Why cant i get to 86 degrees?

[Passatryde]

So about a week ago I got some neons from petsmart and they must've had ich because I'm starting to see the white dots form on my fish over the past couple days. So I read here about treating with temperature but the heater that came with my 55g kit would only bring the temp to 78 cranked all the way up. So yesterday I went out and bought the most expensive/ biggest heater they had - 300 w fluval. So after increasing it to the max it's only getting my tank to 82?? So what do I do now? Put my old one back in too or something?

I just tried putting the original one back in too to see if I can get it there. I'm about to just put in the ich medicine.... Any ideas???

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Add the second heater. Put them both on a 45 degree angle near the intake and outtake of the filter. Keep the lids on the tank. Try wrapping the tank in towels, blanket or aluminum foil.

 

[Passatryde]

Yeah i put them both in... Both cranked up to the max...I'll see if it moves in the next hour...and the weirdest part is that it's 72 outside today...hardly cold...so I don't know that trying to insulate it would help much

 

[Mumma.of.two]

If its cooler outside the tank than inside your still going to get some heat lost. Wrapping it will help. See how it goes with without first.

 

[alex07]

Add the second heater. Put them both on a 45 degree angle near the intake and outtake of the filter. Keep the lids on the tank. Try wrapping the tank in towels, blanket or aluminum foil.

Like mumma said, just make sure the heater is placed where there's a lot of flow. How many heaters do you have in the tank? 1 may not be sufficient.

 

[smomus]

I put aluminum foil on the ends of my 30 gal just for looks (still debating if I like it or not) but just doing that my water temp rise about 5 degrees. So definitely something to try.
Good luck!

 

[Passatryde]

Like mumma said, just make sure the heater is placed where there's a lot of flow. How many heaters do you have in the tank? 1 may not be sufficient.

I have them both in there now... Both cranked to max and it's still at 82... One is at the inlet of the filter.... I'll put the other one directly opposite of the filter right now to see if that helps.

5 degree increase by putting the foil just on the sides? Hmmmm....that might be worth a shot

 

[yaya10]

Do you have a smaller (cycled) hospital tank you can move the fish into? It would be much easier to warm up a smaller tank and you could also monitor the fish better this way. Of course the ich might still be there when you return your fish to the main tank unless you treat with medicine and/or leave them quarantined for a long time (I think about a month?) that would kill them since they would not have a host to pick on. If you don't have another tank maybe take some of the water out and try to wrap it really well with anything you got. By taking the water out the heaters may be able to warm up the lower volume but you need good lid to seal off the air above the water might not work but worth a try. Just make sure you aerate the tank once in a while and crank up your airstones.

 

[Passatryde]

No I don't have a quarantine tank...how wold that work anyway ? You always have it running so that when a problem happens you can move your fish to it? I mean it wouldnt be cycled ?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

The whole tanks infected so there's no point in moving any fish. QT don't have to be set up all the time. You can run the filter on your main tank to keep it cycled and move it over to the QT when needed. QT don't even need to be cycled if your changing water daily.

 

[Cornstar]

How are you measuring your temperature?

 

[Passatryde]

Thanks for all the help! Since I needed to do a water change anyway (because all the ich stuff I read says to do it very often) so I SLOWLY filled it back up with warmer water and over the 2hours I got it up to 84. I figured I would do another one tomorrow and get it up to 86 - hopefully the two heaters will at least keep it there once I "force" it.

I'm measuring it with a floating thermometer because I don't trust the stick-on one I primarily use....is that what you recommend?

 

[alex07]

Thanks for all the help! Since I needed to do a water change anyway (because all the ich stuff I read says to do it very often) so I SLOWLY filled it back up with warmer water and over the 2hours I got it up to 84. I figured I would do another one tomorrow and get it up to 86 - hopefully the two heaters will at least keep it there once I "force" it.

I'm measuring it with a floating thermometer because I don't trust the stick-on one I primarily use....is that what you recommend?

You're fine at 84

 

[Cornstar]

One important thing about temperature is that you really want to raise it gradually. Increasing the temperature by 2 degrees within 10 seconds can cause a lot of stress to your fish.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

You're fine at 84

64 won't cure ich. It's need to be 86 or higher.

 

[Cornstar]

64 won't cure ich. It's need to be 86 or higher.

+1 on the 86. You really need to do 86 and add some salt and do frequent PWC to remove the ich from the tank.

Also, I recommend leaving your tank for 2 more weeks after the symptoms are gone because it could still be in your tank.

 

[Passatryde]

So by this morning it had dropped back down to 82. I'm pretty much over the temperature thing. I really wanted to avoid the medicine - especially cause I have plants and a Pleco but I don't see how anyone ever gets their tank to 86 to do this. I mean I have 500 watts of total heating power in a 55gallon tank. I noticed I didn't see the light coming on on the original heater....I don't know how these things work but it's like it senses it's too warm and doesn't even turn on now because when I take it out it tuns on...then turns off when I put it back in

 

[rkolb86]

Is there a cover/lid on the tank? It makes a HUGE difference.

 

[alex07]

64 won't cure ich. It's need to be 86 or higher.

Everyone knows 64 degrees won't cure ich. 84 is just fine, actually to cure ich it needs to be 82 or higher to speed the 3 life cycle of the ich.

 

[alex07]

So by this morning it had dropped back down to 82. I'm pretty much over the temperature thing. I really wanted to avoid the medicine - especially cause I have plants and a Pleco but I don't see how anyone ever gets their tank to 86 to do this. I mean I have 500 watts of total heating power in a 55gallon tank. I noticed I didn't see the light coming on on the original heater....I don't know how these things work but it's like it senses it's too warm and doesn't even turn on now because when I take it out it tuns on...then turns off when I put it back in

If you have plants I wouldn't use salt, just use the heating water method