# Question about treating Ich with heat



## edburress (Jun 9, 2007)

Hi all,

I've dealt with Ich before but (luckily) not in the last few years. I have a group of fish in QT that have Ich. I read the article about Ich in the library and I raised the temperature to 88*. The fish are still active and still beg for food and eat well, so I believe they are okay other than the Ich. How long until the Ich should start clearing up? The temperature has been elevated for around 36 hours. The main reason I want to know is so I know when I need to change plans and use medication.

Thanks,

Ed


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

Ed, I don't use the salt and heat method, but I do know that you'll usually notice the ich getting worse with increased temps rather than better, since heat speeds up the life cycle of the parasite.

Did you add salt as well?


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## edburress (Jun 9, 2007)

Hi Kim, thanks for the reply. No I have not added salt. If you don't think the heat works then I will try something else. The article listed a lot of different medications, I have access to most of the mainstream meds. What do you recommend I do? Is their a specific med you recommend?

The fish are juvenile Geophagus. They hopefully will be breeding stock so I don't want to use anything that will be really hard on them, but obviously their survival is most important. They are in QT by themselves with a sponge filter and heater, and just a thin layer of sand for them to sift.

Ed


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## 748johnd (Jun 30, 2007)

I used the heat only method and had the tank temperature at 86 degrees for 2 1/2 weeks before it finally cleared up. I was hesitant to use salt because of the plecos I have.


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## squiggly (Mar 22, 2007)

I too had to treat for approx 2 1/2 weeks. Only I used salt and heat. Added it very slowly and 
my pleco did fine.

I first tried medication (1/2 Dose) but ended it immediately due to the stress on my clown loaches.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

It's not that I don't believe heat or heat and salt work...I had a bad experience one time, misdiagnosed beginnning Columnaris as ich, upped the heat and added salt and caused it to spread like wild fire!

I do think it works and can be a great alternative to medication for planted tanks, or sensitive fish, etc. :thumb:

From reading of others experiences, I really believe that if you use a med with methylene blue and formalin in it, the fish get relief more quickly than they do with the salt and heat, for what that's worth. My favourite ich med is Quick Cure...It will stain your silicone slightly, though. (As far as real meds for ich go, if it _doesn't_ stain your silicone, it probably won't work!)

Sometimes heat can stress fish out as much as the illness you are treating, but it sounds like yours are dealing with it just fine. Since you've already started the heat method and they seem to be tolerating it, I'd continue on that route.


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## Robin (Sep 18, 2002)

I had very good results with the heat and salt method with no stress to the fish which were clown loaches.

According to Ick article bumping up the heat to temps 86 and above will actually destroy the organism with the heat while temps of 80-82 will speed up the life cycle of the parasite. Because meds are only effective on the free swimming tormonts and not at all effective in the 'salt stage' or trophonts it helps to speed up the life cycle so that you can get to the tormont stage faster.

It's NOT a good idea to do the raised heat and meds since both deplete 02 and the combination may stress your fish.

In addition to whatever medication/treatment you use its a big help to do frequent partial water changes and gravel siphonings. You'll be directly removing the parasite from your tank. Not a cure but it does beat the little bugs down!.

Robin


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## ashilli48 (May 14, 2006)

I had great success with a copper based product, sold by the makers of Quick Cure. Cannot remember the name. Got rid of them faster than any blue stuff ever has.

Prior to that my wife used the heat and salt trick on her puffer to great success since the puffer has no scales so meds are out.

Quick Cure (blue stuff) works wonders but stains the **** out of everything. I only use it in an already stained hospital tank. However, that does nothing for the buggers in the main tank.

I have even resorted to salt baths but that is not for the faint of heart! It's right up there with clipping the beak of a puffer! opcorn:


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## edburress (Jun 9, 2007)

Thanks for all the replies and info everyone! Its been a big help hearing your experiences.

I don't think I can add salt with this species, they are soft water fish (my Kh is 1 and gH is 3) so I think raising the hardness would stress them too much.

I've decided to medicate. I dropped the temp down to 82 over the course of the day. I couldn't find Quick Cure or anything that contained methylene blue. The product I got contains malachite green and Nitrofurazone. Hopefully those will due?


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## Robin (Sep 18, 2002)

The salt that you use for treating ICK, sodium chloride, doesn't do anything to the KH or GH. (Baking soda will raise your KH and Epsom Salt will raise the GH).

The wonderful thing about ICK is that there are many treatments and meds that will work on it and Malachite green is one of them.

Robin


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## ashilli48 (May 14, 2006)

http://www.aq-products.com/APpro/aquarisol.htm This is Aquari-sol. Copper based ich treatment. Won't stain anything in the tank. Just use carbon to remove after ich is gone.


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