Ick, heat and salt treatment

[Blk69]

Hello. After 4 weeks of quarenteening, added my cherry barbs to my community tank. The next day they have ick, darn! Tank has a betta, 8 WCM, 5 green corys, and 15 guppies. 9 Cherry barbs, 2 showing ick. Tank at 74 deg. Bumpped up to 82 and added a 3 table spoons of salt, tank 75G, dirt/sand substrate, med live plant stocking. Did a 20% water change (well water). Stress must have allowed the ich to develope.

Perfer not to treat with meds, anything else I should try? Hope I caught this early enought the warmer water will kill the ick when in the water column.

 

[dcutl002]

I bump the temperature to 86F for about 10 days and that has always done the trick for me.

Using a quarantine tank, like a 10 gallon, is always beneficial before introducing fish into a community tank.

 

[Blk69]

Ya, I put them in a separate 20G tank for 4 weeks. Thought that would be long enough. First day after I transfered them, 2 barbs started showing ick. I read online the temp had to be 86 deg also, bumped up my heater to 86. Hopefully the increased temp works. Been years since experenced ick in on of my tanks.

 

[dcutl002]

It'll work...Give it at least 10 - 14 days. I recently did that with a Betta that I purchased back in May. He looked very healthy when I first purchased him and about two days later here comes the Ich.

 

[Noroomforshoe]

If only 2 of the fish have spots, it is probobly not ich. Can you post a picture? Istylis t is more likey to be epystylis. And the heat can make things worse. epystylis look like raised 3 dimentional bumps, while it is very flat. Kordon rid ich can cure both ich and epystylis. In my opinion, it is much less stressful to use the medicen that you now will work, then to change the temperature, and hope that it is a strain of ich that responds to the temperae you use. and ad salt and hope you add the right amout to kill the parasite but not overwhelm the fish. And then later You take the heat and the salt away and that is another sudden shange/stress factor.

 

[Blk69]

Other fish are showing spots. Bummer. Have Cory's in the tank, per google Kordon rid ich not great for scaleless fish. Hopefully the increased temperature does the trick. Planning when treated to reduce the temperature back to normal slowly, 2 deg daily

 

[bgarthe]

I have used Kordon Rid Ich with my CoryCats in the tank several times without issue. It’s a good med imo.

As Noroomforshoe said, plz post a pic. If you’re raising temperatures and have Epistylis, not good. In fact, there are many strains of Ich and a fair number are heat resistant.

Your 20% WC may have stressed the fish, but that does not cause Ich. Ich has to be introduced into your tank and then fish with stress may be more susceptible to Ich. It is a parasite that does not lie dormant for years until fish are stressed. Epistylis on the other hand is common in most tanks harmlessly and can flare up with damaged or weakened fish.

 

[Blk69]

Ich only on the barbs so far.

 

[Fishfur]

For what it’s worth, I don’t see how it can be Ich as they are obligate parasites with a short life cycle at average tank temperatures. At about 75F their life cycle is as short as it can possibly be so you would have seen Ich trophonts on the fish within a few days in QT.

I second the request for pictures, since there are other possible candidates aside from Ich.

Just so you’ll know, the formalin/malachite green formula in Rid Ich, Ich X and a few other meds is currently the most effective treatment that we have available, which also has a well established track record for efficacy & safety even in sensitive species like catfish or loaches.

A number of big public aquariums use this formula for virtually all species they keep and that includes a lot of sensitive and often also very valuable & rare species.

You might find this article of some help.

Resource icon

Fishkeepers should know these things about Ich

Apr 10, 2025

Hardwon personal experience plus good scientific research

• Fishfur
• Freshwater Aquarium Articles

 

[Noroomforshoe]

I have used rid ich with my loaches,there was no illl effect, the fish were cured quickly. I continued dosing for a while after the symptoms were gon . loaches were fine.

 

[Dechi]

I had one fish with a few ich spots and turned on my UV, raised temp a bit and dosed Kordon ich attack (the one that doesn’t stain the silicone). It worked in 5 days but I kept the UV on for 4 weeks.

 

[fishthatfit]

Three tablespoons in 75 gallons is somewhere around 0.02 percent. The salt levels people mean when they say salt treats ich are 0.1 to 0.3 percent, which in a tank that size is between about one cup and three. So the heat is doing all of the work here and the salt is not really in play yet.

Worth knowing before you decide whether to go up, because the corys and the plants both run out of tolerance well before 0.3.

 

[Blk69]

Update: 3 days after first spots observed and bumping up tank temp to 86F.

Lost a Cherry Barb yesterday. This morning the remaining 8 Barbs are accounted for, no ich observed on any fish. Planning on keeping the temp up a total of 14 days. Hopefully thru the worst of it.

Thank you for everyone guideance on this issue.

 

[fishthatfit]

Spots going away on day 3 doesn't mean as much as it looks like. That's the trophonts dropping off the fish to encyst on the substrate, which is the stage you can't see, and at 86 it's only a day or two before they come back out looking for a host.

So 14 days is the right call. The trap is the tank looking clean around day 5 or 6 and the temp coming down then.

 

[dcutl002]

Update: 3 days after first spots observed and bumping up tank temp to 86F.

Lost a Cherry Barb yesterday. This morning the remaining 8 Barbs are accounted for, no ich observed on any fish. Planning on keeping the temp up a total of 14 days. Hopefully thru the worst of it.

Thank you for everyone guidance on this issue.

Thats good. The heat speeds up their lifecycle...the parasites will all eventually die.

 

[Blk69]

Update 9/10.

Fish looking well. No white spots or signs of Ich. Going to keep the temp up another 7 days just to make sure outbreak has been controlled. So glad was able to treat this without chemicals.

Nobody in the tank seams to mind the higher temp (86F) Danio, Betta, Cherry barb, Guppies White Cloud Minnow and Green Cory. Think I may keep the tank at 78F vs the 74F was keeping it at before.

My fish thank everyone for your guideance. Will be quarenteening all new fish for 6 weeks just to be safe moving forward.