Question with the heat/salt treatment of Ich

[shawnus]

heres my specs- 29 gal, HOB and UGF, 3 kissing gouramis, 1 Swordtail, 2 fancy guppies, 2 neon tetras, 1 tiger barb, 1 pleco

I recently had a lapse in judgement and introduced a fish from a chain pet store into my tank without quarantining it first. foolish me. of course, I got Ich.

So i brought my heat up to 87 degrees or so, and put in 12 tbsp kosher salt (2 for every 5 gals). ive been doing this for about 2 1/2 days now. ive lowered the water level so that my HOB causes more water agitation.

ive been doing 5 gal water changes every day (of course adding 2 tbsp kosher salt to the new water). i try as best i can to clean the gravel when doing so.

the ich spots dont seem to be spreading, but they are not going away and the fish still exhibit signs of skin irritation. they scrape somewhat and occasionally jerk and jolt, as if they are being bit.

ive already lost half my fish to this stupid disease, and my last tiger barb doesnt look so good.

my question is this: what are the odds that ive got a strain of ich that wont die with +86 deg. heat? am i expecting to see results too soon? the jerking concerns me, because i thought that the heat/salt would kill all the tomites. what is going on?

should i just stay the course with salt/heat or should i go and buy the evil chemical treatments?

also, how important is it that i keep the water level at the marked water level on the heater? ive had to lower it for water agitation but i dont want break my heater.

thanks in advance,
shawnus

 

[myriam]

shawnus, welcome to AA.com

Check out this article by Allivymar, it's full of useful info on this topic:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=32

HTH.

 

[Tigerlily]

IME the ich spots take about a week to go away. I did the heat method alone (88 deg), without the salt, and had no fatalities. In the tank I had tiger barbs, an albino rainbow shark and snails. I started treating when I saw the first spot on the first fish. During the first week, the disease worsened before it improved. As you're getting your temps up to 88, the ich really takes hold as you pass through the 82-84 degree range. If the disease has already made your fish visibly sick (breathing problems etc.), it may be too late for them to make it through treatment of any kind.

I'd be nervous about the heater being exposed. Can you drop an airstone into the water to get the surface agitation you need without dropping the water level below the recommended level for your heater? Is there any way to temporarily lower your heater?

Anyway, I think you're on the right track. I definitely think heat is the way to go. You may want to consider raising your temps by another degree just to make sure that all the water is above 86 degrees. I know that some people who were right on the borderline had a hard time using the heat method. I don't know if temperature is why, or if they had a resistant strain of ich, but one more degree won't hurt your fish, and it will definitely hurt the ich!

If you haven't already looked at the article that myriam posted, take a look - it's a great article on getting rid of ich, written by one of our advisors, Allivymar.

Good luck, and keep us posted!

And by the way... WELCOME to Aquarium Advice!

 

[shawnus]

ill stay the course, thank you. yes ive read her article as well as like 20 others and i think i have a good grasp on all the info. i justed needed some reassurance.

i seem to get conflicting data about ich always being present in a tank or if it must be introduced. from what ive read about the ich life cylce, in theory keeping your tank at 86+ for 10-14 days should kill ALL of the ich. the only way for it to come back is to be reintroduced.

but ive also heard story after story about how people's tanks get ich by sudden temperature change, stress, etc. im leaning more towards the theory that the high temps kill ALL the ich and it therefore must be reintroduced in order to be reinfected.

there does seem to be a possibilitly of a latent existence of the disease, where it coexists with your fish at low, undetectable levels until stress reduces the immune system and triggers an outbreak. this may happen sometimes, but in my understanding the temp treatment should create an absolute "clean slate".

Does anyone have an opinion on this matter?

thanks
shawnus

 

[grimlock3000]

Double check the 87F temp in the tank. If you are actually at 85F or anything, you are only helping the Ich spread faster 8O

Once you get rid of Ich, it is gone. It is living creature parasite and once destroyed by a lengthy heat treament or chemicals, it can only be re-introduced if more parasites are added to the tank from anoter fish/plant/aquarium equipment.

 

[Tigerlily]

I agree with Grimlock, once it's gone it is really gone. It would have to be reintroduced to come back. But, after reintroduction it could have a latent existence in your tank until a visible infection is brought on by stress etc. So, you might not know you've reintroduced ich for a while.

I does sound like you've done your research on the treatment (kudos to you!) and it will give you a clean slate once you're done! Good luck!

 

[QTOFFER]

I used the 88o F heat treatment with stunning success after wasting my time and money with medications. The ich infestation seemed to get worse at the very beginning - that's perfectly normal - and took a week to go away. I kept the temp at 88o F for another two weeks after I no longer saw ich on the fish.

Stay with it - it really does work - and keep doing the daily water changes - it invigorates the fish and removes free-swimming ichies too.

In the meantime, pick up a 5 or 10 gal Q-tank, a cheap filter, and heater and get it running. You may have to use it as a hospital tank if any of your fish get secondary infections. Be on the lookout for fin rot and fungus. These diseases often hit fish that are weakened by a recent bout with ich.

 

[shawnus]

thanks everyone, im planning on getting a Q-tank just as soon as my bout with ich is over.

thinking about all this, I had the idea to give the heat treatment to any new fish while they are in quarrantine. that way even if they do have a latent case of ich it will be "cooked off". is this a good and worthwhile practice?

thanks
shawnus

 

[grimlock3000]

"thinking about all this, I had the idea to give the heat treatment to any new fish while they are in quarrantine. that way even if they do have a latent case of ich it will be "cooked off". is this a good and worthwhile practice?"

I wouldn't reccomend it. By the same logic, while keeping the fish in the 88F QT water, you could toss in an anti fungal, and some antibiotics so the fish would come out of QT in perfect shape Trying to deal with problem before they happen could cause more issues than it is worth. If the fish develops Ich in QT, you can deal with it then.

 

[Thaiboxer]

I agree with the above - I've had tremendous success treating ich with heat and salt. However, I've never used more than 1 tbsp. per 5 gallons. Maybe your fish are bothered by too much salt? That's just speculation...

 

[Allivymar]

Theoretically using the heat tx with new fish should work fine to prevent ich. And since its without the use of meds one would think its a great idea. My concern with it, and the only reason I don't use that method, is new fish are already pretty stressed because of the move, change in water parameters, new foods, etc. High temps kick up the metabolism (cold blooded creatures remember?) and I worry the additional stress of higher then average temps may be detrimental in the initial acclimation/QT period.