# help with ICK! heat treatment question?



## jenarsenic (Oct 21, 2010)

Hello all,
I just started my aquarium 2 weeks ago and my fish now have ick. I read that there is a heat treatment where you can raise the temp to 86deg and it will kill the disease after several days. The type of fish in the tank are glowfish, mollies, platies, and a pleco. I looked it up and the glowfish and the pleco can tolerate temps up to 86deg. BUT the mollies and platies can only go up to 77deg. Do you think they'll be able to handle it if I raise the temp to 86?

the tank is 10 gallons, live plants, temp currently at 78deg

thanks!


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## hXcChic22 (Dec 26, 2009)

Raise the heat gradually, they can handle it as long as it's slow. But 86 degrees is probably too high. Low 80s is enough. 
And go to the petstore and get something like Super Ick Cure by API, use it as directed. Make sure you remove any activated carbon from your filter. And if you care, remove deco because it might possibly stain them blue since the liquid is blue (it will also turn the water blue).


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## hXcChic22 (Dec 26, 2009)

Also, here's a sticky note about treating ick. 
http://www.fishforums.com/forum/diseases/20345-great-ich-guide.html


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

???

95F is what is needed to wipe out ick without medication. Use heavy aeration. Raising it to 80+ without any medicine will only wipe out your fish by making the ickies multiply like crazy.

Otherwise, use the medicine but keep the temp no higher than 80. We used to have to raise the temp to get the best results, but most of the newer meds these days work fine at normal tank temps.


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## hXcChic22 (Dec 26, 2009)

I just went by the ick guide I posted... the first approach is to raise it just by a few degrees to speed up the life cycled. 
I see now that the second one does say to raise it up to 86. I personally don't use the heat method because we have the Super Ick Cure and it works without the added heat. Plus, our fish don't really seem to like it when the water is warmer that normal.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

heh. I'm sure they don't.

Down here, outdoor water temps routinely reach 105F in pools. The fish aren't thrilled by it, but they get by okay, and ick is only something that happens to other people.


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