Difficulty raising tank temp to help with ridding Ick (pic)

[Ilikewhatisee]

From all I've read I believe the above white specs on my Clown Loaches is Ick so I'm attempting to treat it with the salt/higher temp method I've read about here in AC. If this looks like something else, please let me know.

I first noticed it this morning on all 3 Clown Loaches and on no other fish. I've begun to gradually increase (over 24 hours) salt levels in my tank to 2 tsp/Gal.

My problem is with raising the temp to 86 degrees. Room temp is 70 degrees. It is a 55 gal tank. Heater is a Rena Cal 300W and 4 months old. Always kept temp at 78 degres with no problem. Now that I need to raise the temp, regardless of what the Heater is set at, I can't get it to raise the tank over 80.4 degrees. I've tried different locations, increased water circulation and that is the best I can get. I have 2 different thermometers just to double check.

Am I asking too much given the room temp is only 70?
Is the heater just not working correctly?
Am I just missing something and give it time?

Please, this is not a question about overstocking as the Clown are only about 2 inches atm and the only fish in the tank over 3 inches is the Bichir. I already have a 180 Gal that I will set up after the holidays to spread my little guys out to give them enough room.

P.S. I've had the Clown Loaches about a month and from what I've read ick is almost to be expected on them in that time period.

Thanks in advance folks, you guys are great!

P.P.S. Is there any medication for M.T.S.? I'm gettin' it bad!

 

[sarcare]

On a tank more then 44g it is best to have two heaters, even two 150 or 200w would be better then one 300w or higher. The reason is that it is hard to heat up the water all over the tank with the heater just in one spot, especially if the water isn't circulating really well through the tank, which is hard in a 55g. Another thing, is that clown loaches and some other bottom feeders have skin and not scales (as I recall) and are more sensitive to salt, so keep a close eye on him and increase the salt VERY slowly.

 

[hmilstead]

I just went through an ich problem in my 55 gallon and same thing - heater wasn't strong enough to get the temp above 81-82. I bought a 2nd heater and had them placed one on each side of tank and was then able to get the temp up to where it needed to be. Good luck.
Heather

 

[mandimoron]

My experience with ich (and fishkeeping in general) is limited to tanks 10gallons and less, so I don't know if this is entirely applicable to a larger aquarium, but I have successfully treated ich outbreaks without having to muck with temperatures at all. I added salt, yes, but had no need to increase the water temp-- it was my understanding that the increased temperature was only suggested as a means of speeding up the life cycle of the ich, and wasn't entirely necessary. Perhaps the fact that I caught the outbreak very early on helped my case, as well. >_>

 

[plah831]

yup, mandi's right. While heat in itself can kill ich, it'll probably have to be pretty high and even then there are more heat-resistant strains of ich. More than anything, it just reduces the amount of time you need to keep salt in the tank.

I've also done it without raising temp, but had to keep the salt in for 3-4 weeks as opposed to 2 and a half weeks with the heat. So if you don't want to add another heater, just make sure to maintain salt levels for a little longer. It's always good to have an extra heater as a backup, though, IMO You never know when the trusty one in the tank will die.