Temperature?

[puccie1]

Is there any truth to needing to raise the temperature of your aquarium while medicating tank with copper power for ick!

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Is there any truth to needing to raise the temperature of your aquarium while medicating tank with copper power for ick!

No! That is misapplied information taken from the treatment for freshwater ich. That is a different parasite and warmer water does help with that (but you still need to medicate the fish).

The preferred temperature for marine ich to reproduce is around 82 degrees. Warming the tank up just puts the parasite into its "sweet spot" in terms of reproduction. It also lowers the dissolved oxygen level of the water a bit, which is counter to what you want to do for the fish.

78 degrees F. plus or minus a degree is the best range for treating tropical reef fish with copper.

The idea that warmer water will move the ich parasite from the trophont stage to the theront stage (which copper kills) faster is completely bogus. All it does is speed up the reproduction of all stages, giving the copper less time to work, and producing more theronts that then need to be controlled.

Jay

 

[puccie1]

No! That is misapplied information taken from the treatment for freshwater ich. That is a different parasite and warmer water does help with that (but you still need to medicate the fish).

The preferred temperature for marine ich to reproduce is around 82 degrees. Warming the tank up just puts the parasite into its "sweet spot" in terms of reproduction. It also lowers the dissolved oxygen level of the water a bit, which is counter to what you want to do for the fish.

78 degrees F. plus or minus a degree is the best range for treating tropical reef fish with copper.

The idea that warmer water will move the ich parasite from the trophont stage to the theront stage (which copper kills) faster is completely bogus. All it does is speed up the reproduction of all stages, giving the copper less time to work, and producing more theronts that then need to be controlled.

Jay

Thank You Again Carl