Fish scratching - why?

[speg]

My coral beauty and my yellow tang are constantly scratching themselves on rocks lately.. so far they arent doing any damage to themselves but they are doing it quite often. I do not see any noticable reasons why they would do this.. no ich bumps etc. Their skin looks very nice.. I was thinking that maybe there are small parasites on them or something.... but why wouldnt all my fish be scratching then... maybe I need a cleaner wrasse? I'd ask my peppermint shrimp to clean them for me.. but i've spoiled them with shrimp pellets and they no longer clean fish =c(

 

[who dey]

when you say lately, how long?

 

[speg]

a week.

 

[kdfrosty]

Cant help you with disease, but I can tell you to avoid a cleaner wrasse. Not good for captivity.

 

[wax32]

Do they constantly scratch or just every once in a while? Fish get itchy too you know!

 

[speg]

It is only the two fish, coral beauty and yellow tang. The tang seems to scratch his stomach mostly on the sand and sometimes he'll slowly go to a rock that sticks out a bit and shift in reverse then go full force at the rock barely hitting his stomach with it.
The coral beauty seems to have a itchy right side.. They itch the same spots probably a couple times every few minutes... I dont know HOW often they do it.. as I cant watch them 24/7!
They seem plenty happy and eat lots..
If not a cleaner wrasse maybe some of them neon gobys? Or is it possible they just like to itch........

 

[who dey]

do you have a coral banded shrimp? tangs will scratch from time to time but should not be consistant. have you looked closely at the tangs side fins that is where ich usually tends to develop. dosing food with garlic can boost immune systems to fight off ich. i dose once a week regularly for preventative maintenance

 

[trainfever]

WHO DEY
You asked if he had a coral banded shrimp, but you didnt say why? What does the BCS have to do with his fish scratching?

 

[who dey]

a CBS can clean your fish of parasites once they establish a relationship after awhile. my CBS used to clean off my yellow tang i had back in college

 

[speg]

No I dont have one. He would molest my peppermints. I've looked both these fish over REALLY well and I see no signs of anything.. though I will continue to look of course. I do the garlic thing as well.

 

[trainfever]

Thanks Who Dey, I have a Copperband butterfly, a yellow tang and a CBS and they are all fighting over the same rock crevice. I knew when I bought the rock that it would make a nice crevice but I didnt think there would be this much fighting over it. LOL

 

[kaotik]

if you have a QT tank, i would put them in there and medicate for ich. sounds like early stages.