New Ich Treatment?!

[mets17127]

I was chatting with a salesman I believe to be knowledgable and ethical (at my local Petco of all places) and casually mentioned how my Hippo Tang can't seem to shake the itchiness from ich, which is why I was buying stress coat.
I know he needs to be in a QT and all, but thats not my point.
He stated some recent article that the staff had read regarding new information on the lifecycle of ich, and its optimal parameters. Based on that article, he recommended that I raise my temp to 90 for a few days to completely eradicate the infection throughout the tank. Furthermore, he assured me that the high temp would be relatively safe for my fish and inverts for that short span.
I do plan to search for this article, but figured I'd share to get the community searching as well.

 

[jhentr]

I remember the FW days, you'll increase your water temp and add aquarium salt to deal with fw ich. Also in general, higher temp will help increase the speed of the ich cycle - but it won't irradicate it (esp. SW).

My fishes done well at 87 for a couple of days before I got a fan to bring the temp down to 83 - but I wouldn't risk fauna to 90 degree temps at all.

 

[Gill_bucket]

Ich will respond to higher temperatures, but not ick. You have a marine tank, so you have ick not ich.

 

[Gill_bucket]

P.S. 90 is when stuff starts to die. I would think the stress could cause an ick explosion.

 

[angelfish7]

No salesperson from any reputable fish store will ever recommend to raise your temps to 90!! Now we know why he's still working at Petco instead of a real fish store !!

 

[snorvich]

Raising temperature reduces dissolved oxygen in the water. Cryptocaryon irritans is almost always in the gills. Raising temperature is most likely to kill your fish rather than solve your problem.

 

[MrTuskfish]

I agree completely with the above two posts. The idea of raising temp to help cure C.I. has been around forever. See if the Petco guy will give you a copy of his source. I'm not betting a kidney on this; but I think its been shown that CI cysts can survive temps in excess of 90F. Anyone wanting to really search could probably find it; but I'm relying on memory. Just an anecdotal account: I know a lfs that had a heater go nuts while treating CI and the temp was 92F when discovered. Fish survived, so did the ich. Increased temp just speeds the life-cycle of FW ich, it doesn't kill it and has little (if any) effect on the life cycle of SW ich.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Ich will respond to higher temperatures, but not ick. You have a marine tank, so you have ick not ich.

Huh? I never heard this before. I just looked at two nearby books, by Fenner & Paletta, both refer to SW cryptocaryon irritans as "ich". So do R.C.s great stickys. I prefer to call it CI, but it seems more recognized when called "ich". Pronounced like the German Ich (I) which is impossible to spell phonetically and was mangled by John Kennedy when he said ''Ich bin ein Berliner".

 

[MrTuskfish]

I was chatting with a salesman I believe to be knowledgable and ethical (at my local Petco of all places) and casually mentioned how my Hippo Tang can't seem to shake the itchiness from ich, which is why I was buying stress coat.
I know he needs to be in a QT and all, but thats not my point.
He stated some recent article that the staff had read regarding new information on the lifecycle of ich, and its optimal parameters. Based on that article, he recommended that I raise my temp to 90 for a few days to completely eradicate the infection throughout the tank. Furthermore, he assured me that the high temp would be relatively safe for my fish and inverts for that short span.
I do plan to search for this article, but figured I'd share to get the community searching as well.

PETCO aside;if your tang is still scratching, he almost certainly has the parasite, not just left-over symptoms. His gills may be full of ich and you can't see it. Stresscoat isn't going to cure this.

 

[sandwi54]

First of all, the name "ich" is short for Ichthyophthirius Multifiliis, the parasite responsible for freshwater ich. For saltwater, the similar parasite is Cryptocaryon Irritans. However, the saltwater industry has adopted the name of ich from freshwater since the symptoms are so similar. To avoid confusion, we should differentiate them by "freshwater ich" and "marine ich." Also, the proper name is "ich" and not "ick."

There are many myths regarding marine ich, most of which are carried over from freshwater ich. Raising the temperature above 86 degrees has been shown to kill freshwater ich (Ichthyophthirius Multifiliis), but not marine ich (Cryptocaryon Irritans). Putting fish at 90-degree temperature is likely to stress them and kill them slowly, while at the same time speed up ich's life cycle and cause an explosion of its population.

So far there are only two scientifically proven treatments for marine ich. Copper and hyposalinity, each of which needs to be done in a quarantine tank unless the display tank is fish-only.

 

[snorvich]

First of all, the name "ich" is short for Ichthyophthirius Multifiliis, the parasite responsible for freshwater ich. For saltwater, the similar parasite is Cryptocaryon Irritans. However, the saltwater industry has adopted the name of ich from freshwater since the symptoms are so similar. To avoid confusion, we should differentiate them by "freshwater ich" and "marine ich." Also, the proper name is "ich" and not "ick."

There are many myths regarding marine ich, most of which are carried over from freshwater ich. Raising the temperature above 86 degrees has been shown to kill freshwater ich (Ichthyophthirius Multifiliis), but not marine ich (Cryptocaryon Irritans). Putting fish at 90-degree temperature is likely to stress them and kill them slowly, while at the same time speed up ich's life cycle and cause an explosion of its population.

So far there are only two scientifically proven treatments for marine ich. Copper and hyposalinity, each of which needs to be done in a quarantine tank unless the display tank is fish-only.

Actually, there is a third: tank transfer method.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Actually, there is a third: tank transfer method.

I thought Quinine sulfate could be added to that list; but after talking to tech support at 2 SW med mfgs., I don't think so.

 

[MrTuskfish]

So far there are only two scientifically proven treatments for marine ich. Copper and hyposalinity, each of which needs to be done in a quarantine tank unless the display tank is fish-only.

In fish-only tanks; LR & substrate make the precise monitoring levels of copper very difficult, if not impossible. IMO & IME. I would never attempt to treat with copper in a tank with a lot of porous material. In a QT, copper is easy & safe. Again IME & IMO.

 

[sandwi54]

Actually, there is a third: tank transfer method.

I understand and am aware of that method. However, my opinion is that it places additional stress on the fish and have never tried it myself, so I did not recommend it in my post.

 

[sandwi54]

In fish-only tanks; LR & substrate make the precise monitoring levels of copper very difficult, if not impossible. IMO & IME. I would never attempt to treat with copper in a tank with a lot of porous material. In a QT, copper is easy & safe. Again IME & IMO.

You are correct. Though by fish-only, I really meant "fish only" with no live rocks/sand of any kind. If there are live rocks I call it FOWLR or "fish only with live rock."

 

[sandwi54]

I should also mention that if copper were to be applied to the display tank, there must be no decorations either (in addition to live rocks/sand). Commercial aquarium decorations are known to absorb copper as well and make the treatment very difficult or impossible.

 

[cougaran]

I just read recently that for FW ich the raising temp is recommended. However for SW it is NOT recommended. The ich can go into one of its many phases when temp is increased and there have been cases of them being able to last up to 90 days in a fishless tank because of the temp increase..SO DONT RAISE TEMP!