# Raising tank temp for ich



## Beeps (Jan 5, 2010)

Anyone ever have a problem raising temp for ich? I slowly pegged my heater over several days and didn't trust the thermometers so bought a digital and it says 82.4. I thought it was at least 85 but the heater is set above the last mark at 87. Should i trust the digital and add another heater? Thanks for any help.


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## snafu (Oct 9, 2004)

"a man with one watch knows what time it is; a man with two watches is never sure."

i'd probably buy one of the cheapy floating ones for $2-3 and average the two measurements that are closest together.


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## plaakapong (Feb 28, 2008)

Are you using meds? or just raising the temp?? I use rid-ich with great success and follow the directions-don't raise the temp. High temps are more stressful on most fish and reduce dissolved oxygen.


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## mumushummus (Sep 16, 2009)

yeah go for clasic!
new fish get ich easy !


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## mumushummus (Sep 16, 2009)

high temps kills also the ich spores !


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## kid creole (Dec 25, 2008)

I've only ever killed ich with temperature. It's like Tom Barr says, people worry about killing fish with ferts all the time, and it rarely happens. No one questions CO2, but people kill entire tanks all the time. With ich, if caught early, temperature is a 100% fix, if you have tropical fish that are adapted to warmer temperatures. 85°, which is where you need to get your temp to to kill ich, is a common temperature for many of our fish. If your fish need cooler temps, then medicine is the only way to go.

The the original poster: You've got to have some second source you could use to check your thermometer. You could put it in an ice bath and see if it reads 32 on the nose. That's not a full calibration, but I would feel pretty confident in the thermometer if it read 32.0, 32.2. The bigger problem could be that your heater is undersized. If it's turned all the way up, you should be able to get above 82. I keep my tank at 82.


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## Beeps (Jan 5, 2010)

Thanks for all the advice. I did get it up to 86 today by putting the glass top on. I guess the house air is so dry that the evaporation was keeping the temp down. Took like 10 hours to raise the temp 4 degrees.


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## Bettatail (Feb 12, 2009)

try to fix ich in another way, to make your tank more livable for the fish, and it is a long term solution.
fish usually don't fall for ich, they are naturally immue, just like human to common flu, if there is a serious breakout of ich, there must be some factors that weaken their immue system.
I have ich in my tank, always, and there is no way to get rid of it. but only 5 or 6 times I had fish caught ich since last March, each time only less than 5 fish(total about 80 fish) had white dots on their body, and it lasted for 4-6 days, then white dots gone.

my tank temp is 75-78


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## kid creole (Dec 25, 2008)

Beeps said:


> Thanks for all the advice. I did get it up to 86 today by putting the glass top on. I guess the house air is so dry that the evaporation was keeping the temp down. Took like 10 hours to raise the temp 4 degrees.


4° in 10 hours is really fast. I think you should shoot for about 4° (maybe less) in a 24 hour period.


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## plaakapong (Feb 28, 2008)

http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/ich.shtml

Though they all follow the same life-pattern, there are countless strains of Ich, some harder to kill, some more virulent. Bad news comes in from all over: Ich has traditionally succumbed at temperatures over 85oF, but in the 1990s new Florida "strains" were reported that could survive temperatures as high as 90o, which might overstress most tropical fish

Heat is not 100% effective, it didn't work for me. Rid-ich is the only thing that I've had 100% success with.


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## Beeps (Jan 5, 2010)

> 4° in 10 hours is really fast


 Really? That's 1 degree every 2.5 hours. The water in bagged fish when purchased must drop at least 2 degrees in an hour and most fish are then aclimated for an hour or so to bring the temps back up and they are fine. I thought that was a gentle increase.


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## kid creole (Dec 25, 2008)

Beeps said:


> Really? That's 1 degree every 2.5 hours. The water in bagged fish when purchased must drop at least 2 degrees in an hour and most fish are then aclimated for an hour or so to bring the temps back up and they are fine. I thought that was a gentle increase.


No, I'm propagating old wives' tails. I don't know really. Just seems fast to me for the fish, but it may be too fast for your heater.

Where do you stand now on the whole situation?


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## maxthedog123 (Jul 23, 2007)

Heat does speed up the lifecycle, but you also need a way to kill the organisms. Salt - plain NaCl without iodine or other additives does the trick. I just had Ich in my largest aquarium - my 55g - and treated it without losing a single fish. The link below is a great discussion of the disease and the treatment. The only place I disagree is the dosage - I would use around 2 teaspoons per gallon of salt.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/ich.php

Malachite green or any of the other ich meds is 50/50 to take the fish out with the disease - they are all pretty harsh.


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## OverStocked (May 26, 2007)

Bettatail said:


> try to fix ich in another way, to make your tank more livable for the fish, and it is a long term solution.
> fish usually don't fall for ich, they are naturally immue, just like human to common flu, if there is a serious breakout of ich, there must be some factors that weaken their immue system.
> I have ich in my tank, always, and there is no way to get rid of it. but only 5 or 6 times I had fish caught ich since last March, each time only less than 5 fish(total about 80 fish) had white dots on their body, and it lasted for 4-6 days, then white dots gone.
> 
> my tank temp is 75-78


For the record. Humans only gain an immunity(and temporary) to the common flu after exposure. Raising temp will kill ich. Ich cannot survive in higher temps.


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## maxthedog123 (Jul 23, 2007)

Bettatail said:


> try to fix ich in another way, to make your tank more livable for the fish, and it is a long term solution.
> fish usually don't fall for ich, they are naturally immue, just like human to common flu, if there is a serious breakout of ich, there must be some factors that weaken their immue system.
> I have ich in my tank, always, and there is no way to get rid of it. but only 5 or 6 times I had fish caught ich since last March, each time only less than 5 fish(total about 80 fish) had white dots on their body, and it lasted for 4-6 days, then white dots gone.
> 
> my tank temp is 75-78


Ich is NOT always in your fish tank. Every web site that has info on ich specifically states that this is not the case. It cannot survive without a host (fish).


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## DaveS (Mar 2, 2008)

Bettatail said:


> try to fix ich in another way, to make your tank more livable for the fish, and it is a long term solution.
> fish usually don't fall for ich, they are naturally immue, just like human to common flu, if there is a serious breakout of ich, there must be some factors that weaken their immue system.
> I have ich in my tank, always, and there is no way to get rid of it. but only 5 or 6 times I had fish caught ich since last March, each time only less than 5 fish(total about 80 fish) had white dots on their body, and it lasted for 4-6 days, then white dots gone.
> 
> my tank temp is 75-78


That is the biggest load of crap I have heard in a long, long time. You somehow managed to get about half of the misinformation propagated about ich into just a few sentences. Congats on that, it couldn't have been easy.

To the OP, if you want to read the truth about ich, follow the skeptical aquarist link given earlier.


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## Beeps (Jan 5, 2010)

Thanks, I'll read that in detail.


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## lescarpentier (Feb 2, 2008)




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