Heat alone kills ich?

[ldymcbeth6]

I have just been told that heat alone (82-84 degrees) will kill ich by itself. I was told before I needed salt 2tsp/5gal as well. Can the heat do it alone?

Thanks everyone for all your help. I just want the best info for my fishies.

[H3D]

Heat alone can kill ich but not at those temperatures.

[root81]

Heat speeds up the lifecycle of ick, salt makes the water less hospitable for it.

The best is to attack on all fronts, use heat to speed up it's lifecycle so that you are fighting for days instead of weeks, salt or medications depending on your stocking/personal preference, and I'd suggest 2 teaspoons per galon, added slowly, premixed with tank water or conditioned water. Several sizable water changes to remove free-swimming ick.

I wish I had known about the salt option when I found it in my tank late on a sunday when all the LFS were closed. Couldn't medicate until the next night, and ended up loosing almost everything in the tank.

[c4cache]

I may be a noobie, but I've dealt with ich a few times in the past both with saltwater and fresh. I agree with what root81 said on medications and water changes. Another way to go in helping get rid of ich is a uv sterilizer, kind of pricey, but works like a charm.

[grannylvsfish]

How high should the tank be heat wise.
what kind of salt.
when to do water changes...
and does salt need to be added again each time a water change is done...
will plants do ok during this treatment,
can you treat the whole tank, or do you need to remove only fish with ich

[root81]

I would raise the temperature to 85

table salt apparently can be used, but I would recommend aquarium salt

water changes should be done daily, or more if possible to remove free-floaing ick from the water, and yes, salt should be added to maintain the mixture at 2 tsp/gal

as for plants, it would depend on the plant. My java ferns didn't take well to the treatment, but are recovering. Java moss seemed to grow like crazy, but then, I have yet to find a way to kill it... you could remove the plants if concerned. Without fish to host the ick for a few days, any ick that comes out with the plants will die off.

and yes, treat the whole tank for ick. it's all over the tank on the fish and in the substate, so if you don't kill it all off, you'll just have another outbreak.

[Sploke]

Temps above 86 are generally fatal to ich by themselves without salt. Great ich article:

http://www.aquariumboard.com/forums/articles/25.htm

[Lady G]

Follow what the link Sploke provided for you, I personally hate meds that are not necessary...yes the ich meds may work...but I would go with the salt/heat method myself. Dave (the author of the article) is one of the most knowledgeable fish owner I have seen...follow everything he says in that article and I bet you will beat your ich.

Wow, Sploke..the last time I tried to bring that over from there, it wouldn't show the link, glad they decided to finally let stuff come over here from there.

[Sploke]

Yeah its newly-unblocked, which is good, because there are some fantastic articles hosted on AB.

[H3D]

I strongly disagree with the views expressed in said article on the salt/heat treatment being the preferred method for sensitive fish.

[Sploke]

On what basis? Care to elaborate?

[H3D]

On what basis? Care to elaborate?

On the same basis used in that article...PERSONAL OPINION. While some people have used that method successfully with their sensitive fish, just as many of used other forms of treatment as well. Each situation is different and various by setup and species involved so it is really hard to say one is the "prefered", but IMO there are other treatments that are far more effective and far less stressful to the fish when done properly.

[Lady G]

I strongly disagree with the views expressed in said article on the salt/heat treatment being the preferred method for sensitive fish.

Everyone has there opinions, but I'm sorry...Dave knows his stuff and the salt is less stressful on the fish then the Meds that are out there. Thankfully, I have not had to deal with Ich at this point...but my sister had it pretty bad, I sent her here...which at that time Dave was still part of our fourms...she lost no fish and had it beat...by following step by step his advice, did not use any meds just the salt/heat method. Yes, long term the salt could be more stressful and harmful...but for short periods for medical purposes it is way better IMO.

