Specs on inside of tank while treating ICH?

[robby]

I am treating my tank for ICH (heated to 90 degrees F), and I notice this on the side of my tank:

Are these bits of ICH attached to the side or are they something else?

I have a platy quarantined in a separate tank being treated with salt, and I don't see anything on the side of that tank.

 

[dkpate]

Is it air bubbles? Why do you have it all the way up to 90*? 86* is high enough to treat ich.

 

[BBradbury]

Treating "Ich"

Good morning robby...

The "ich" parasites will generally be living in the tank substrate or on a living host. I'm in agreement with dkpate, the optimum working temperature should be 86 degrees. Higher than that and you risk damage to your plants.

You should have an extra air stone running for added surface water movement. The warmer water won't carry as much oxygen and the fish will need it. The tank lights should also be turned off. The "Ich" parasite locates a host by sight. If you have a blanket handy, then you can cover the tank with it.

There's a very good article on the internet called "Ich: Prevention and Cure by E M Mahj. It would be worth reading.

B

 

[robby]

Thank you both.

Is it air bubbles? Why do you have it all the way up to 90*? 86* is high enough to treat ich.

Not air bubbles. I put it to 90 because I heard that some strains of ICH are more resistant than others and I wanted to be safe since I couldn't add any salt to the tank.

Good morning robby...

The "ich" parasites will generally be living in the tank substrate or on a living host. I'm in agreement with dkpate, the optimum working temperature should be 86 degrees. Higher than that and you risk damage to your plants.

You should have an extra air stone running for added surface water movement. The warmer water won't carry as much oxygen and the fish will need it. The tank lights should also be turned off. The "Ich" parasite locates a host by sight. If you have a blanket handy, then you can cover the tank with it.

There's a very good article on the internet called "Ich: Prevention and Cure by E M Mahj. It would be worth reading.

B

Thanks, I did read that article. The problem with heating to 86 degrees exactly is that if your thermometer is imperfectly calibrated, an 86 reading could actually be 84 or 85, which would speed up the spread of the disease but not kill it. 90 was probably erring on the side of caution so I will take it down a degree or two, but I don't think I want to let it stay under a reading of 88. I did increase it very slowly to ensure there were no changes in behavior. I have an airstone running in the back to keep oxygen in the water. I have had it heated for 10 days now. My red platy is a lot better but still has two white spots.

 

[dkpate]

The strain of ich that can live in temps above 86* is VERY rare.

The high temps don't actually kill the ich, it keeps them from reproducing.

If the platy still has spots on it after 10 days, you might have something else besides ich, possibly a secondary fungal infection from the "ich holes." Higher temps make fungus worse also, so make sure you check those spots really closely, to make sure they are ich.

If it IS still ich on the platy, remember that it can only be killed in it's free swimming stage, which is when it is in it's third stage. (The ich on the fish, the ich falling off the fish and forming a cyst in the substrate, and the ich cyst bursting and releasing more ich that reattaches onto the fish).