Marine Water Temperature To Prevent Ich

[Jasonanatal]

I am currently in the process of dealing with a Volitan Lionfish that has Ich and I have had some wonderful advice from the user of this sight that I have to say are the best. I would like to prevent a future outbreak of Ich in my Marine Aquarium and have heard from a Co-worker who has a 125 gallon Freshwater Aquarium that I should raise the water in my tank to near 86 degrees. He stated that he is currently practicing this in his aquarium and has not had an outbreak of Ich for over 3 years and running. I understand the the chemistry of Marine Aquariums are more delicate to temperature raises but I am willing to try this for the sake of my little ones. What is the highest temperature possible that you would suggest I raise the water to prevent future outbreaks of Ich and any other possible Parasitic Organisms?

 

[sango]

I dont think that raising the temp that high would prevent ich. I keep mine around 81.1-81.3 and the salt is 1.019. This helps me control ich and it does not get out of hand. I have had pretty good success with this. I also soak ALL food in garlic juice befor I feed them

 

[jkalfsbeck]

I keep my temp around 81-82 , but keep in mind the higher the temp the lower the O2. I've also read somewhere not 100% sure about this that a lower SG is ok for short term but long term is not good for the fish digestive system.

Also read that Garlic is not a 100% guarantee that it will work against ich but some people say it has worked for them and stimulates the appetite also.

The only way I deal w/ ich and have dealt w/ it 1 time is let the fish immune system battle it. Keep them well fed (Nori) and as long as they keep eating they should get over it. Slightly higher temp wouldn't hurt to speed up the ich life cycle. And I also did 10-15% water changes like every other day to vacuum the substrate and rocks to catch some of the eggs and parasites that might of died off. Keep the water quality crystal clean and only keep lights on for a few hours.

From what I heard ich likes to travel upward towards the light to find it's host. Keep the tank as stress free as possible.

Just my 2cents.

 

[lando]

I would like to prevent a future outbreak of Ich in my Marine Aquarium and have heard from a Co-worker who has a 125 gallon Freshwater Aquarium that I should raise the water in my tank to near 86 degrees

Raising the temp to 86 is thought to speed up the life-cycle of ick, however, it should NOT be used as a preventative treatment for the parasite. The temp is just too high for a marine tank. If you want to prevent another ick outbreak in your tank I suggest you 1. let your tank go fallow for 6-8 weeks to kill any remaining parasites in the tank and 2. begin properly QT ALL new arrivals fo 6-8 weeks prior to going into the main.

 

[Fluff]

Being a fish only tank, you may be ok doing that but, if it were my fish, I wouldn't attempt it. Raising the temps will speed up the life cycle of the ich. Here are some intresting articles on the parasite. The first one has a bit of info on ridding the fish of ich just by doing large water changes.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/index.php

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ichartmar.htm

 

[Jasonanatal]

Is 82 degrees to 83 degrees a good range for Marine Fish?

 

[Hara]

mine stays at 82-83

 

[Jasonanatal]

I will definitely raise my temperature if at 78 degrees currently.

 

[Hara]

just do it slowly..a degree every couple days should be alright

 

[Guest]

lando gave you the best advice. Raising the temp is a myth brought over from the FW side of the house. Although it will speed up the life cycle, the only way to break it is to remove the host that it needs to reproduce. You can also use hyposalanity (approximately 1/3 that of NSW) during those 6 weeks to ensure that you never introduce it into your ST. Also, remember to QT anything that may have come in "contact" with fish. The little buggers can hitchhike in on anything. Good luck!

KG

 

[Hara]

I do not advocate anyone going against main stream thinking, especially if that is where they are comfortable. I will however, stand by my position in that my temp stays in the neighborhood of 83 degrees, my salinity is 1.025, I add garlic oil and vitamins to the fish food, I NEVER quarantine...I never get ich. Let me repeat, I am not saying for everyone to quit quarantining fish or anything like that. That is indeed, a nice safe practice, not for just ich, but for many diseases new fish can bring.

I can say from my experience, that the above method, works for me.

 

[malkore]

Nothing wrong with going away from mainstream, provided you have plenty of research to back up your reasons for potentially risking the health of your fish, inverts, etc.

Also, I've kept FW multiple tanks, for over two years, and NEVER had ich. Never had it in 16 months of keeping a SW tank either.

 

[Jasonanatal]

Sounds good guys. I will definitely do that. Thank you for all the usefull advice.

 

[sango]

Yeah i agree with Hara here. I keep my temp about 81-82 and have had no problems since my first ich break out when I first set up my tank. I also qt all my new fish and give them a fw dip befor going into the main tank. But there are ALOT of people on here that say fw dips do nothing but stress the fish out. I disagree with this.