ICH

superbluetang · Mar 14, 2016

I'm currently treating my fish in a 50 gallon QT tank. I was thinking about raising the temp in the DT to 82-84 to speed up the ich cycle so they could die of quicker. Does this sound like a good idea? I'm planning to have the fish in the QT for atleast 2 months. Possibly 3 depending on the weather.

melypr1985 · Mar 14, 2016

superbluetang said:
I'm currently treating my fish in a 50 gallon QT tank. I was thinking about raising the temp in the DT to 82-84 to speed up the ich cycle so they could die of quicker. Does this sound like a good idea? I'm planning to have the fish in the QT for atleast 2 months. Possibly 3 depending on the weather.

If your already planning to have the fish in QT that long, then why not just leave the DT at normal temp? The problem, as I see it, is that you dont know how the raised temp will effect the life cycle.... I mean time wise. Sure, we know it speeds it up, but how much? How do you then know that all the parasites are dead and can put the fish back in without being reinfected? What if, the temp speeds up the life cycle but not as fast as you thought. Then the fish get reinfected, but by only a few. Then it takes six months or a year before you realize it's all been for naught. Of course by then, you've forgotten all about that little detail and figure you've messed up your QT protocol with a new fish and do the whole thing over again. Wow! I went off on a tangent didn't I? My point is, it's better safe than sorry. One and done. I'm sure there are others one-liners I could pull out. lol Even if you raise the temp some, I'd still wait out the 76 days so that I knew FOR SURE it's safe.

Humblefish · Mar 14, 2016

There is no research to support that higher temp speeds up Cryptocaryon's life cycle; only that lower temps may slow it down. More info here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/marine-ich-and-temperature.232825/

superbluetang · Mar 14, 2016

The idea was to raise the temp in hopes that it will speed up the cycle plus leave the DT without fish for 2-3 months. I guess I'll just leave it the way it currently is.