Do fish just itch sometimes?

346700984

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We have had a Copperband Butterfly fish and a Midas Blenny in quarantine for a month. They have never had spots or anything visible on them this entire time. On day 3 of them being in qt we saw Copperband itch so we started treating with Kick Ich and Rally and are still dosing Kick Ich while using Rally intermittently per both instructions. Copperband still itches once in a while, still no spots. Do some fish just itch sometimes? We’ve used these 2 Ruby Reef products before to treat ich, bacterial infection etc and have always had success so we know they work and that together they cover a broad variety of fish illness/issues including flukes, velvet, brook etc. Any thoughts on why this guy still itches sometimes? We’ve seen our 2 wrasse in one of our other tanks itch once in a great while, but there’s no disease in the other tanks. Everything goes through quarantine.
 

Uzidaisies

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I’m not sure if those medications work for flukes, but that would be a possibility. Is the fish hanging out at the top or bottom of the tank, or not swimming around much?
 
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346700984

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I’m not sure if those medications work for flukes, but that would be a possibility. Is the fish hanging out at the top or bottom of the tank, or not swimming around much?
Rally states that it treats flukes in the list of things it treats. The fish swims around like normal. Not acting weird. Eats.
 

Fish Think Pink

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We have had a Copperband Butterfly fish and a Midas Blenny in quarantine for a month. They have never had spots or anything visible on them this entire time. On day 3 of them being in qt we saw Copperband itch so we started treating with Kick Ich and Rally and are still dosing Kick Ich while using Rally intermittently per both instructions. Copperband still itches once in a while, still no spots. Do some fish just itch sometimes? We’ve used these 2 Ruby Reef products before to treat ich, bacterial infection etc and have always had success so we know they work and that together they cover a broad variety of fish illness/issues including flukes, velvet, brook etc. Any thoughts on why this guy still itches sometimes? We’ve seen our 2 wrasse in one of our other tanks itch once in a great while, but there’s no disease in the other tanks. Everything goes through quarantine.

are both fish itching or just Copperband Butterfly (CBB)?

When my CBB fish is stressed, it shimmies which might be interpreted as having an itch. It's very rare, haven't seen it happen in probably a month, but that twitch is just something I've observed other CBBs do.

My CBB has grown so confident I finally saw it chase my blue tang short distance - baby tang so maybe I'm overstating its confidence... lol

Eating is most important with CBB and glad yours is doing so. They can be slow eaters so I keep offering food until it slows down. My build thread has a post (or two) regarding my CBB
 

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Any number of things can cause a fish to itch, and not all of them are treatable with those medications. I don't know fish to itch without a reason, but there are varying causes and the severity of those causes varies. If it's eating and not displaying any other symptoms, I'd just continue what you're doing and keep an eye on it. No sense in stressing the fish further and/or unnecessarily medicating.

I've had fish occasionally flash without ever showing symptoms of anything. I usually just assume something I can't see (like a grain of sand) is irritating them and keep an eye on them to see if the frequency increases or symptoms appear. One of my blennies used to flash in what I felt was a display of aggression - only when a tankmate came too close to his crevice and then he'd immediately get right up int he other fish's face after aggressively rubbing on the rock. Never flashed otherwise and. So I wouldn't be surprised if nothing major is wrong, but I wouldn't think it's just flashing for no reason.
 

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If by itching you mean "flashing", then yes. I've had a number of fish flash intermittently over the years, with no other symptoms and no other fish exhibiting the same behaviour. I suspect that they suffered ammonia burns somewhere during collection and/or transportation, and that's one of the reasons I buy captive-bred fish these days.
 
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346700984

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are both fish itching or just Copperband Butterfly (CBB)?

When my CBB fish is stressed, it shimmies which might be interpreted as having an itch. It's very rare, haven't seen it happen in probably a month, but that twitch is just something I've observed other CBBs do.

My CBB has grown so confident I finally saw it chase my blue tang short distance - baby tang so maybe I'm overstating its confidence... lol

Eating is most important with CBB and glad yours is doing so. They can be slow eaters so I keep offering food until it slows down. My build thread has a post (or two) regarding my CBB
It’s just the Copperband itching. My husband thinks it seems as if maybe it’s trying to stir food up sometimes. It eats like a savage lol.
 

flyfisher2

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I like to think that everyone itches at some point but in fish it's usually irritation. Watch closely and if it persist it's probably a parasite that needs to be dealt with. Watch for more frequent itching, loss of appetite, rapid breathing, spots or dots.
Hopefully nothing.
Good luck
 

Jay Hemdal

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We have had a Copperband Butterfly fish and a Midas Blenny in quarantine for a month. They have never had spots or anything visible on them this entire time. On day 3 of them being in qt we saw Copperband itch so we started treating with Kick Ich and Rally and are still dosing Kick Ich while using Rally intermittently per both instructions. Copperband still itches once in a while, still no spots. Do some fish just itch sometimes? We’ve used these 2 Ruby Reef products before to treat ich, bacterial infection etc and have always had success so we know they work and that together they cover a broad variety of fish illness/issues including flukes, velvet, brook etc. Any thoughts on why this guy still itches sometimes? We’ve seen our 2 wrasse in one of our other tanks itch once in a great while, but there’s no disease in the other tanks. Everything goes through quarantine.

I would not rely on either kick ich or rally as a primary treatment in a quarantine tank, they just do not have enough proven effectiveness. I only recommend Rally for people who absolutely cannot move their fish to treat them, and then it is a second poorer choice to other medications.

Can you post a short video of the copperband?

You should consider treatment the QT with Prazipro, 2x, 8 days apart, with good aeration, just to ensure it isn't flukes.

Jay
 

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