How do you treat Ick for Sensitive and Scaleless FISH?

[Bubble_B0y]

If you have sensitive/scaleless fish e.g. corydoras, loaches, elephant nose, black ghost knife.

How do you treat ick when you can't use medications or salt?

can High Temperature alone kill ick ? solely, is this effective treatment?

 

[Shane83]

If you have sensitive/scaleless fish e.g. corydoras, loaches, elephant nose, black ghost knife.

How do you treat ick when you can't use medications or salt?

can High Temperature alone kill ick ? solely, is this effective treatment?

Increasing temperature will speed up the life cycle of the parasite allowing you to treat for the least amount of time. Ich can only be killed during certain phases and not while it is in it's visible form eg white spot. That's why we have to treat for a certain number of days. That number depends on your temperature. You can still use medications, though I would steer clear of salt. I know the waterlife Protozin can be used at a half dose below 7 pH safely for loaches and other sensitive fish but you shouldn't use it on your elephant nose. I also believe malachite green can be used at a half dose, but check the bottle first.

 

[toddnbecka]

High temp alone will kill Ich, but may or may not be a good option, depending on the fish. Salt is safer than most other meds, though some pleco's are particularly sensitive to it. Why can't you use salt?

 

[LyndaB]

I have had great luck treating ich using the heat method. If I didn't catch the ich very soon in its process, then I will add a 1/2 recommended dose salt to my process, no matter the species. They all do well. I will not use meds for ich or really anything else. Pristine water is your fish's best remedy.

 

[Bubble_B0y]

High temp alone will kill Ich, but may or may not be a good option, depending on the fish. Salt is safer than most other meds, though some pleco's are particularly sensitive to it. Why can't you use salt?

I have corydoras and elephant nose (they don't have ick, but my swordtails have 1-2 spots)

I thought cories and electric fish cannot tolerate salt ???

 

[meegosh]

I've only used heat to cure 1 case of ich I've had. I've used it in friends tanks too with great success. I usually crank it up 1 or 2 degrees a day until it is at 86*F and then keep it there for 2 weeks after the last white spot disappears.

 

[Shane83]

High temp alone will kill Ich, but may or may not be a good option, depending on the fish. Salt is safer than most other meds, though some pleco's are particularly sensitive to it. Why can't you use salt?

Most scaleless fish including loaches, and some catfish are highly sensitive to salt, as are a lot of tetra species. The heat method can be very successful but don't fool yourself into thinking this is a truly 'safe' way to 'medicate'. High temps can be quite stressful to some fish if not done properly and also in extreme cases of white spot you have to be very careful with oxygen, given that it is assumed by many that is why the fish die from the disease in the first place. Make sure you aerate very well.

 

[kdpuffer]

I have also used strictly heat and it worked for me. I have tetras and live plants so salt or meds was something to avoid. Slowly raised temp to between 86-88 and left it there for three weeks with regular water changes/gravel vac and temp matched the water. Haven't seen a sign of it since.

 

[eco23]

Does anyone know for certain if heat alone actually KILLS Ich? My understanding, as mentioned, was that increased temp sped up their life cycle, but the salt was what actually kills the parasite. If I'm not mistaken, I thought their lifecycle ended up with them becoming dormant in the substrate waiting to attack again when a fishes immune system was down. Any proof that heat alone can fully eradicate Ich as opposed to simply making the outbreak not last as long?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Does anyone know for certain if heat alone actually KILLS Ich? My understanding, as mentioned, was that increased temp sped up their life cycle, but the salt was what actually kills the parasite. If I'm not mistaken, I thought their lifecycle ended up with them becoming dormant in the substrate waiting to attack again when a fishes immune system was down. Any proof that heat alone can fully eradicate Ich as opposed to simply making the outbreak not last as long?

This is the info I've been using to treat ich in my tanks.

The Ich life cycle is temperature dependent. Higher temperatures within its livable range speed up every stage of the life cycle, while the lower temperatures will slow it down. At 18°C/64°F the cycle takes 10-12 days to complete.

It has been found that Ich does not infect new fish at 29.4°C/85°F (Johnson, 1976), stops reproducing at 30°C/86°F (Dr. Nick St. Erne, DVM, pers. comm.), and dies at 32°C/89.5°F (Meyer, 1984), [1]

http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_ich2.php

 

[eco23]

This is the info I've been using to treat ich in my tanks.

The Ich life cycle is temperature dependent. Higher temperatures within its livable range speed up every stage of the life cycle, while the lower temperatures will slow it down. At 18°C/64°F the cycle takes 10-12 days to complete.

It has been found that Ich does not infect new fish at 29.4°C/85°F (Johnson, 1976), stops reproducing at 30°C/86°F (Dr. Nick St. Erne, DVM, pers. comm.), and dies at 32°C/89.5°F (Meyer, 1984), [1]

http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_ich2.php

Good info, thanks. So we've just got to slow roast our fish for a while and hope for the best

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Good info, thanks. So we've just got to slow roast our fish for a while and hope for the best

Lol! I'd have to say I was afraid of coming home to fish stew the first time.