Ich Outbreak

[Blue Ram]

I've not had to deal with ich for years - so long I don't remember the safest and most effective treatment. It is a large tank that contains live plants, catfish, loaches and various other community fish. Have no idea what brought this on. I can increase the heat but what else?

[RandomHero]

Aquarium salt

[Abby]

I've recently deal with an ich outbreak and I have a similar set up (75G, live plants, community fish etc.) The problem with Aquarium salt is if you have scaleless fish (Plecco's) it can do a lot of damage. You can very slowly add salt to your tank (by pre-dissolving it in the water you will add. . .don't just pour it in!) and slowly slowly slowly bring the salt levels up and see how your fish react. But personally, I have lost some catfish to salt in the past.

Alternatively (and a lot safer)

I did quite a bit of reading when I had my problem, and heat has proven to be a very effective method of dealing with Ich. I'll spare the science, but ultimately if you increase your aquarium temp to 86-88F you will stop the spread of ich and kill any trace of it which remains in your water. You should leave it at this temp for 10 days. Even if you see the spots go away, do not lower temp! Ich has stages of life and during each stage something different will visually be happening. Just because the spots are gone from your fish doesn't mean the parasite is gone. It just means that it's buried itself and will be coming back if left untreated.

I have used just the heat method in the past (no chems, no salt) and it was very effective and I didn't lose a single fish.

Raising the temp slowly is advised. Too fast is stressful, leaving it there for too long is also stressful. 10 days, 86-88F . . .slowly lower it down and you should be good to go!

Good luck!

*Edit*
Thought I should also mention that ultimately what you're doing by increasing the heat is speeding up the life cycle of the parasite (88F will actually kill it when it's in its free swimming part of life). So don't be shocked if you see more white spots appear shortly after raising the temp. This is normal and they will clear up.

Edited May 30, 2013 by Abby

[IronChefItaly]

I've recently deal with an ich outbreak and I have a similar set up (75G, live plants, community fish etc.) The problem with Aquarium salt is if you have scaleless fish (Plecco's) it can do a lot of damage. You can very slowly add salt to your tank (by pre-dissolving it in the water you will add. . .don't just pour it in!) and slowly slowly slowly bring the salt levels up and see how your fish react. But personally, I have lost some catfish to salt in the past.

Alternatively (and a lot safer)

I did quite a bit of reading when I had my problem, and heat has proven to be a very effective method of dealing with Ich. I'll spare the science, but ultimately if you increase your aquarium temp to 86-88F you will stop the spread of ich and kill any trace of it which remains in your water. You should leave it at this temp for 10 days. Even if you see the spots go away, do not lower temp! Ich has stages of life and during each stage something different will visually be happening. Just because the spots are gone from your fish doesn't mean the parasite is gone. It just means that it's buried itself and will be coming back if left untreated.

I have used just the heat method in the past (no chems, no salt) and it was very effective and I didn't lose a single fish.

Raising the temp slowly is advised. Too fast is stressful, leaving it there for too long is also stressful. 10 days, 86-88F . . .slowly lower it down and you should be good to go!

Good luck!

*Edit*

Thought I should also mention that ultimately what you're doing by increasing the heat is speeding up the life cycle of the parasite (88F will actually kill it when it's in its free swimming part of life). So don't be shocked if you see more white spots appear shortly after raising the temp. This is normal and they will clear up.

Bought 3 ottos on Sunday and noticed ich cysts that have developed on them last night. I will be using your method and hopefully it doesn't spread too much to my other fish. I have a fluval 100 watt in a 26 gallon tank and it can't seem to hold the temperature above 25 degrees (house is a little cooler ~15 at night) so i will be looking into getting a second heater tonight. Tank specs in signature.