALOT of water id have to leave out which i jus wouldnt be able to do.. would it be wise to put the buffer in like i do.. then in 24 hours test again and re-treat accordingly? also how much malawi and tang buffer would you recommend to adjust the ph up how much.. like if i put in buffer and then in 24 hours my ph in my malawi tank is 7.4 jus for example how much more would i want to add? my tang tank looks like its at 8.4 right now after i put 1.5tsp/10g of seachem tang buffer


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## Ed 718 (Dec 18, 2010)

subscribed for reference....

I see my guys doing the same from time to time so I am also wondering what that might be.


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## DanniGirl (Jan 25, 2007)

m1ke715m said:


> yea but id still have to add the water to the tank first i dont have enough holding space to have 24 gallons of water sitting out for 24 hours.. er actually thatd only be for one tank so itd be ALOT of water id have to leave out which i jus wouldnt be able to do.. would it be wise to put the buffer in like i do.. then in 24 hours test again and re-treat accordingly? also how much malawi and tang buffer would you recommend to adjust the ph up how much.. like if i put in buffer and then in 24 hours my ph in my malawi tank is 7.4 jus for example how much more would i want to add? my tang tank looks like its at 8.4 right now after i put 1.5tsp/10g of seachem tang buffer


No need to have 24 gal. of water sitting around for 24 hours. -Just fill a gallon bucket (or whatever you use for water chages) and let it sit for 24 hours, then check the pH. 
Cross-check those results against the results from your aquariums.

No need for a store-brand buffer, just use baking soda. Read this article---> http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/w ... mistry.php


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I think his question is, OK what if his water DOES change pH after sitting 24 hours? How do you treat with 2 different pH's to consider. I don't know the answer.


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## DanniGirl (Jan 25, 2007)

DJRansome said:


> I think his question is, OK what if his water DOES change pH after sitting 24 hours? How do you treat with 2 different pH's to consider. I don't know the answer.


If he uses a buffer, it shouldn't matter.
Theoretically, if his pH is 7.8 straight out of the tap, then he should add enough baking soda to keep it at 7.8. Keeping that in mind, (I guess I'm retracting what I said...LOL! -Blame it on being tired...) there's no need to measure it after 24 hours because it won't drop. His fish are use to the tap water pH so all he needs to do is introduce a buffer to keep it stable.

I think he should check the pH from the tap and the pH from the aquariums then go from there.


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