# Icky Ich



## intensejustin (Sep 8, 2010)

Hey guys!

Today I noticed one of my Corys has a few Ich spots on him. I've read raising the temp to about 88F will kill the Ich, but at that temp will the cory just get stressed and die anyway? I have also read that most Ich treatments are for fish with scales... so I'm kinda screwed there.


----------



## NursePlaty (Feb 5, 2010)

*You are not screwed. If that was the case all scaleless fish will die to ich 100% of the time. You just lower the medication to half the required dose for the treatment.

Also I want to say, you can not just use only heat. Combine salt with it. If the fish is sensitive to salt, use less salt than required. You never know if your thermometer is inaccurate or not and what if the temperature is actually 83? or 84? All you will be doing is breeding Ich rather then inhibiting its growth and reproduction. 
*


----------



## Dmaaaaax (Nov 20, 2008)

Corys are from the Amazon and I have had mine at 88 with Discus. They should be fine at that temp. At that temp, you can keep the ich cycle from spreading and in some cases temp alone will be enough, but as Nurse Platy said above, salt will definately help. At these higher temp oxygen becomes more depleted so turn up your aeration (salt also helps here with gills, something about osmosis..etc).


----------



## pikelnpnut (Sep 19, 2010)

I've had great success with "Kick-Ich" by Ruby Reef. It's safe for freshwater, saltwater, corals and invertebrates. I've used it in my salt water tank. It's kinda expensive, but works well. Good Luck


----------



## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

If you plan to do meds, high temp, and salt....which by the way they don't recommend doing that, you should try to increase circulation if you can.

A higher temp takes down oxygen content in the water and most meds will do the same thing. Doing both together could take your waters oxygen content too low for some of your fish. 

If you don't have a way to increase circulation, I would either do salt and temp.....or meds.....not both.


----------



## intensejustin (Sep 8, 2010)

Update:

Went and got some salt and started raising the temp. As far as the salt goes, just go by what the mfg suggests or dos anyone else have a better way?

Also how long does the tank have to be at 87-88 degrees for the Ich to be gone? A few hours? A few days? What?


----------



## NursePlaty (Feb 5, 2010)

*I believe 1tbps for every 5 gallons of aquarium water. Since you have scaleless I might say 1 tbps for every 10 gallons. You leave the temp on for 1-2 weeks depending how long you want your treatment. Some people do the whole 2 weeks, some stop after 1.*


----------



## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Also go 3 days beyond the last sign of ich.


----------



## intensejustin (Sep 8, 2010)

Update:

Tank is at 89 degrees with salt as recommended. All the fish (guppies, mollys, cories) seem to be OK and they are all very active. Will continue with what NursePlaty recommded and let you know if it works out or not!


----------

