Cure Ich without pet store remedy...?

[kaytiller]

Hello everyone,
Okay so my boyfriend's tank suddenly became absolutely over run with Ich (he thinks his recent Kuhli loaches brought it in), and so since everything is already closed tonight we planned to go in first thing in the morning, however we realized it's good friday and ALL the pet stores in the area are closed...
Are there any home remedies for Ich that you can maybe buy at the rare grocery store that will be open tomorrow? I know turning up the heat but will that clear everything up?
So unforutunate... Thank you for any help

 

[venymae]

Crank your heat (slowly!!!!!) up to 87 degrees. Do a BIG water change and gravel vacuum, then do 25% daily or every other day WC until no signs of ich. A week after no signs of ich, slowly reduce your temp to normal.

 

[venymae]

In my personal experience this worked much better then meds ever did for me. Here are the reasons it works:

Ich will not reproduce over a certain temperature, though upping the temperature can also speed up the lifecycle process. Ich lifecycle is three (well 4)stages.
1.In your fish
2.Free Swimming in the aquarium water (fish->gravel)
3.Cysted in the gravel
4.Free Swimming in the aquarium (gravel->fish)

By doing WC and gravel vacuums you are removing much of the cysted and free swimming parasites so they cannot reinfect your fish. This also keeps your water pristine so they don't succumb to secondary infection which is a risk when the ich bursts from their skin. The only time meds work on ich are during the free swimming stage.
The biggest problem in an aquarium is that, unlike in the wild, there are not a lot of hosts, so the same host (your fish) gets bombarded. The other thing to do is increase oxygen flow by adding an airbubbler or getting your filter to splash more by lowering your water level a bit. Ich often resides in the gills of fish and make it hard for them to breath. Ich takes a while to cure, with meds OR heat, so make sure you see it though (2 weeks can be normal )

 

[venymae]

Also loaches are sometimes sensitive to meds so research that before.

 

[hartgirl]

I treated my entire 87gallon tank for Ich about a month ago with no meds. I raised the temp slowly to 87 degrees F and treated with aquarium salt. I did one massive water change and then smaller changes every few days. The temp stayed high for about 3-5 days after I saw no more white spots. Didn't lose one fish! I hope that helps (oh and check your fishes' tolerance to salt- some may not do well with salt additive.

 

[venymae]

I'll just put in that I've never lost fish with heat method either (I don't use salt because I have tetras).

 

[MonkeyMonk86]

Kaytiller, you got good advise, but if you have future problems with stores closed post your location either in the thread or your profile or both. Someone might live near you and be able to share their meds with you.