The coming of ich?

DjBootleg

So I've noticed for the past week/week and a half my fish have been scrapping/rubbing up against the decor, plants, and gravel. No white spots on them at all. As I stated I first noticed them doing this about a week or so ago, I immediately did a partial water change, and added Quick Cure itch relief and removed the active carbon filter... Since then I haven't seen any improvements really. Still no spots.. Ive done 2 more partial water change since. Still nothing, and still no white spots. I keep up very well with the maintenance and haven't had a death in months (knock on wood lol). I have a heater in the tank a non adjustable one automatically sets it self to 74.. I've read online that they recommend to turn up the heat in the tank to help kill the infection. But like I said its not adjustable, however I do have an adjustable one in my other tank I can swap them out for the time being. But is this even the start of ich? Any advice would help.. Thanks!

DragonFyre14

It could be the coming of ich, or perhaps there is just metals in the water that are irritating your fish? If it is metal they will get used to it after a bit a believe.
Could it perhaps be gill flukes? This can be rather common, especially in cichlid tanks for some reason.
The heat would help if it is a parasite. Depending on what fish you have, and whether or not they can tolerate salt, I would add some aquarium salt to the tank. It can help get rid of both ich and gill flukes.

fish monger

74 is a pretty low temperature for most tropical fish. If you can, get an adjustable heater that will allow you to heat the water up into the 80s. You could very well have ich coming on and heat is part of the cure. In any event, I'd get a heater that provides more than 74 degrees so that you can stock a wider variety of fish. The stress caused by the relatively cool water could actually be causing your problems. My ich outbreaks have usually been preceded by a drop in temperature.