Hi guys, I got tons of aquarium stuff with a cheeky late bid of £10, wow I have used some and have loads of spares. Anyhow I got some new fish which got ich and it spread . I hate lifting the tank hood and continually tweaking the temp up to 80f ish and then down again until it's right ,,,, pita. Decided to make use of a spare heater so calibrated it to 80f in a container. Simply lift lid once, plop it into my tank and of course it takes over from the primary tank heater. The ich soon disappeared and the fish bathed at 82f, were more active, platys mating etc and all good. Then when it's done it's work, lift hood, remove heater. Temp obviously drops now but takes a long time to get to primary heater set point until it once again takes over. No tweaking or continually checking thermometer, lifting hood and no messing, job done. At the time I didn't have a quarantine tank. In my opinion it's worth getting a spare heater just for the lazy way to remove ich.
Ich treatment my lazy way
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Great idea but remember that Temp needs to stay at a steady 86F for 10 days to fully kill ich. .
I hear what your saying BUT, all the reports I have ever read say , at 80f the parasite cannot live, and yes you do have to let them hatch as such and swim free to kill the blighters. I wasn't going into technicalities, just putting a lazy way as the first time I did it I was continually adjusting the primary heater, but thanks for the time period input, I try to reassure folk that this method is safe and does NOT require chemicals. I am happy they get a warm bath, but would still be nervy of boiling them Cheers
Retired Viking
Fish Connoisseur
Yes I'm sure and they flick as well, the lyre tail sword is now looking mint. I'll take you guys word but honestly all the google searches said 80. Btw Iv now turned the temp up now you guys have given me confidence to do such a thing, after all there happy at 82.
Still my lazy spare preset heater method will continue thereby not faffing with the primary heater. Thanks
Still my lazy spare preset heater method will continue thereby not faffing with the primary heater. Thanks
The only problem with your lazy heater method is that you are suppose to raise it slowly, just a couple degrees an hour. A sudden spike could put them in shock. I’m curious what articles you were reading that say 80F. Everything I Google says 86F. 
I'd think a heater would raise it slowly. It would take hours I'd say to raise the temperature of a medium size tank by 5 degrees.
I do think the others are right in that 80 degrees wouldn't be hot enough to kill off ich, but if it worked for you then maybe......
I do think the others are right in that 80 degrees wouldn't be hot enough to kill off ich, but if it worked for you then maybe......
When I researched it a few sites said that but I'm not entering an argument over it as it worked for me, but that's not the issue.
I totally agree with you over raising temp slowly , which did take many hours for me, which after thinking about it will be dependant on the heater wattage I suppose, an issue I hadn't considered, so thanks for pointing it out though. As said it works for me.
I totally agree with you over raising temp slowly , which did take many hours for me, which after thinking about it will be dependant on the heater wattage I suppose, an issue I hadn't considered, so thanks for pointing it out though. As said it works for me.
@Guppy10 I’m sorry. I’m certainly not trying to enter into an argument either. Things change constantly in fish care and I was just trying to research if something changed.
That depends on the wattage of your heater.
There is more to all this. It may actually not have really "worked" for you. Fish can fight this off, depending upon their condition. The more stress, the more weakened their immune system and other issues.
But on the ich and temperature. The temperature must be no lower than 86F (30 C). Even at this temperature, some parasites may slip through. This is why reliable sources will advise maintaining the increased temperature for two weeks. The higher temperature also speeds up the life cycle time of ich. But it only takes one to slip through and continue.
The visible spots may never be seen, but ich can still be present.
I agree,but my thinking was that a few hours to get up to temp would be OK ( and has proved to be so ) as the fish are out of their comfort zone. Short term is ok then lower back down to say 25c. If you spent 2 weeks getting to 30c AND then leaving them there for up to 2 weeks will give them a month out of their optimum temperature and presumably you would take 2 weeks to get temp back to normal ? The fish was a new addition and yes I left it for a while to see if it would go but it didn't, but when a few others started flicking, I took action. I read that when the spores hatch at that temp and don't find a host in 24hrs they die.
Good debate is this
Good debate is this
Yes, I would raise the temperature over the course of a day or two at most. My first action--if ich is serious enough to warrant action--is to do a major water change with a good vacuum of the substrate. This can pick up some of the cysts. But it also allows me to raise the temperature part way, and the heater is turned up. Heaters should not be expected to raise a tank from say 75F (my normal tank temp is 75-76 for cories, for example) to 86F on their own. This is a sure way to burn them out. So a water change or even two over a day or two does this fine.
One week once the temp is 86F/30C is advisable, but as I said there can be some parasites getting through this, so a second week is usually recommended. Then turn down the heater and leave the tank to cool back to the normal temperature on its own.
And yes, the cysts burst and the parasites must find a host within 24 hours. But it only takes one of the thousands to enter the gills of one fish to continue the disease. And it is likely that ich will remain in the tank anyway. But the fish will bee able to regain their strength, if other stress is avoided, and fight it off as needed.
If surface disturbance is increased significantly to ensure a good exchange of oxygen/CO2 during the elevated temperature, most fish can manage two weeks. My cories certainly did.
Very good idea there Byron . It could be that without help my heater could not do it on its own . The idea is to increase temp with a water change, yes. Great idea which I'll employ in future, thanks.
Lucky I didn't have a burn out !
Lucky I didn't have a burn out !
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