Can stray voltage cause scratching?

[dianapickles]

I'm currently waiting out to see if my fish really have ich, since they're still eating and don't show any signs of sickness apart from scratching.

However after finding out my tank has stray voltage, could this be the reason for scratching? Not all the fish have been scratching although my blue tang (aka ich magnet) is the scratchiest of them all.

I turned off the lights for now (the source of the voltage) and let some sunlight in. Still some scratching. But my wrasse came out of hiding.

Ich or not, the stray voltage definitely won't help with helping the fish fight off anything. How long can I keep lights off?

[Member No. 1]

Originally Posted by dianapickles

----> Snip
How long can I keep lights off?

Depends on what else you have in there for live stock. Fish only, quite a while with only ambient light. Now if you have corals, the length will depend on the type - soft, lps, sps. People do lights out treatment on sps tanks for a week at a time without major issues. Just be sure to ramp your lights back up slowly.

But as far as stray voltage causing the scratching, I'm in the "I don't buy the whole stray voltage/ground probe hokum" group. I can't see how it would effect anything since there isn't a direct path to ground. Think of a bird sitting on high voltage power lines, why doesn't it get fried? Simple, no path to ground.

[dianapickles]

Originally Posted by Member No. 1

Depends on what else you have in there for live stock. Fish only, quite a while with only ambient light. Now if you have corals, the length will depend on the type - soft, lps, sps. People do lights out treatment on sps tanks for a week at a time without major issues. Just be sure to ramp your lights back up slowly.

But as far as stray voltage causing the scratching, I'm in the "I don't buy the whole stray voltage/ground probe hokum" group. I can't see how it would effect anything since there isn't a direct path to ground. Think of a bird sitting on high voltage power lines, why doesn't it get fried? Simple, no path to ground.

I have softies mostly and a few lps. No sps. So I should be fine with lighting then.

And stray voltage wise? I know exactly what you're saying. It doesn't make sense to me either. However even when I'm on a chair, I still feel the voltage on my fingers. It's like a strange tingling. You'd think not being grounded I shouldn't be able to feel the voltage but I do. Especially fish... How the heck would they feel any voltage?

Idk. I'm still sceptical about it. Although like I said, I was on a chair and the tiniest cut felt like it was buzzing. Painful as ****. Nothing like a salt water sting.