Help please! Better to treat ich with heat or medication?

[cdp27]

We have a 75 gallon tank- running for about 3 weeks. It was set up using media & decorations from a previously established tank. Cascade 1000 canister filter, AquaClear 70 HOB filter, 2 150watt heaters & 2 large air stones. We have the following fish: 6 (3 albino, 3 green) cory cats, 2 rubber lip plecos, 1 albino bristle nose pleco, 11 zebra danios, 6 platys, 2 Angels. 3 days ago, we added 15 Cardinal tetras which have since died off 1 by 1 - as of this morning, we only have 4 left. Yesterday, I noticed what I believe is ich on both of the rubber lip plecos & the remaining tetras. I have researched & would prefer to treat with heat, but I am concerned about the cory cats tolerating the warmer 85-86 degree temp for so many days. I understand that the medication can also be problematic for the cories & plecos. Any thoughts or advise? I did buy Marineland brand ich treatment yesterday, but have not used it yet. I have not seen any of the white spots on the platys, but I have noticed that they seem to be diving & rubbing/scratching? on the driftwood & other tank decorations. All of the other fish seem to be doing fine. 25% water change done 48 hours ago. Water parameters with API test kit last night were: ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 20, ph 7.8-8.0. Thanks in advance for any advice!


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[Patty1980]

I have cories. 86F for 10-14 days no problems. Gets it every time.

 

[BBradbury]

Treating "Ich"

Hello cdp...

Medications are a last resort. There's no way to tell how the fish, plants and beneficial bacteria will react to strong chemicals.

You need to get the water cleaned up asap. Large water changes daily for a couple of weeks will help. Heat is helpful, but plants won't do well if the water is too warm. Keep up the aeration in the tank, heated water doesn't hold oxygen as well, so the more agitation at the surface the better.

The Ich parasite drops from the fishes' skin into the substrate during its life cycle and if you do a good job of vacuuming the bottom material when you change the water, you'll remove many of them.

Salt is one of the most beneficial treatments. However, plants won't do well in tank water with a lot of dissolved salt in it. If you decide to use it, a couple of teaspoons in every 5 gallons of new, treated tap water will retard the growth of new parasites.

Feed just a little every couple of days. Sick fish aren't likely to eat much and you don't want uneaten food to foul the tank water even more.

B

 

[cdp27]

Thanks for the responses! I have began to increase the heat in the tank. It is currently 78. I'm shooting for 80 now, 82 later today/overnight & finally up to 85 tomorrow.


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[Linwood]

I have done it twice with separate tanks, no problem. I used 88-89 degrees. From what I've read you really must be over 86 to be sure of killing them, and this means ALL of the tank, every part, over 86. Which is why I went higher. And remember heater thermometers are not accurate, try to use something that is.

The reason this is important is that the low 80's (F) the Ich just reproduces much faster, and your fish can get more sick. It has to be over 86 to kill them; that's why to be safe I aimed for 88-89.

Also, you don't need to go up so slowly. Going from 78-86 over 24 hours is more than slow enough, and gets into the killing range more quickly.

Expect, with heat, for the ich to get worse for a few days.

PS. Note that medicine recommends a milder increase in heat, e.g. 82. This is BECAUSE the medicine wants ich to breed faster to be exposed to the medicine quicker. Do not use this as an indication that lower temperatures alone can kill -- it's quite the reverse.

PPS. I did not use salt, but many claim heat + salt is even a better combination, if your fish and plants can tolerate it.

 

[MICEY]

sounds like a lot of fish in that tank which is new bet your tetras are dieing from ammonia or nitrites,
none of those fish are great in a new tank they are all sensitive to water conditions

 

[cdp27]

Tank temp just measured 82. I went ahead and set heaters to 86 - also checking temp with to
not opposed to using salt, but thought I read somewhere that it is not well tolerated by cories or plecos?


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[cdp27]

Oops - that should have read also checking heat with 2 thermometers- one inside tank & one outside.


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[Matt68005]

ALso keep in mind if you cant get the tank hot enough to kill them your gonna need some kind of medicine, because you ARE speeding up the life cycle of whatever parasite, so it may kill all your fish before you kill it. Seachrem makes a product called "Paraguard" its plant/filter safe, so it wont hurt anything.

 

[cdp27]

Thanks for the info on that product. I was able to get the temp up to 87 degrees. It's been 6 days now & things seem to be getting better. I ended up losing all of the cardinal tetras, the 3 plecos & 1 platy. It's been over 48 hours since the last pleco died. The rest of the fish seem fine- acting & eating normally. I'm going to leave the temp up for a few more days, then bring back down to 80. If problems redevelop, I will try the paraguard.


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[Linwood]

Try to leave the temp up for two full weeks. The remaining fish won't be upset with that,, and it will minimize the chance of a recurrence. It sounds like it would only be 4-5 more days than you mention.

The heat is a bit like antibiotics - if you don't do it long enough, the infection just comes back.

 

[cdp27]

I will leave it up for 14 days. This is something I definitely don't want to deal with again!


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