fish rubbing

[MdngtRain]

so I tried to look up other threads , but found no difinitive answers.

One of my female guppies started rubbing herself on the plants in the tank (and likely the gravel also). I don't see any evidence of ick or parasites... she's the only one in teh tank doing it, tho all the adult guppies in the tank have done it in the past. I'm not really keen on doing anything chemical unless I have to.

according to my test strips, all parameters are "safe." I know test strips are not that accurate, but it's too icy to hit up any lfs's at the moment.

The tank recently had a filter change b/c there was a lot of over-flow happening with the HOB filter. I have rinsed it in the past, but that filter cartrage seemed too far gone.

it's a 10g with:
3 adult guppies
3 adilt neons
~20 guppy fry
1 cherry shrimp

any advice is greatly appreciated!
Thanks
Chrissy

 

[aakaakaak]

I don't have shrimp, so I don't know how well they'd do with this, but you can crank up your heat to about 85ish for a week to kill ich and velvet. Possibly even other parasites or whatnot. If that doesn't work then your down to meds. Pimafix and Melafix have worked well for me in the past. I try to keep away from them if I can. You'd probably have to move your cherry shrimp for that though.

NOTE: Adding heat reduces oxygen. Increase the airflow in the tank.

 

[MdngtRain]

NOTE: Adding heat reduces oxygen. Increase the airflow in the tank.

I don't have an airstone or pump, and can't get out today, but will do it starting tomorrow. I have plants in there, so I hope that helps too. I will try to move the shrimp somewhere, but I don't want to put him in the bigger tank in case it is something contageous. Coult he do ok in a bowl with a filter for the week or so that I have to keep the temp higher?

thanks!
Chrissy

 

[aakaakaak]

I really don't know much about shrimp except they taste good with cocktail sauce.

 

[IThinkTherefore]

Shrimp shouldn't be any more sensitive to the heat than the fish, but none of them will appreciate a sudden temperature change. Make sure that you only increase a few degrees at a time so as not to shock them

 

[paperdog9]

he should be fine in a bowl, just make sure the filter has been cycled (you can simply run it in a different tank for a while) and if it were me I would put in some live plants in there too.
The shrimp should be fine in the tank as long as you don't crank the temperature up over 85 degreesF. If you want to stay on the safe side and put him in a bowl though, make sure the temperature is more then 65 degrees F. Also make sure you heat the tank up very slowly, like maybe 1 or 2 degrees per hour.
Good luck!

 

[paperdog9]

Shrimp shouldn't be any more sensitive to the heat than the fish, but none of them will appreciate a sudden temperature change. Make sure that you only increase a few degrees at a time so as not to shock them

Baaaahhh! You beat me!

 

[IThinkTherefore]

Haha! Great minds XD

 

[MdngtRain]

thanks. i don't have an extra heater, or one that'd small enough to fit the bowl, so I will leave him where he is. I will start the temp increase now, and do it extra slowly so no one goes into shock. Thank you so much!!

 

[paperdog9]

Good luck!

 

[nanu156]

just crank the heat. I wouldn't remove him unless you decided that he was a long ways gone and were going to flush him, if it is ich or velvet it's likely that everyone has it.

grab a flashlight and shine it on your fish, this makes ich easier to see, although honestly rubbing is a pretty good sign you have it, I would treat anyway with heat.