Joining in on the Ich fun! Let me talk about my experience with Ich...the first time I had Ich, I was a new aquarium owner, didn't know what the heck I was doing and they all ended up dying. I lost about 8 fish in that go-around. Fast forward to my next Ich outbreak. I thought I had stuff together and I would be able to handle the outbreak. So I added Ich medication, took out the filter, and left the temperature alone. Well, it was working, but very slowly. As a result, I lost a fish or two and the others, while looking better, were still not great. So I decided to crank the heat. Bad idea. I set the tank around 80-81, and made sure the heater was acclimated properly. Light shut off and an hour or two later, the tank was 80. Perfect. Well, I left for the night and came back home to a tank that was 84 and a mass grave on the surface of the water. I lost all my fish and that almost made me leave the hobby. SO ANYWAYS...
Don't crank the temperature much past 80 if you are doing medication...medication is tough on a fish on it's own...and usually, that combined with cranking the temp up can have bad effects. My third and final Ich outbreak was MUCH better. I simply used Aquarium salt and turned the temp to up around 80-81. I put in an extra tablespoon (it was 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons...I had 20 gallon tank and put in 5 tablespoons). After the Ich had cleared, out of the 12 fish I had in the tank, I lost 2...which is not bad at all. I left the filter in and didn't have to worry about the medication. Try salt and some heat first.
. I've read that the ich parasites can't latch on at 84 and can't reproduce at all at 86. If you can fix the issue without additives, that's usually best for your fish. What type of fish will you be adding?
. Great news...let us know how the new fish do.
