Help! Ich problem and Old School method.

[Mghanayem]

So it finally happened, my office tank has the Ich. It's a 55 gallon Hex marine tank with a Snowflake Eel, Blue Spotted Puffer, Lawnmower Blenny and a Coral Beauty.

I realized that the tank temp would fluctuate a great deal the last few days as it gets cold at night (In the deep south so it rarely happens). Well I see the Puffer scratching himself on rocks and a couple days later I see little white spots on his tail and fins (no other fish has these spots). So Im sure it's Ich.

Back in the day I kept many different fish tanks, mostly freshwater and 1 saltwater tank, and whenever I had Ich (and this would only happen in the freshwater tanks), I would raise the temp of the tank to about 82 degrees, and after a week the Ich was gone.

I learned this from an aquarist who had about a dozen tanks and it worked for my freshwater fish, he informed me that Ich cannot live in a higher temperature.

My question is, has anyone used this method on a marine tank?
Is anyone else aware of this method and if it will work on a marine tank?
Has anyone else every tried this method on a marine tank and if so, did you have good results?


Thank you
-M

 

[microlady]

I am from the deep south too - Alabama! As far as I know, temperature will not help with marine ich. I battle it time to time as well. Read the stickies in this section about treatment options. From what I understand your two choices are 1) leave things alone and reduce stress so hopefully their immune system beats it or 2) pull all of the fish out treat them with the tank is "fallow", or treat them with copper or chloroquine phosphate in the display (if there are no inverts, rocks, or corals). I would not trust hyposalinity. No option is completely foolproof due to tank variables and user error. Good luck.

 

[Mghanayem]

Thank you, unfortunately, I do have some inverts and 2 coral frags that are growing very well, also because it's an office tank, I don't have a quarintine tank to remove the fish. Is there another treatment that's safe for corals and inverts?

Any brand anyone would recommend?

 

[snorvich]

Is there another treatment that's safe for corals and inverts?

Unfortunately, no.

 

[ThRoewer]

...
Back in the day I kept many different fish tanks, mostly freshwater and 1 saltwater tank, and whenever I had Ich (and this would only happen in the freshwater tanks), I would raise the temp of the tank to about 82 degrees, and after a week the Ich was gone.

I learned this from an aquarist who had about a dozen tanks and it worked for my freshwater fish, he informed me that Ich cannot live in a higher temperature.

My question is, has anyone used this method on a marine tank?
Is anyone else aware of this method and if it will work on a marine tank?
Has anyone else every tried this method on a marine tank and if so, did you have good results?


Thank you
-M

Raising the temperature only works for freshwater ich.
Scientific research in that matter has shown that marine ich (Cryptocaryon irritans) is not affected by temperature within the tolerable range for most tropical reef fish (22 °C to 30 °C).

It will go into some form of hibernation when the temperature drops below 19 °C, but as soon as the temperature goes up again it will "wake up" unharmed.

It will die if exposed for at least one hour to temperatures of 40 °C or above. But that would also kill everything else in the tank and is therefore only a somewhat suitable method to sterilize quarantine or lab tanks without live rock, algae, fish or inverts in them.

The first thing you should do is to fix the temperature issue of the tank. Some small swings are acceptable and happen in the wild as well, but anything that goes outside the comfortable range for reef fish (24 °C to 27 °C) may stress them and cause health issues.

 

[Mghanayem]

Update on Ich

Update on Ich

So I read all the advice and reviews. I did a 10% WC, and I raised the temp to 81 degrees.

I also went and purchased Seachem Metroplex, I sprinkle it over a frozen cube of mysis shrimp and add some fatty acid, and garlic supplement. I soak it for about 15 minutes until everything is thawed and toss it in the tank. Fish eat it right away.

2 days and the white spots are gone, but I suspect that the Ich is just waiting to form into a cyst and burst and come back after the fish... My hope and plan is that the medication will help kill the ich when it attached to the fish the next time (which is what I've been told will happen).

Is there anyone out there who has any advice or opinions?

Thanks!

 

[snorvich]

So I read all the advice and reviews. I did a 10% WC, and I raised the temp to 81 degrees.

I also went and purchased Seachem Metroplex, I sprinkle it over a frozen cube of mysis shrimp and add some fatty acid, and garlic supplement. I soak it for about 15 minutes until everything is thawed and toss it in the tank. Fish eat it right away.

2 days and the white spots are gone, but I suspect that the Ich is just waiting to form into a cyst and burst and come back after the fish... My hope and plan is that the medication will help kill the ich when it attached to the fish the next time (which is what I've been told will happen).

Is there anyone out there who has any advice or opinions?

Thanks!

Hope is not a strategy. As mentioned above, raising temperature is irrelevant and garlic only is an appetite stimulant. Visual symptoms do not have to be present and will come and go.

Good luck!

 

[Mghanayem]

Won't raising the temp accelerate the Ich process?

The garlic I used was to get them to eat the treated food, they were reluctant to eat it without the stimulant, they ate it all once I added it.

I understand that if I don't see white spots that it's still in the tank, but if they cannot attach to a host, wont the Ich eventually die?

Again, I am new the the Marine Ich process and I'm just asking, I hope I'm not coming off as dogmatic.

Thanks again!

-M

 

[ThRoewer]

Won't raising the temp accelerate the Ich process?
...

The research done on this clearly shows that the raising the temperature won't accelerate the live cycle

...
I understand that if I don't see white spots that it's still in the tank, but if they cannot attach to a host, wont the Ich eventually die?
...

If there are no fish in the tank or all fish in there are fully immune, ich may eventually die out.
But ich has some survival strategies. One of them are long term cysts. The longest confirmed duration in a lab setting was 72 days.
But there is no knowing if this is the longest encystment period possible and if this applies to all ich strains.

 

[snorvich]

Won't raising the temp accelerate the Ich process?

-M

No. However, it will decrease dissolved oxygen in the water which is bad for your animals.