[H3D]

Everyone has there opinions, but I'm sorry...Dave knows his stuff and the salt is less stressful on the fish then the Meds that are out there. Thankfully, I have not had to deal with Ich at this point...but my sister had it pretty bad, I sent her here...which at that time Dave was still part of our fourms...she lost no fish and had it beat...by following step by step his advice, did not use any meds just the salt/heat method. Yes, long term the salt could be more stressful and harmful...but for short periods for medical purposes it is way better IMO.

Everyone does have "opinions" and I know Dave knows a lot, but he is by no means an expert on every fish. Just because his opinion is that heat and salt are less stressful it does not make it a fact, and there are many sensitive fish keepers who would disagree with that statement. I'm happy things worked out for your sister. Thats great. But many of us have delt with ich over the years and tried various treatments. I never once stated that he was wrong...I said I disagree and I have the right to. IMO short term use of salt/heat CAN BE HARMFUL to various sensitive fish because I have experienced it first hand and know others who have as well.

[Lady G]

I strongly disagree with the views expressed in said article on the salt/heat treatment being the preferred method for sensitive fish.


Everyone does have "opinions" and I know Dave knows a lot, but he is by no means an expert on every fish. Just because his opinion is that heat and salt are less stressful it does not make it a fact, and there are many sensitive fish keepers who would disagree with that statement. I'm happy things worked out for your sister. Thats great. But many of us have delt with ich over the years and tried various treatments. I never once stated that he was wrong...I said I disagree and I have the right to. IMO short term use of salt/heat CAN BE HARMFUL to various sensitive fish because I have experienced it first hand and know others who have as well.

I hate the day I will end up dealing with this first hand *knocks on wood*, how do you treat yours? I think adding that may be helpful to the OP also, this would give them the advice and ways of treating it in more than one way and give them an advantage of making a choice which way feel would be best for them. I am in no way saying what Daves says is a end all, he does discus different Meds in his article also, which ones he thinks work best how they work and everything else..it does not say salt/heat is the only way to cure the disease...if you look through the article he really goes into alot, with salt and the meds and explains much on both topics.

I wasn't saying you are wrong, hope you don't take it that way....I just happen to think Dave is an expert.

[H3D]

I hate the day I will end up dealing with this first hand *knocks on wood*, how do you treat yours? I think adding that may be helpful to the OP also, this would give them the advice and ways of treating it in more than one way and give them an advantage of making a choice which way feel would be best for them. I am in no way saying what Daves says is a end all, he does discus different Meds in his article also, which ones he thinks work best how they work and everything else..it does not say salt/heat is the only way to cure the disease...if you look through the article he really goes into alot, with salt and the meds and explains much on both topics.

I wasn't saying you are wrong, hope you don't take it that way....I just happen to think Dave is an expert.

It says "preferred" for sensitive fish. That is what I disagree with. Every ich situation is different because every aquarium setup is different. Without knowing a lot of information about the OP's setup I am not just going to give out random advice. I was merely pointing out that if the OP had sensitive fish he may want to consider another method of treatment.

[Star_Rider]

there are various ways to treat ich.
Heat alone at temps 86 and above are very effective and my Discus have never had issues ..
other treatments when used carfully are also effective.
I have personally used Malachite/victoria green(a dye) and formalin effectively and at half dose will has proved safe for Black neons and BNs and no loss to any inverts(snails)

I have also used chelated Copper which is extremely effective and when dosed properly safe for fish. it is lethal for inverts.


I have never had luck using salt treatments alone..I did findout that I had a strain of salt tolerant ich with some tiger barbs awhile back.

in regards to UV sterilizers...there is a trick to those..and they may need to be run for extended periods as the UV is only effective on the ich that passes thru the sterilizer. so there may be a few ife cycles of ich prior to the elimination of the pest.
there is also a question of if the ich was destroyed or if the fish developed a resistance to the ich.

[Sploke]

In my own experience, there are very few common fish sold in the trade that are sensitive to the levels of salt used in ich treatment. If a fish is that sensitive to a simple elemental change in water params like that, I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a chemical that had less effect.

[wataugachicken]

i'm guessing the gorilla in the room here is clown loaches. they're pretty sensitive to anything - especially ich.