How hot is too hot??---sick tank

[shadowcat]

I have a 75 gallon loach/catfish tank with Ich...Yippee!! Tank residents are syno eupteris, p.pictus, ottos, siamese flying foxes, clown peckoltia, clown loaches and botia kubotai. I've been treating with Quick Cure, a malachite green/formalin combination for a week at 85-86 degrees....The bad news is, I still see a few Ich cysts, so the tank is still infected. The good news is that all the fish seem to be coping with the Ich, high temps and meds well enough so far. I plan to switch from meds to salt this weekend and raise the temp to about 88 degrees for another week or so to see if that will kill the Ich. I've read a lot about dealing with Ich lately and although opinions on meds versus salt are fairly evenly split, everyone seems to agree that salt and high temps will kill the Ich if either one or the combination of both is high enough......My concern is how hot can I go and how much salt is too much. I've read as high as 90 degrees+ and anywhere from 2 tablespoons of salt per 10 gallons to 2 tablespoons per gallon!!! My PH is 7.8 and I'm doing WC's every couple days and aerating heavily...............HELP

[MatsP]

I'd stick with the medications, as it's more likely to be most effective.

88'F -> 31'C - should be OK.

--
Mats

[shadowcat]

OK, another vote for continued meds.. Guess I could keep going a few more days with that since the fish seem to be doing alright. I''ve just been concerned that I'm going to hit a wall with this and wake up to a tank full of bodies one morning...before I kill off the Ich...OK, up two more degrees and continue onward. Fortunately the weekend is here and I can monitor the tank frequently during the day.

[drpleco]

I treat plecos at 85 degrees, 3 tablespoons salt per five gallons, and ridich+ (safer than quickcure) every day.

Frequent water changes during this process speed things along. Here's an article I wrote on plecofanatics:
http://www.plecofanatics.com/articles/s ... .php?e=308

[shadowcat]

Read and printed your article, very nice work. Well, I've given the quick cure a week and things don't look any better in the tank, although in fairness they don't look any worse. In the begginning I saw a few cysts on a couple fish and I still see about the same thing, so at least it hasn't gotten worse. I'll hit PetSmart today and give the Rid-ich a try with salt. What the heck, something has to work!! So far the fish seem to be taking the whole exercise in stride. Thanks for the info/help guys.

[apistomaster]

The prologued treatment time without a cure hints at a different parasite than Ich. The meds are still correct, regardless.

[shadowcat]

Update on tank status. Haven't seen any sign of Ich or anything else in two days now, no more cysyts on any fish that I can see. Have switched over to elavated salt and Rid-Ich for the past two days, following another big WC. I'll continue with this through the coming weekend and if all looks good at that time declare victory!! All fish appear to be doing well, despite the salt and chemical baths. Maintaining temp between 85 and 87 degrees. Most of my crypts are dying, but the annubias and java look ok, so maybe I won't lose all my plants to this process. I so very much appreciate all the help. I've kept fish for many years, but fortunately have been largely disease free over that time, so this is something I didn't have much experience with. The elavated temp, etc. don't seem to be causing any stress that I can see, although I am aerating heavily, so perhaps that's why. I have learned one very important lesson....from now on any new fish get a 30 day QT before they go into my tanks!!