ICH! Am I doing this right?

[silverain420]

OK. After a horrible day yesterday (I bought a long horned cowfish and then ran out of gas on the highway - so far it seems to be doing great though) I come home to ich in my FW tank! My poor betta is suddenly (and I do mean suddenly) covered in little white spots. Well, I also have two red clawed crabs in there, so am trying to avoid using meds. It's just a five gallon tank with a few live plants. So I read Allivymar's wonderful article and raised the SG to 1.002 with aquarium salt, and raised the temp to 86. Is there anything else I should or could be doing? I know it happens, but I would hate to lose this tank. I love that betta! Any suggestions? And can FW ich survive in SW? My turkey baster may have crossed into both tanks a couple of times, should I be concerned? Any suggestions you could give would be appreciated. I do have a bottle of coppersafe, but nowhere to qt my crabs...

 

[Bearfan]

Did you raise the temp and salinity slowly? I hope so.

Other than that, it's about all you can do without adding chemicals, which I don't usually recommend anyway. You may want to crank it down to 85 IMO, as 85 is as high as I ever recommend going.

 

[Fruitbat]

silverain420...

Sounds like you're doing everything correctly short of using meds (which, you've correctly assumed, will nuke your red-clawed crabs....ESPECIALLY the copper-based meds). I've used the heat method for many years with good success (though I usually use 1/2 strength Aquari-Sol...a copper sulfate med along with it).

Freshwater Ichthyophthirius cannot survive in salt water and should pose no problems for your saltwater tank.

 

[Allivymar]

Actually Bearfan, temps need to be above 86F to treat ich if one is not using meds or high SG. High temps for most tropicals for shortish periods aren't usually a problem (unless there is a co-commitant bacterial infection; then there may be issues). I've used temps of 88F with cardinals & otos in my QT tank (the cards were the ones showing signs) and with clown loaches, angelfish and a plec (the loaches were the ones infected) very successfully with 100% survival rates. While I wouldn't recommend high temp treatments for non tropicals, or suggest keeping temps that high for extended periods of time, it is a safe effective way of treating ich.

As for bettas, they can handle those high temps for the period of time needed; keep in mind part of their environmental cycle involves periods of time in hot shallow pools of water (again, its not a perm thing, but short term).

The FW ich is different from the SW ich and won't infect the SW tank. Keep in mind you are using salt levels lower then a SW tank to treat it *grin* they won't survive in the marine tank.

 

[silverain420]

Thanks you guys. I already tend to keep the tank temp at 82, so the jump to 86 wasn't horrible. I let it get to 84 overnight and then to 86 during the day today. The salinity I did raise rather fast, but with several water changes over 24 hours... just did the last one now. But my bad day has only begun.. If you guys are SW savvy, please look foor my post over there... turns out the little cowfish has ich!