treating ick with heat

[tibob32]

So I found some white dots on my new killifish. I raised the temp to 86 to kill off the free swimmers. I've been advised to keep that temperature for 10 days. We're at day 5 and some of my fish have been starting to display different behaviours. My male swordtail and my pearl gourami are starting to be somewhat aggressive. Should I keep it up for 5 more days or chose a different route to treat it?

[Deleted User]

I'd raise the heat to like 82 (in your case, "lower" to 82) AND treat with medicine, such as Super Ick Cure. You dose that 2x, 48 hours appart, then after another 48 hours, do a partial water change (for example, dose tonight, Wednesday night, and do a pwc on Friday night). I wouldn't rely on increased temperature alone to treat ick.

[rich311k]

I have read on other sites. Not sure if it works or not, that raising your temp to 88-90F will kill ich. I would go slow and add an airstone if you try it. High temps means a lot less O2 in the water. You would need to leave the temp elevated for two weeks after all signs of ich our gone.

I think a good ich med would be a wiser choice.

[bigbad-ratman]

i treated a pretty severe case of ich with a heater and daily PWC's. over a couple of days a raised my heater to 88 and did the water changes. took a little over a week and fish were happy. at which point i lowered the heat 2 degrees a day.

[Scrup]

increased temp has a few side effects-

lower o2 count in the water- airstones are highly advised
increased metabolism- they move more, seemt to have more energy, and they do require a bit more food, which could be the cause of the aggression. I know I am grumpy when I'm hungry.

[Lady Hobbs]

I prefer simply leaving temps where the fish are comfortable and treating with medications. I think it's faster to rid the tank of Ick, IMO. Medication lowers the oxygen in the tank as well as higher temps lower the oxygen. Therefore, you should not do both.......use medications and raise the temp. Most of the medications will tell you that.

[hybridguy]

I also would use medications, but not raise heat, i would slowly lower the temp back to normal and treat with meds. Raising the temp. does cause aggression in many fish.

[Not NEW Not OLD]

what do you do with clownloaches who cant tolerate the ick medicine... raise temps and do partials....

[Not NEW Not OLD]

well i lost four of my 8 clowns and the rest do not look so good... a cpl of my cherry barbs have it now...only the gold gouramis seem ok... if this tank dies off how do i make sure the ick is completely gone from the tank and all the rocks and decor...
thanks
NNNO

[Scrup]

Sorry to hear about your loss....

Scaleless fish can tolerate ich meds, just use it at half strength, or isolate them and treat the rest of the tank at full strength and the scaleless at 1/2 strength.

one thing to remember is like a lot of fish problems, there is an underlying cause. Chances are stress from something caused the fish to become susceptable to the parasite.

Ich doesn't just happen, may seem like it but there is always a reason. Have you tested the water? and what kind of aeration are you using? Is the tank a steady temp even overnight?

if the tank dies off depending on the temp the ich will die off on its own in 1-2 weeks, 3 to be safe. Keep up with the water changes and get some meds. They aren't dead yet.

[hybridguy]

well i lost four of my 8 clowns and the rest do not look so good... a cpl of my cherry barbs have it now...only the gold gouramis seem ok... if this tank dies off how do i make sure the ick is completely gone from the tank and all the rocks and decor...
thanks
NNNO


Sorry to hear you lost your clowns, they get ick very easy, once one gets it it spreads quickly to the others, i have used ick medication on clowns before and they were ok. also any fast temp. change can cause lots of stress to the clowns and cause ick. Keep fighting and maybe some will pull through.:ssmile:

[Not NEW Not OLD]

lost 3 more down to one...clown gold gouramis ok 2 of four cherry barbs have the spots keeping fingers crossed....not gonna dose again only gave one dose dont want to stress the last clown out...IF i have to tear the tank down... will ick die once it all dries out...or should i bleach or vinegar the gravel and all aquascape....

should i raise the ph slowly i can use the buffer from my cichlid tank...i heard that from a lfs guy...
Thanks
NNNO

[Lady Hobbs]

I'm confused. tibob32 started this thread about treating his Ick and now we are discussing your tank. Did you hijack his thread?

When the host is gone, the ick will just die out.

[Not NEW Not OLD]

i guess you could say i did, but its all about ick so why make another post....
down to two gold gouramis tank is fading fast....
anyway...