Treating Ich With High Heat ?!?

[SlyPolak]

I was reading TONS about Ich the past few days and I was wondering if anyone has ever tried and/or succeeded with treating that dang flea with ONLY heat??? NO salt NO meds Just HEAT


EDIT::: And yes I know the higher the temp. the faster the "life cycle" of Ick but I have read on MANY sites that once you reach about 86 Fahrenheit the Ich stops to reproduce and dies off.. BUT I also read that there have been certain strains of the flea found in Florida ( where I am at ) that lived up to 92 Fahrenheit.......

 

[Ludwig Venter]

I was reading TONS about Ich the past few days and I was wondering if anyone has ever tried and/or succeeded with treating that dang flea with ONLY heat??? NO salt NO meds Just HEAT

I've been breeding fish for 40 years, and have ALWAYS had success in treating Ich with a temperature increase alone, (also the only method I use)... (however).... every time I say so... I have a lot of opposition... so do not try it at home... (BUT)... I'll use it everytime - (WITH SUCCESS)....

 

[SlyPolak]

I was reading TONS about Ich the past few days and I was wondering if anyone has ever tried and/or succeeded with treating that dang flea with ONLY heat??? NO salt NO meds Just HEAT

I've been breeding fish for 40 years, and have ALWAYS had success in treating Ich with a temperature increase alone, (also the only method I use)... (however).... every time I say so... I have a lot of opposition... so do not try it at home... (BUT)... I'll use it everytime - (WITH SUCCESS)....

How high did you go and for how long

 

[Ludwig Venter]

How high did you go and for how long

I raise my temperature to (around) 31 degrees C for 3 days and then gradually move back to the original 26/7 deg C. (maybe I've just been lucky)... but have worked for me every time... Ich is not a problem!...

 

[the biffster]

I was reading TONS about Ich the past few days and I was wondering if anyone has ever tried and/or succeeded with treating that dang flea with ONLY heat??? NO salt NO meds Just HEAT

I've been breeding fish for 40 years, and have ALWAYS had success in treating Ich with a temperature increase alone, (also the only method I use)... (however).... every time I say so... I have a lot of opposition... so do not try it at home... (BUT)... I'll use it everytime - (WITH SUCCESS)....

How high did you go and for how long

mr and mrs biffster have both had success with heat only method
i prefer to use that as i dont like chemicals but sometimes needs must

 

[snowflake311]

After useing every ich treatment in the USA I now only use heat with I have a light case of ich. Yes it works for most ich but there is a freak kind that comes out of FL that needs 90F to stop it from breeding. As long as you have the normal ich 80F or more will do the trick almong with lots of wc to get the extra parasites out.

 

[SlyPolak]

After useing every ich treatment in the USA I now only use heat with I have a light case of ich. Yes it works for most ich but there is a freak kind that comes out of FL that needs 90F to stop it from breeding. As long as you have the normal ich 80F or more will do the trick almong with lots of wc to get the extra parasites out.

I have a very slight case of it... maybe 2 fish with a few sprinkles. The thing is that my tank ALWAYS stays at 80 Fahrenheit and I live in Florida... how high do you guys recommend??? 85 / 86 sound good??

 

[SlyPolak]

Any other views ???

 

[Cocomojo]

I would say go to 86 or so. Having my clown loaches made me unsure of using any medication so when I had my one outbreak of Ich I slowly raised to 86 and kept it there for about 3 weeks. Have never had an outbreak since... even with foolishly not quarantining a couple new loaches

Main thing to remember.. raise the temp slowly, more than a few degrees in a couple of hours is a really fast climate change and the fish may not enjoy it.

 

[SlyPolak]

I raised the temp. up to 87/88 .. at a rate of 1 degree every 2/3 hours-- started yesterday,.

Today I instantly saw MORE sprinkles on 2 other fish but i know it gets worse before it gets better using this method... how long do you guys think I should keep it this high???


My stocking as of now is-----2 opaline gouramis, 2 kissing gouramis, 4 jouvenile angels that will be moving to my 180 as soon as they get a little bigger, 2 baby "dinosaur eels" (bichirs) that will also be moving to the 180 real soon so they dont have my rams for a snack, 1 raphael cat, 1 synandontis, 2 butterfly fish, 4 german blue rams, a betta and a farlowella......I also have about 2 - 3 dozen ghost shrimp for my "dinosaur eels" and cats as a nice snack ( wouldnt really mind losing the shrimp as long as my fishies and plants survive )





EDIT:::: I also have MANY plants and that is part of the reason why I wanted to try heat VS meds.---and OBVIOUSLY some of my sensitive fishies

How do you guys think the plants will do at such heat for about a week??

 

[SlyPolak]

bumpitty

 

[haowin]

gigiddy

 

[Cocomojo]

You'll have to keep the temp high for at least a week or more to make sure every last parasite is gone. As for the plants I have no clue, would have to check the limits of each individual plant

 

[SlyPolak]

You'll have to keep the temp high for at least a week or more to make sure every last parasite is gone. As for the plants I have no clue, would have to check the limits of each individual plant

Im going to leave it this high for ATLEAST a week, if I dont seem comfortable after a week I will leave for another. Most things I read said that Ich stops breeding at 86 F but doesnt die until 89.5 F...Since my heater is at about 88 close to 89 I am not sure It will just kill it straightforward//// Its been at this heat since yesterday and I still see some spots so my guess is that the Ich in the tank is still alive buy HOPEFULLY will not breed anymore!! ONLY TIME WILL TELL

 

[SlyPolak]

Ok, so the heat has been up to around 88 / 89 since sunday night and it seems like its getting better. Almost all spots have disappeared , only a few new ones on a Ram... And a Ram that looked pretty bad (thick slime/lethargic/clamped fins) a few days ago is looking 100% better today, got all of its color back no more clamped fins ...Basically acting back to normal, I also have been adding a little bit of salt ( a few teaspoons---1 per day) because almost everyone has been recommending it and my plants and fish dont seem to mind it.. I have also been doing DAILY 50% water changes by vacuuming and I stopped adding more salt. I think I will keep it up for atleast another week just to be safe!!!


Do you guys think salt is NECESSARY when treating Ich with heat