How to make an ich tank habitable again?

by **Biulu** Mon Dec 05, 2016 3:30 pm

I just came back from a week in China and found that a 10 gallon with 4 female swordtails and a female betta had been wiped out. Don't ask me why... The tank was cycled, planted and not overly stocked with these 5 fish. Temperature was at 23, sponge filter nicely bubbling away....

Anyway, I did notice there were white 'dusty' spots on one of the females which definitively was a sort of ich.

I don't want to risk new fish catching ich right away. What should I do to make this tank ich usable again? If possible without tearing it apart.....

by davefrombc Mon Dec 05, 2016 6:09 pm

Raise the tank temperature to about 86 F for a week should kill off the ich.. They cannot survive long without a fish host, and raising the temperature increases their speed of metabolism. Unless you re ina hurry to restock it, I'd leave it fishless for 3 weeks to be sure .

by alexmtl Mon Dec 05, 2016 7:19 pm

davefrombc wrote:Raise the tank temperature to about 86 F for a week should kill off the ich.. They cannot survive long without a fish host, and raising the temperature increases their speed of metabolism. Unless you re ina hurry to restock it, I'd leave it fishless for 3 weeks to be sure .

Yup. That sounds right.

by **Biulu** Tue Dec 06, 2016 8:23 pm

Thanks! I put the heat up to 30 degrees. That should do it....

by l_l_l Wed Dec 07, 2016 9:38 am

Also, the babies seem to be produced in the substrate, so make sure you do water changes and concentrate on the substrate.
When I have ICH issues, I usually up the temp and do 2 water changes per week