Eliminating ich via temperature

Spork3245

New member
Okay, so simply put, I'm concerned with ich being in the brute I use for water mixing due to equipment from water changes touching my tank which is affected with ich. It's fairly unlikely but is still possible as it's a tubing that I use to connect my mixing pump (which gets a full week to air-dry in-between changes). I'm about to start TTM and want to make sure that there is no ich in that mixing tub, I remember reading that it will not survive in temps of 90F and above - Is this true? Since it's just used for mixing I figured I could raise the temp to 90F and then let it cool down.

PS: In-between water changes it usually sits for at least 1 day with mostly fresh water (sg is probably around 1.005 as there's about 2g of saltwater left from the water change and I put 15-16 gallons of fresh RODI water in it)
 
the temperature point is untrue. there were always rumors of higher temps speeding up the life cycle, but that was really for the freshwater variety of Ich, not saltwater's crypto/ich.

agreed with your assessment that it is 'possible' for the ich to have transferred to the brute. and any cysts that formed would make it through the lower salinity. your best bet is to rinse out the brute and let it (and the equipment) air dry, staying completely dry for 24+ hours. that will kill off any parasites and their cysts.
 
the temperature point is untrue. there were always rumors of higher temps speeding up the life cycle, but that was really for the freshwater variety of Ich, not saltwater's crypto/ich.

agreed with your assessment that it is 'possible' for the ich to have transferred to the brute. and any cysts that formed would make it through the lower salinity. your best bet is to rinse out the brute and let it (and the equipment) air dry, staying completely dry for 24+ hours. that will kill off any parasites and their cysts.

If the tubing was air-dried for approximately 168 hours (no rinse though) between every water change would it still be a concern?
The brute is currently filled, doing a rinse on it is going to suck as I'd be wasting all my RODI water :(
 
Does tubing ever get really dry? I am anal. I never share equipment between tanks. The temperature issue is a carry over from fresh water ich (Ichthyophthirius multifiliis) and does not hold true for cryptocaryon irritans, the salt water version of the parasite.
 
Does tubing ever get really dry? I am anal. I never share equipment between tanks. The temperature issue is a carry over from fresh water ich (Ichthyophthirius multifiliis) and does not hold true for cryptocaryon irritans, the salt water version of the parasite.

Yea, it's bone dry at the time of using it each week
BTW, I could crank the temp as high as 100+ :)
 
Great. Won't affect ich however. :lmao:

Haha I'm trying! :lolspin:

Maybe I should get a heater that can bring it to 212F and boil the suckers :p

Guess I'll empty out the brute tomorrow and give it a rinse. Is fresh (tap) water good enough or do I need to use something else?

Also, how long can marine Ich survive in fresh water (0.00000000000 salinity... Like, 100% fresh water :p)?
 
haha i'm trying! :lolspin:

Maybe i should get a heater that can bring it to 212f and boil the suckers :p

guess i'll empty out the brute tomorrow and give it a rinse. Is fresh (tap) water good enough or do i need to use something else?

Also, how long can marine ich survive in fresh water (0.00000000000 salinity... Like, 100% fresh water :p)?

^^^^^ ?
 
Can you dry out the pump,tube and brute? Dry kills it but it needs to be truly dry.
 
Does tubing ever get really dry? I am anal. I never share equipment between tanks. The temperature issue is a carry over from fresh water ich (Ichthyophthirius multifiliis) and does not hold true for cryptocaryon irritans, the salt water version of the parasite.

i've actually taken to labeling everything with sharpie.

"QT ONLY" in big bold letters, so i won't mix and match.

even down the the droppers i use for my refractometer.
 
i've actually taken to labeling everything with sharpie.

"QT ONLY" in big bold letters, so i won't mix and match.

even down the the droppers i use for my refractometer.

I label everything too. Also, I have my new fish quarantine area in my basement surrounded by electric fence and razor wire.
 
FYI - If you're talking about heating saltwater to 90+ deg F, don't. Not only will it not kill the ich and waste a lot of electricity, it's highly likely you will precipitate a lot of the calcium and alkalinity in the water as calcium carbonate.

Seawater is already over-saturated with calcium, and a slight bump in temp may precipitate a fair amount of it.
 
If I had to clean the pump lines or tubing I would use straight vinegar followed by a freshwater rinse.
That should cause the demise of most things & a little vinegar will not cause any problems.
 
If I had to clean the pump lines or tubing I would use straight vinegar followed by a freshwater rinse.
That should cause the demise of most things & a little vinegar will not cause any problems.

yep plus the air drying period and good to go. good for equipment to get this bath occasionally, breaks away gunk.
 
Thanks guys, after my next water change I'll run the pump in some white vinegar, rinse out the container in fresh water, get new tubing (it's like $2 :p) and let it air dry for 3 days.

In the mean time, for the TTM I'm about to start, I'll just use tap water treated with prime mixed with salt in a 5 gallon bucket
 
I label everything too. Also, I have my new fish quarantine area in my basement surrounded by electric fence and razor wire.

That's not a bad idea. I may have to do that.

Unfortunately, to date, all my attempts to train my clown fish to defend the QT area with machine gun fire have ended in failure.

And don't even get me started on the cost and complexity of engineering a trigger system a clown can operate. This may prove a viable alternative.
 
eek... any reason not RO/DI? maybe i missed a post.

Right! RO/DI only!! :hmm5:

It's only for TTM and a temp QT tank, no point in wasting RODI (not to mention the waste water produced!). My DT will continue to use RODI for coral health and to discourage algae growth :)
If it was a permanent QT I'd use RODI though :p

Dumping 20 gallons of RODI over 12 days seems like a waste now that I'm thinking about it actually
 
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