Ich

[machotaco]

Hi everyone. 2 days ago I brought home some tetras, and some ich . I caught it very early as it is only visible on the new fish. And no I didn't quarantine then because my parents won't let me have another tank in my room. Over the last few days I've made the temperature 88 Fahrenheit. I don't really like the idea of meds as really I think they are a last resort. What else can I do?

Params

PH 6.8
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 10-20ppm

Tank is 45 gallons medium planted set up 2 months ago stocks with

10 black phantom tetras who seem to like the corkscrew val on the left side a lot

2 bushy nose plecos



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[Pamiam]

I had success without using meds.


Besides keeping tempts high ( mine was at 80 degrees, my fish would not tolerate your high tempt) I used extra oxygen, it is a must to add more air flow as the high tempts decrease oxygenation. Also do frequent water changes of 50% daily, especially cleaning the substrate as this is where most of the ick are. I also cleaned my filter daily...you have to figure ick is everywhere. I also over fed my fish to help keep their strength up...you are cleaning the tank daily so excess food is not a problem.

 

[dalto]

High temps is really all you need to do. That and wait 10 days.

Just make sure you are getting enough oxygen at those temps.

 

[Mebbid]

I had success without using meds.


Besides keeping tempts high ( mine was at 80 degrees, my fish would not tolerate your high tempt) I used extra oxygen, it is a must to add more air flow as the high tempts decrease oxygenation. Also do frequent water changes of 50% daily, especially cleaning the substrate as this is where most of the ick are. I also cleaned my filter daily...you have to figure ick is everywhere. I also over fed my fish to help keep their strength up...you are cleaning the tank daily so excess food is not a problem.

Ich will actually thrive at 80 degrees, it needs to be at 86 minimum to effectively kill the parasite. Once you raise the temperature up to 86 degrees by increasing it by 1 - 2 degrees every hour you need to keep it there for 2 weeks after the last visible signs of ich are gone. Oxygenation is important at this point because at higher temps the water holds less oxygen and that can suffocate the fish.

 

[machotaco]

So 2 weeks at 87~ with lots of water changes should take care if it? You guys (or girls) are awesome! Thanks so much.


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[Pamiam]

At 80 degrees the ick life cycle speeds up considerably...maybe do your research on pubmed, I am a biologist and geneticist, I think I know what I am talking about when it comes to parasites. And as I stated, my fish would not survive the higher tempts, that is why I treated mine at that tempt. My ick was gone in 3 days.

I have never had tetras, I don't know what their environmental parameters are.

At 90 degrees, ick will not survive but neither would my fish.

It is bad manners trying to show someone up.

 

[Mebbid]

At 80 degrees the ick life cycle speeds up considerably...maybe do your research on pubmed, I am a biologist and geneticist, I think I know what I am talking about when it comes to parasites. And as I stated, my fish would not survive the higher tempts, that is why I treated mine at that tempt. My ick was gone in 3 days.

I have never had tetras, I don't know what their environmental parameters are.

At 90 degrees, ick will not survive but neither would my fish.

It is bad manners trying to show someone up.

It may be "bad manners" to try and show someone up but it's far more important to have the proper information supplied in order to resolve the infection and save fish.

You're right, at 80 degrees the life cycle of ich DOES speed up. Hence why I stated that it thrives at those temperatures.

Ich will actually thrive at 80 degrees

At 80 degrees however there is absolutely NOTHING preventing it from breeding and multiplying unless you pull all of the fish out of the tank and house them in a hospital tank. Which at that point, you still need to treat them in some fashion. At 80 degrees you're just exacerbating the problem.

Your fish may not have survived a higher temperature however most people don't have the problem. For cold water fish alternative methods of ich control need to be visited. Whether you use salt, copper, metronidazole, or whatever your preferred medication is.

I've actually done quite a large amount of research on the topic of ich thank you, so I will post some of the pertinent information I've come across.

This is the second best article I've found to date on ich. The first however, was dealing specifically with marine ich.
Understanding and Treating Ich or White Spot

The second approach is to actually destroy the organism with heat, and can be combined with the salt treatment below, but not with meds. The data I studied (including a report by the Southern Regional Aquaculture Center, which is currently archived here) suggests that most strains of Ich cannot reproduce at temperatures above 85ºF.

The link to the peer reviewed article that statement was based off of seems to be down so I looked it up just for you.

https://srac.tamu.edu/index.cfm/getFactSheet/whichfactsheet/123/

Typically, Ich cannot reproduce
properly at water temperatures above 85o F

 

[dalto]

At 80 degrees the ick life cycle speeds up considerably...

This is certainly true. But my experience is that 80 degrees and additional cleaning is not enough to truly rid yourself of Ich. Please don't take this the wrong way, I am not saying it did not work for you.

Since these threads tend to live on, I am just wanting to be clear that this treatment probably won't work for most people. If on the other hand the 80 degree temperature were combined with salt, that would be a different story.

EDIT: It seems mebbid posted a more thorough response 1 minute before me

 

[machotaco]

Thank you for the articles mebbid. They are very informative. I am using my air stone even with live plants to provide the extra oxygen. This is a little off topic and I'm not expecting anyone to know the answer but I'm going I be adding 2 more lights today as well as some hornwort to float on top to help subdue the light in some areas. I heard in very oxygenated water hornwort dies. Is this true? Normally I wouldn't worry but with the air-stone in I would hate to see my new plant die.


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[Mebbid]

Thank you for the articles mebbid. They are very informative. I am using my air stone even with live plants to provide the extra oxygen. This is a little off topic and I'm not expecting anyone to know the answer but I'm going I be adding 2 more lights today as well as some hornwort to float on top to help subdue the light in some areas. I heard in very oxygenated water hornwort dies. Is this true? Normally I wouldn't worry but with the air-stone in I would hate to see my new plant die.


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I've never heard anything about that and honestly, it would surprise me if it was true.

 

[machotaco]

Wonderful. I'm off to go shopping then


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