Fish won't stop rubbing on houses...

[Tayles]

Okay, I took everyone's advice and got a few tester kits, I got an ammonia tester kit, and a nitrite tester kit. (Would have gotten a pH tester kit but have "Aqua Safe" which balances out pH issues, might wind up getting it in the end...) The ammonia is at 0.25 and the nitrite is at 0.00. And STILL the male and female platies(And I even caught the Betta doing it) rub on the little cave house we have in the tank with them. They do it every day, and it seems like it's hurting them because instead of doing it all the way really quickly now they do it very slowly, very lightly a few times... one of the females even just sits on the house and rubs her body on it. They're all seemingly healthy, I use "Easy Balance", "Aqua Safe", "Chlor-Out", "Doc Wellfish's Aquarium Salt", and "Crystal Clear" (for when it gets cloudy)... any ideas on why they won't stop rubbing? In my opinion the water is about as good as it's going to get, and I've done a partial water change to remove neutral nitrite or nitrate whichever it is. Let me know, thanks!

 

[420Loach]

does it leave any scratches on them? if they are doing this they either are a little stressed out or they are in the begining stages of ich. sounds like your doing everything correctly so keep doing it and let us know how it turns out! good luck!

 

[Tayles]

It could be that they are stressed out, considering that the zebra danio was in there alone and was chasing the yellow female platies. However, I don't know what the Betta or the male platy has to be stressed over... Also, lately the male platy has been sitting above my undergravel filter where the bubbles come out (of the carbon area)... maybe that soothes his itch? Doesn't seem like ich, but if it is I'll kill myself. I'm so tired of that disease, lol. I just wanna pick them up and say "what's wrong, what can I do to help you?" but they would just look at me and flap around. oi I love fish now but they're kinda hard to understand sometimes =P
Just wish I knew what could make them stop itching. As for does it leave any scratches, I don't know. How would I be able to tell?

 

[Leopardess]

yeah, constant scratching sounds to me like the beginning of ich, or some other external parasite. I don't imagine that the water itself would cause a fish to do that anyway. Look at them very closely for spots of any sort, try adding some salt and maybe some parasite medicine. Also, because they might be getting little cuts, i would add something to ward of secondary infections to avoid any nasty infection that they may get in the wounds. Try marycin I and II, or marycin plus. I would also add some stress coat.

 

[Tayles]

Well, I don't currently have a car to run out, and won't have one until maybe the middle of this week/the end of this week... will melafix do anything? Have a whole bottle here. I don't see any signs of ich on them, and just did a partial water change on Friday the 4th, and added 2 tablespoons of Doc Wellfish's aquarium salt. Should I add more?

 

[420Loach]

your doing good! not sure if melafix will help or not. is your tank well decorated? maybe they are stressed because they dont have a hiding space. maybe do another waterchange in a day or so.

if its not ich or stress then all i can think of is the fish dont like the decoration (heheheh j/k)

 

[Tayles]

Yeah it's very well decorated, lol. They have 2 of the neon houses/caves to hide in, 2 big green plastic decoration plants, 1 little "weeds" type plastic plant, and octopus wrapped around a sign that says "No fishing" (was too cute had to have it) and a piece of coral from the ocean that was cleaned and dried out then put in there. (Makes good algae for the sucker fish lol) and blue and white gravel rocks. I'd say it's decorated enough, I said it was too decorated and my gf said that it's fine, so all the same... they've got plenty of places to hide.

 

[catfishmike]

drop the coral,that could be half your problem.coral is rough and your tank is still new.as a tank ages a slime coat accumilates on all the decos.there probably isn't any slime on the coral yet and when the fish touch the coral it scuffs the fish up.the scuffing then leads to stress(compounded by cycling)and there you have it sick fish.do a small water change,get out soon and get some cycle or biospira(biospira perferably as i find it a better product)also don't use a chemical med unless you want your snail to die cause snails and other inverts are sensitive to chemical based meds and will kill them.also you are way overstocked.you MUST drop the plecos soon as they will grow too large and there will be no way to prevent ammonia poisioning

 

[Tayles]

Hmm... I'll tell my gf about the coral, but seems that they don't go anywhere near the thing, just the sucker fish occasionally jumps on it and sucks, but that's become rare as well. Way overstocked? I was told 1 fish per gallon, all we got is 10 fish and 1 snail (he's cool) and the gold sucker fish or one of the pleco's will be removed and going into the 10 gal tank that is currently cycling. We've had them since the beginning, them things can survive anything, they've had ich, and fin rot. but now they're back to being totally healthy. I know about ammonia poisoning, and that's why we keep a real close eye on the ammonia. Don't know how else to just "drop" them without just killing them for no good reason, and that wouldn't be doable (too kind of a heart)... the ammonia in that tank stays low, that's why we use "Easy Balance" and "Aqua Safe", to keep our fishies healthy.

Btw: I love clownfish, I think they are SOOOO beautiful. One day gonna have me some =)

 

[catfishmike]

you were told wrong the rule is one inch pre gallon and that can be a very wrong rule.thats only good for small fish.easy balanc \e is snake oil i have worked at a store that was a tetra certifiyed retailer and basicly they explaned to us that easy balance was to replace what water changes would if the fisk keeper didnt cjhange their water.water changes are a vital part of a fish tank therefore why buy something that comes free and is more benifical than giving tetra your money.also aqua safe is just a dechlorinater so if you already use chlor-out why use aqua safe.i understand your attacment to your fish but i serious ALL your fish will suffer if you keep those plecos.return the plecos and get some when you have a big tank like a 75 gallon or something.i'm not trying to be a fish snob just giving you some strong advice that will give you the chance to keep and grow out the other fish.
one last thing plecos don't grow to the size of their tank it's myth and plecos will grow untill they're done.