heat treatment on ich

[Paul_MTS]

just wondering how you treat ich with the heat method?

so far i'ved just used internet ich treatment yesterday, I took some blue rams home from work and they all come out in ich.

i'm not at work until friday so not sure how there being treated

 

[guppymonkey]

Raising the temperature makes the ich develop faster which can make the ich go away more quickly if it is being treated in the free swimming phase. I have heard of some people that just use raised temperature but I don't know how it would fix the problem without killing the parasite before it attachs to a host. I know that rams are comfortable in water that is close to 90 F so raising the temperature shouldn't hurt the fish.

 

[Paul_MTS]

i'ved read someones post and they said they just use the heat treatment but i don't want to go wacking the temp up especially with my new plecs in there and not knwoing the max temps for all my fish off by heart!!

i can't see any noticible change but they havn't started rubbing againast stuff yet.

the annoying thing is on monday 1 of the rams died whilst i was at work because of the ich.

 

[astroboy]

raise temp to 86 in increments of 2 degrees.

 

[David]

Raising temp doesn't kill ich. It must be used in conjunction with meds, otherwise all you're doing is helping the ich infest everything faster.

 

[Dwarfs]

It makes them grow faster, giving them less of a chance to find a host, and usually only works with meds being used

 

[BlueIce]

Raising temp doesn't kill ich. It must be used in conjunction with meds, otherwise all you're doing is helping the ich infest everything faster.

Where did you get this info? I'd like to see a link...
I have only ever used raised temp to cure ick...NEVER add any meds and NEVER lose a fish to ick.


Raising the temp to 84-86F for a period of one-two weeks works perfectly.

 

[David]

It's called personal experience. When I raise the temp in my tank to 84, the ich just takes over faster and completely envelopes the fish as opposed to going away. The reason for raising the temperature is to get them into the free-swimming stage faster... so that the meds can work their magic. However salt can also be used as an alternative and apparently works just as well.

 

[luxum]

There is a temp beyond which ich is not killed, but cannot reproduce and so never reaches the free swimming stage to attach to a host. I think that temp is 86º. If you raise the temp that far and perform diligent water changes/substrate vacuuming for 21 days, you can indeed cure ich w/o meds. Obviously don't try this with fish that can't take those temps temporarily.

 

[David]

There is a temp beyond which ich is not killed, but cannot reproduce and so never reaches the free swimming stage to attach to a host. I think that temp is 86º. If you raise the temp that far and perform diligent water changes/substrate vacuuming for 21 days, you can indeed cure ich w/o meds. Obviously don't try this with fish that can't take those temps temporarily.

Maybe so, but the ich is never completely removed in that way. It will always strike when the fish are weakened or vulnerable due to stress, so if you are still stocking your tank an outbreak may be inevitable without the use of meds (you can't really get around fish being stressed when moved from tank to tank).

EDIT: Unless it is indeed possible to vacuum the ich out, but I don't know if this can be done. Any info on that?

 

[Angry_Platy]

Once ich is in your tank you will never get rid of it....the spots may go away and your fih may seem healthy but there will still be parasites living in the gravel..the filter....wherever they can attach....it is when the fish are stressed or the water conditions are poor that the parasite shows itself as white spots on the fish.....

And for the temp theory....I have my tanks at 92F in summer due to the summer heat....last summer I still managed to get ich in the tanks....all the fish had it....a moderate-severe case

 

[luxum]

Maybe so, but the ich is never completely removed in that way. It will always strike when the fish are weakened or vulnerable due to stress, so if you are still stocking your tank an outbreak may be inevitable without the use of meds (you can't really get around fish being stressed when moved from tank to tank).

EDIT: Unless it is indeed possible to vacuum the ich out, but I don't know if this can be done. Any info on that?

As part of the lifecycle, ich encysts on the floor of the tank. If you vacuum regularly while the tank temp is too high for reproduction within the tomite (cyst), you can reduce the parasite load in the tank enough that the fish immune systems will be able to fight off the infection and no longer host it. Fish in less than pristine water are stressed and more vulnerable to ich infestation, if you keep up wth the water changes this is less likely. There are theories that a few dormant cysts will stay in the tank and could reinfect the fish at times of stress... However in this stage meds are not effective (meds only work when the ich is free swimming) so whether or not you use meds is dependent upon the sensitivity of your fish to meds and temp. Either way, ich is in the tank and stress must be minimized or else you risk reinfection. The stress of the move is part of why either use of a QT tank (with QT tank conditions being brought in line with that of the main tank and any needed meds administered), or else a fishless cycle with a complete stocking is advocated.

 

[David]

Maybe so, but the ich is never completely removed in that way. It will always strike when the fish are weakened or vulnerable due to stress, so if you are still stocking your tank an outbreak may be inevitable without the use of meds (you can't really get around fish being stressed when moved from tank to tank).

EDIT: Unless it is indeed possible to vacuum the ich out, but I don't know if this can be done. Any info on that?

As part of the lifecycle, ich encysts on the floor of the tank. If you vacuum regularly while the tank temp is too high for reproduction within the tomite (cyst), you can reduce the parasite load in the tank enough that the fish immune systems will be able to fight off the infection and no longer host it. Fish in less than pristine water are stressed and more vulnerable to ich infestation, if you keep up wth the water changes this is less likely. There are theories that a few dormant cysts will stay in the tank and could reinfect the fish at times of stress... However in this stage meds are not effective (meds only work when the ich is free swimming) so whether or not you use meds is dependent upon the sensitivity of your fish to meds and temp. Either way, ich is in the tank and stress must be minimized or else you risk reinfection. The stress of the move is part of why either use of a QT tank (with QT tank conditions being brought in line with that of the main tank and any needed meds administered), or else a fishless cycle with a complete stocking is advocated.

Wow... *consulting thesaurus* Okay thanks for clearing that up. Now I know why ich keeps coming back in my tank whenever I add new fish. I just can't seem to get rid of it, and I am halfway through my second bottle of medication.

 

[shrimpster97]

man, i hate ich, i had it on my two sword tail a while back but ive never seen it again. and in my cichlid tank i got two rams not too long ago and they both came with ich from the store, i didnt see it when i got them. but i hate the medicine because it dyes you silicon on the edges blue. hmmm.

 

[David]

man, i hate ich, i had it on my two sword tail a while back but ive never seen it again. and in my cichlid tank i got two rams not too long ago and they both came with ich from the store, i didnt see it when i got them. but i hate the medicine because it dyes you silicon on the edges blue. hmmm.

Yeah all my airline tubing is now a deep aquamarine