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Hi ya'll, ok this isn't dealing with my fish at home, but another teacher who has fish in her classroom

She has Serpae Tetras (or Red Phantoms, not sure) and Neons in her 20 regular. The filtration is UGF (let's not go there ok?) And she'll be testing the water this afternoon or in the morning...

Anyways the fish have been in the tank for a week now. About 2 days after being placed in the tank they developed ich. She's been using Quick Cure Ich meds, with no luck. I just looked at them and well, ugh is all I can say. I've suggested that she do the temperature increase to kill the ich in the tank instead of the ich medication, especially since the ich isn't responding to the meds.

The temp increase I suggested was 1* F in the morning and 1* F in the afternoon/evening before heading home till the tank is at 85* F. This is what I've done to get rid of ich with my fish before and had great amounts of success in this way...but I'm slightly concerned about the Serpae Tetras, the profile for them suggests temps of 72*-79* (22*-26*) will the 85* be too much of a stress on them? I know the Neons can handle it, I've treated mine at home in this manner, but haven't ever had experience with Serpaes.

What do ya'll think? Don't want to give her bad advice, she's more of a salty and didn't know what to do about FW as much...will the 85* be ok to treat the ich? After 2-3 wks I've told her she can slowly 1* a day lower it back to about 80*...Let me know...

Thanks, Heidi

"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle

I've suggested that she do the temperature increase to kill the ich in the tank instead of the ich medication, especially since the ich isn't responding to the meds.

The temp will need to be raised above 95F which is well past the tolerance of most fish. If the ich isn't responding to the medication have you verified that she followed the directions exactly?
Next step would be to use a different medication. I've had sucess with maracide.

^_^[font color="#999999][hr width='40%']"When you try your best but you don't succeed. When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse
And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace. When you love someone but it goes to waste
COULD IT BE WORSE?" ~Coldplay" ][hr width='40%']"When you try your best but you don't succeed. When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse
And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace. When you love someone but it goes to waste
COULD IT BE WORSE?" ~Coldplay

If she just got the tank set up and it's cycling, watch for ammonia when she gets those test kits. It will need to be taken care of for the fish to fight the infection off. If there is any trace of ammonia she will want to treat with something like Prime or Amquel and do large water changes (30-50%) every 2 days, maybe even daily if the ammonia is enough of a problem.

95 is an exaggeration for temperature levels when you're treating ich with it alone. The ich parasite is unable to reproduce over about 84-86 F, many people commonly treat ich with temperature alone around the 88-90 mark. Using quick cure I would not increase temperature too much with the serpae tetras in there, not above about 80-82F. The meds will be stressful enough for them. I know this isn't enough to kill the ich on its own but that's what meds are for, the temperature increase will just make the parasite's life cycle a bit faster and make it harder for them to reproduce.

If she has only been treating with Quick Cure for a few days, don't give up on it yet. It can take up to about a week to see much visible improvement, just check to make sure she is dosing the correct amount, test for ammonia and do a nice big water change and gravel vac to remove any cysts in the substrate. It's a good idea to increase aeration when using quick cure as it does tend to decrease dissolved oxygen.

Quick Cure is a great med, malachite green and formalin based. As far as I know Maracide has the same active ingredients so there is really no reason to switch. Quick Cure will work as long as you follow the directions on the package, I've used it.

Unfortunatly I havent' got the sites bookmarked, but I do remember seeing numerous sites reporting studies which showed that some ich can survive temps well into the 90s as a result of people trying to use heat to kill it. Over time it simply became more heat tolerant and thus requiring the raising of the temp even further in effort to kill it using heat alone.
Almost the only reason I've ever seen for raising the temp is to speed up the life cycle to get it to fall of thereby making the meds effective.

^_^[font color="#999999][hr width='40%']"When you try your best but you don't succeed. When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse
And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace. When you love someone but it goes to waste
COULD IT BE WORSE?" ~Coldplay" ][hr width='40%']"When you try your best but you don't succeed. When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse
And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace. When you love someone but it goes to waste
COULD IT BE WORSE?" ~Coldplay

Unfortunatly I havent' got the sites bookmarked, but I do remember seeing numerous sites reporting studies which showed that some ich can survive temps well into the 90s as a result of people trying to use heat to kill it.

According to the scientific literature that I have seen, this is not the case. Until I see a well documented scientific study on ich temperature resistance that records a temperature resistant strain I will be highly suspect of any site claiming otherwise. The current consensus in the scientific community from what I have read (a lot of papers) is that temperature resistant ich is a myth. Be wary of anything you read on the internet, especially if the source doesn't come with credentials. Discus keepers and many planted tank people use temperature alone to cure ich, around the 90F mark or just below (many aquaculturists use 85F successfully even) because dye based medications and copper are instant death to plants and not good for discus either, also very expensive for large scale fish farming operations and generally not approved for human consumption. Works just fine for them.