# New fish are flashing



## Chlov99 (Jun 1, 2015)

Hi, I just set up a new tank yesterday, and some of the fish are flashing (at least I think that's the right word - they are dipping down and rubbing their sides on the sand).

It's a 90 gal. tank with washed pool filter sand for substrate, granite rocks for décor/caves, a few plants, an HOB filter, powerhead, bubbler, 2 heaters.
The fish are yellow labs, yellow tail acei, ruby red peacocks, and catfish. All are juveniles. I've only fed them "cichlid pellets" from the pet store, so far.

The water parameters today:
Temp = 78 F
pH = 8.1
Ammonia = none detected
Nitrites = none detected
Nitrates = none detected

Our water is relatively hard, but I don't have a kit to test for that.

Any idea what could cause this? Could they be getting ich due to stress? They have undergone a lot of stress.... I purchased them from a local breeder 3 days ago, and I put them into a 55 gal. tank, but the tank started leaking a few hours later. I had to transfer them to a plastic bin, where they lived for 2 days with a bubbler, rocks, and sand, but no filter, while I obtained and set up a new 90 gal. tank.

Any ideas or advice would be very much appreciated! Thanks!!


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## TripleW (Apr 3, 2012)

Yeah it could be Ich...if so you should probably start seeing visible signs fairly quick. I could also have been something to do with being in the bin without biofiltration. I would just keep an eye on them and keep testing your water and see what happens. If you see ich start to develop start treating.


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## Fishnut71 (Dec 7, 2014)

All signs seems to point to stress, which leaves fish vulnerable to other things.

With all the parameters being zero, that tank apparently isn't cycled. Not good............particularly for fish that are already stressed and appears to have a secondary infection.

You need to look up "cycling an aquarium" and understand this very essential process.

At this point, you have 2 options if you want these fish to live and be healthy:
1) daily water changes (at least 30%, more is even better) for the next 3-6 weeks.

OR

2) buy "bacteria in a bottle" product and hope this will work in time

A tank is fully cycled when ammonia and nitrite are at zero and nitrate starts appearing


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

As mentioned, you should have a reading of nitrates in a cycled tank.
As you have 0 ammonia and nitrites, your fish should be ok for now. Check these levels daily. Perform water changes using a quality dechlorinator that detoxifies ammonia and nitrite. Keep levels below 1ppm. Eventually the cycle will complete but may take 4-6 weeks. 
To speed things up, you can add filter media from a mature healthy tank to your filter. In addition you can also try adding a bottled bacteria. Two products that I recommend are Dr. Tim's One and Only, and Tetra SafeStart.
Flashing can occur due to changes in water hardness and pH as well as from parasites. I wouldn't worry about Ich until you see some physical evidence of this parasite. It will appear like grains of salt on the fish.


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