How I treat FW ick

[HookedOnFishh]

I'm fairly new to the SW part of fish keeping, but I know so much about FW. I love using this method but it's WITHOUT MEDICATIONS! it is not recommend for: Dwarf cichlids, livebearers, planted tanks, tetras, or any other weak fish. Fish it is made for: Africans, monster cichlids, bigger types of fish or very tolerant cichlids, and goldfish.

1st step: Place fish in a QT or keep fish in your main tank.
2nd step: Up the temperature of the tank in the 80 F range. Don't go over 95 F it will put stress on the fish but it will kill he ich.
3rd step: Get aquarium salt and pour it in! Make sure it's a good enough amount and it will raise the salinity a little bit. If your a SW keeper hygrometers will work.

Lastly, the ick should fall off in chunks I'm not joking chunks! I did do this to a monster tank that had ick wiped out the ick in 2 days! A dangerous process but works flawless unless used on fish not recommended for! I hope this helps!

*once ick is gone do a water change take salt out
** then lower the temp slowly FW ick can't take high temps or salt


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[Matt68005]

80f is a big, sensitive range. You should be more specific. Old Pete from Aquabid has a good method that i like. Keep a Heater preset to 86f. Drop it in along with a handful of AQ salt and some quick cure, if they get better, great, if not.....it "a weak fish and i dont want to deal with it" to quote him
That was his response when i asked him what meds he used.....
OFC this is ONLY gonna work for external parasites.....ovbiously if he gets fish in with bacterial diseases or internal parasites he culls them.
I have not run into Ick very much in my fishkeeping years. I have ran into every other stinking disease known to mankind, but ick has never been a major problem.

 

[acewiza]

Great timing on this thread for me: Apparently the new fish I brought home last week came with some unwanted parasites, obviously ick. Maybe the 2 are not connected, because he doesn't have it, but a few others do. Can somebody suggest a good amount of salt to use in 190 gallons?

TIA

 

[sinibotia]

I use 2-3 tablespoons for 5 gallons.

You're gonna need a lot of salt....

 

[acewiza]

> 3 Pints of Salt!

I think I'm going to set up a small quarantine tank and put the sick guys in there.

 

[sinibotia]

I think I'm going to set up a small quarantine tank and put the sick guys in there.

You'll have to move all of the fish. The way freshwater ich works is that once it's in the tank the only way to get rid of it is to treat ALL the fish in the infected tank. Because the parasite you see on the fish is only a fraction of the ich's life cycle; the rest occurs off of the fish so your other fish will still get infected.

If you move all of the fish, then the ich will die in the main tank without a host.

 

[coralbandit]

I have a 180g among my 1,000+g.
No salt here....
Real meds to kill ich...
+1 with sini about moving fish...
Infected tank has to be fishless for at least 1-2 weeks if treating fish in another tank...

Ich | The Skeptical Aquarist
Know the enemy .
Worth reading...

I have the 1/2 gallon bottle of kordon rid ich!
For real...

 

[Caliban07]

I defeated Ich by turning the temp to 30 degrees for 2 weeks. I added a UV steriliser, gravel vac'd and changed water often. No salt or meds but turning the temp up can be stressful for some fish.


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[acewiza]

I remember having an ick infection once many years ago around the time I started this hobby, but nothing about it other than that. Now at least 15 years later I have a much bigger tank and more fish, so the problem obviously becomes an order of magnitude worse. I'm in the process of treating the entire tank. We'll see how it goes - wish me luck!

 

[HookedOnFishh]

80f is a big, sensitive range. You should be more specific. Old Pete from Aquabid has a good method that i like. Keep a Heater preset to 86f. Drop it in along with a handful of AQ salt and some quick cure, if they get better, great, if not.....it "a weak fish and i dont want to deal with it" to quote him
That was his response when i asked him what meds he used.....
OFC this is ONLY gonna work for external parasites.....ovbiously if he gets fish in with bacterial diseases or internal parasites he culls them.
I have not run into Ick very much in my fishkeeping years. I have ran into every other stinking disease known to mankind, but ick has never been a major problem.

I love when people say this. I've had had temps up 92 and poor literally a gallon of salt in ( a little exaggerated ) and ick sheds off in numbers. I've once did that in an 80gal African/aggressive fish. It's not a great way especially for sensitive fish. I'm taking to about fish that can hold there own.


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[PoppaRyno]

Dont keep a heater working at 86f and drop it in a not 84-86f tank. It wont heat to proper specs as the thermostat(to say) inside assumes its the temp of prior tank. Which is why you float heaters in different tanks before plugging them in. It lets the heaters thermo reset to new tanks temp. Otherwise it will not properly gage what temp its going to.

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[brennae]

Dont keep a heater working at 86f and drop it in a not 84-86f tank. It wont heat to proper specs as the thermostat(to say) inside assumes its the temp of prior tank. Which is why you float heaters in different tanks before plugging them in. It lets the heaters thermo reset to new tanks temp. Otherwise it will not properly gage what temp its going to.

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+1

Every heater I've ever had works this way.

Also rapid temp increase will seriously stress the fish. Slow and steady beats the ich.

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[PoppaRyno]

I defeated Ich by turning the temp to 30 degrees for 2 weeks. I added a UV steriliser, gravel vac'd and changed water often. No salt or meds but turning the temp up can be stressful for some fish.


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30??? Celcius i hope hehe.

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[PoppaRyno]

And to the OP... 80f wont do what your saying. It needs to be 86f or higher. This is the temp that ich cant reproduce i believe. Also the grab salt and just pour method can be deadly to some fish. So dont suggest people do that. There are a lot of people here, and some may not know better and do that. I believe the usual rule is 1-3 tsp per gallon(3tsp=1Tbsp). Some can take more but you should always check about your stock list first.

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[Caliban07]

Lol yes Celsius. You don't need salt. Just temperature and patience IME.


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[acewiza]

I know im being a troll but i couldn't resist.

$65 - sounds like a bargain, gonna snap that up!!

So the tank's on 10 days at 85F with about half the recommended amount of salt. No sign of ick for the past week and everyone seems happy, albeit quite active. I got three little puffers, since I decided to use a free pet store buy during the treatment cycle and they like the salt. Apparently, every trip to the pet store buying fish is a roll of the dice.

 

[PoppaRyno]

Yes but you can quell that a lil with a qt tank.

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[sinibotia]

30??? Celcius i hope hehe.

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30F is an effective ich treatment too, it can't survive at that temperature

 

[HookedOnFishh]

Ya, I'm more on the risky side of the hobby!


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[sinibotia]

Ya, I'm more on the risky side of the hobby!


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It's all fun and games until you lose hundreds of dollars of your favorite fish....