Whom Has Successfully Treated Ich On Tetras Only Using Heat?

Hey fish friends,
I recently ordered some ember tetras from LFS and they came in today. I placed them in a 5.5 gallon quarantine tank and was watching them closely. I noticed one fish had one small white spot on it's face while the others were fine. I know tetras are sensitive to salt and medications. I am currently raising the temperature 2 degrees until I get it to 88 degrees.

I've read conflicting information online saying 86-88 degrees doesn't kill ich, rather speeds up the life cycle of ich. I am only planning to use the heat treatment for now. I've treated ich before in the past with malachite green but it did more harm than good. The biological filter was weakened, thus throwing my parameters out of wack and stressing out the fish even more.

Is heat the best way to treat ich on tetras?

 

Heat treatment has always worked for me. Just remember to change the water every day and treat for 2 weeks after the last sign of ich.

 

I have. It went away after it's life cycle. No meds because I have snails.

 

Hey fish friends,

I had a minuscule ich situation in my quarantine tank for my new ember tetras I got last week. One tetra was flashing and ich seemed like the reasonable diagnosis. There were not any white spots yet. The store I got them from had an ich outbreak a few weeks ago.

I noticed the flashing on Sunday afternoon and slowly got the temperature up to 88 degrees. The tetras are acting normal and are eating normal. I also increased the output on the sponge filter to help with aeration.

So far, I noticed no flashing and no white spots at all yesterday and today.

How long should I keep the heat up?
I was thinking a full 7 days just to be safe

Thanks!

 

Freshwater Ich can survive for a pretty long time, I believe for up to two weeks if I'm correct.

I've dealt with Ich two times, and have always used the fizzing Ich medication/tablets from Tetra and they suggested for treating for additional two weeks, I only treated for one additional week and no Ich since, but I am pretty educated on the different Ich treatments out there.

Ich will die in around two days at 80 degrees Fahrenheit, 7 days of additional treatment should be fine, but keep a very close eye on them.

Good luck!

 

Yes it recommended to keep the temp up for 2-3 weeks. Just to make sure there all dead. I would also vacuume the gravel a couple of times to get rid of whatever is still lasting in there.

 

When I had ich outbreak on my 6 platies at the time, I used medicine (petco's Parasite Remedy) every other day for 2 weeks and every other day 50% water change+vacuum as well. I didn't mess with temp at all and was able to cure close to 9 days. If you do raise temps however, don't forget to increase air bubbles as warmer water doesn't release as much oxygen as colder. Treat at least 2 weeks even if symptoms are gone to kill off whatever is still floating

 

It's always good practice to continue your chosen treatment regimen at least 7-10 days minimum after the last visible sign of Ich is observed.

Past 7-10 days is even better.

 

Ich can wipe out an entire tank pretty quickly if not treated properly. Please don't think of this as a minscule situation.

If it's ich you will see the white dots at some point. The heat method for treatment speeds up the life cycle, but the life cycle still proceeds. It's three stages. The fish get infected during the parasite's free swimming stage. Then it attaches to the fish, and including the gills, and white spots form. The white spots fall off after a few days and fall to the bottom. Then they explode and release zillions of free swimming parasites, which attach to the fish, etc., etc.

The only phase the parasite can be killed in is the free swimming stage, and it's invisible. That's why it's crucial to treat for at least a week after all the symptoms disappear.

The temperature method kills the ich because it can't reproduce in temps above a certain level.

 

the ich life cycle lasts 2-3 weeks.

Life Cycle of Saltwater Ich (Cryptocaryon irritans)

 

Hey fish friends,

I had a minuscule ich situation in my quarantine tank for my new ember tetras I got last week. One tetra was flashing and ich seemed like the reasonable diagnosis. There were not any white spots yet. The store I got them from had an ich outbreak a few weeks ago.

I noticed the flashing on Sunday afternoon and slowly got the temperature up to 88 degrees. The tetras are acting normal and are eating normal. I also increased the output on the sponge filter to help with aeration.

So far, I noticed no flashing and no white spots at all yesterday and today.

How long should I keep the heat up?
I was thinking a full 7 days just to be safe

Thanks!

Hello Joe...

Heat isn't really a good means of treating the Ich parasite. Heat increases the fishes' metabolism so they will poop more and this will help foul the tank water. By increasing the metabolism of the fish, you actually shorten the lifespan of the fish. Prolonged heat will also damage the heart and open the fish to a number of immune system problems. So, you keep the heat at a normal level around 76 degrees for tropicals and around 70 for other fish, like Goldfish. What you do, is add a bit of standard aquarium salt, roughly a teaspoon or even a bit more to every 5 gallons of your water change water and do a good job of vacuuming any bottom material. Gradually increase your water changes to 50 percent every few days and feed very little. You simply maintain this routine until you see improvement in the fish. The Ich parasite isn't able to reproduce in water with a trace of salt in it and the salt will stimulate the fishes' immune system.

Old

 

Hey fish friends,
I recently ordered some ember tetras from LFS and they came in today. I placed them in a 5.5 gallon quarantine tank and was watching them closely. I noticed one fish had one small white spot on it's face while the others were fine. I know tetras are sensitive to salt and medications. I am currently raising the temperature 2 degrees until I get it to 88 degrees.

I've read conflicting information online saying 86-88 degrees doesn't kill ich, rather speeds up the life cycle of ich. I am only planning to use the heat treatment for now. I've treated ich before in the past with malachite green but it did more harm than good. The biological filter was weakened, thus throwing my parameters out of wack and stressing out the fish even more.

Is heat the best way to treat ich on tetras?

You are correct, Heat treatment speeds up the life cycle hopefully preventing the ICH from reinfecting the fish. This is why it is important to vacuum out the various stages of the life cycle from the gravel and the water column. Though in practice this tends to work quite well. I find that it prevents the other fish from getting ICH. Medicines will work much faster, but they have side effects, especially for inverts, scaleless fish, tetras, and your BB.

You have to be careful when temperatures go up that the air in the water is less accessible to the fish so an air stone is usually required. Also, any ammonia becomes much more deadly so it is good to just watch out for any ammonia spikes while treating for ICH just in case.

I know that Candace is going through exactly this with some of her tetras.

 

I did. Bumped up the temp which sped up the lifecycle of the ick already infesting the fish. Vacuum the tank every day to get rid of fallen eggs and mature ick parasites. Make sure there is extra air being supplied. If you have an established aquarium and a filter with a built in UV light, you can also turn the speed of your filter down to kill the free floating ick parasites, but focus mainly on vacuuming the substrate as that’s where the majority will be.