hi, some of my African cichlids scratch them self again the rock or bottom why is this? my water levels are ok, is this something they do? they dont look sick and are very active even my tiger bard do it.

Sounds like first signs of Ich not sure though. Do you see any white spots on any of them? Has the tiger done this before or is this new for him?

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20 Gallon, 6 zebra dinos, 4 green tigers, 3 dojo loach's, 2 blue gourami's, 2 GBR's, 2 bristle plecto's, 2 longfin rosybarbs, 1 syno cat, 1 leopard puffer
25 Gallon, 2 clown loach's, 1 yoyo loach, 1 veil angle, 1 royal plecto, 1 female krib.
36 Gallon bowfront, 1 Green Severum, 2 Auratus, 1 Venustus, 1 Acei, 1 Kenyi, 1 Duboisi, 1 Demasoni, 2 other africans I haven't identified, 2 Pictus Cat, 1 Rainbow shark, 3 tertas, 1 Firemouth cichlid

not at all i have check them all nothing and no other type of sickness. they just scratch them self

I've noticed mine do the same generally within 2 weeks Ich shows itself. At the same time some do it and have not gotten ich at all so I think they might also rub against things. I rly don't know my first cichlid tank still trying to figure them out. The best thing to do is keep an close eye on them watch for lack of eating or no eating at all. see if they start to become a bit lethargic. If this occurs I would begin treating for ich. my cichlid tank has had ich for almost 3 weeks now. took me awhile to notice it (for shame on me) but there are many proven methods to combating ich.

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20 Gallon, 6 zebra dinos, 4 green tigers, 3 dojo loach's, 2 blue gourami's, 2 GBR's, 2 bristle plecto's, 2 longfin rosybarbs, 1 syno cat, 1 leopard puffer
25 Gallon, 2 clown loach's, 1 yoyo loach, 1 veil angle, 1 royal plecto, 1 female krib.
36 Gallon bowfront, 1 Green Severum, 2 Auratus, 1 Venustus, 1 Acei, 1 Kenyi, 1 Duboisi, 1 Demasoni, 2 other africans I haven't identified, 2 Pictus Cat, 1 Rainbow shark, 3 tertas, 1 Firemouth cichlid

yeah i been keeping a close eyes on all of them, i do have ick treatment on standby just in case my water perimeters are the way they are suppose to be so will see.

If it's ich I would recommend turning up the heat a little and maybe adding some salt first and try t avoid the meds. They are not really fish friendly and they kill those wonderful bacteria in the tank.

I have not looked to find out but are the fish that are scratching the type to lay eggs on that stuff?? I'm wondering if that might be why they are scratching.

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10gal fry tank planted with Wisteria, Java Moss, Anuabis and Anacharis
35gal Sponge Bob tank with live bearing tropicals (daughters tank)
15gal planted with Swords, Java Fern, Wisteria and Red Rubin housing 10 fry and 2 bladder snails
55 gal with Oscar (future planted tank with angels and flowerhorns)
55 gal Community tank (platys, mollys, guppys, glass catfish, angels, phantom tetra, red eye tetra and swordtails)

here's a pi of my cichlid tank they all rub up against something but only severum is show visible sign's of ich.

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20 Gallon, 6 zebra dinos, 4 green tigers, 3 dojo loach's, 2 blue gourami's, 2 GBR's, 2 bristle plecto's, 2 longfin rosybarbs, 1 syno cat, 1 leopard puffer
25 Gallon, 2 clown loach's, 1 yoyo loach, 1 veil angle, 1 royal plecto, 1 female krib.
36 Gallon bowfront, 1 Green Severum, 2 Auratus, 1 Venustus, 1 Acei, 1 Kenyi, 1 Duboisi, 1 Demasoni, 2 other africans I haven't identified, 2 Pictus Cat, 1 Rainbow shark, 3 tertas, 1 Firemouth cichlid

It's called flashing try google and see what else can cause it. Flashing means the fish is itchy so it can be caused by anything that makes the fish itchy. Ich is the most obvious answer (and can take a long time to show) but there are lots of other causes too like other parasites, ph swing, high ammonia or chemicals like chlorine in the water. Do you notice it after a water change? Do you use any chemical additive like ph down? Have you tested ammonia and nitrites?

i dont use ph down and my ammonia and nitrites are in 0ppm

If it does turn out to be ich, I second the other poster's suggestion of adding salt and raising the temperature of the tank - slowly - to around 86 F. You do this for about 2 weeks and this keeps the ich from being able to reproduce and speeds up its life cycle, and so the ich dies. I have used this method before and it worked wonderfully. Those ich chemicals are nasty - some are carcinogenic so be careful.

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55 gallon:1 adult albino eureka cichlid, 1 juvenile albino peacock, 1 juvenile yellow lab, 1 juvenile blue mbuna, 1 juvenile red zebra, 1 pleco

Iv'e read also that Ick is attracted to light and will swim toward it and spread around the tank but it was a long time ago that I read that, you might want to check and see if that's accurate. Also watch for clamped fins which is a sign of discomfort.

Don't get paranoid about it, my mbunas do it all the time and they are fine and VERY healthy. Just keep an eye out for ich starting on them but chances are they are just being normal.

Iv'e thought my fish had ick a few times. Turns out they are just weird. :p A good thing to do is to watch them for a few minutes everyday. You'll get to know their quirks and if something is wrong you'll know right away. I stopped watching them before and they were darting around the tank one day. I was worried and kept watching them after that but now I know it's normal for them to be spastic every so often.

Hey I'm new to this forum but I had the same question in my ACA forum. Great advice from everyone. My fish flash all the time and I've had them for about 3 Months now. Other hobbyist mentioned that if you have fine substrate that they are just itchy.

There are a multitude of explanations for Africans kind of scraping them self on the substrate.
I have very fine white sand and mine do it all the time. I run my tank at 28oC.
Reasons i have been told can be but not limited to:
Itch or some other condition your fish are suffering from, but this would only happen if your temp is a bit too low.
Or
They just do it. Africans, particularly Malawi's, natural bottom is sandy and they do "eat" sand and then let it out their gills. This cleans their gills and is good for them. It's also kinda neat. Mine also shift sand all the time.

As previously mentioned, I'd increase your temp to at least 28oC. I'm sorry I don't know the F equivalent.

I would shine a flashlight on them at night to see if you see any gold like dusting.I didnt see the mention of velvet at all up there so I thought I would suggest it myself.You treat this with a copper based medication.Flashlight them first though.

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