"Dick" wrote in message
...

I have read this temperature suggestion before. I tried it once while
waiting for ich medication to be mailed to me. I didn't get any
improvement. I agree that healthy fish don't get ich. I once
received 6 Clown Loaches that had ich. I tried treating the tank with
RidIch+, but only 2 of the 6 improved. I finally killed the four that
were obviously losing strength. I also noted that none of my other 60
fish had caught the ich, so I quit medicating and the 2 CLs continued
to improve and are still alive and doing fine 14 months later.

My understanding of raising the temperature has nothing to do with
killing the ich. As I understand it raising the temperature speeds
the cycling of the ich. There are 3 states and the white spots is
just one that is visible. Speeding the cycling allows the ich
medication to kill off the ich when it is in the state that is
vulnerable, the free swimming state, I think.

I would focus on the water quality. Change 20% daily and try shift
some fish out of the tank if possible. You may have over populated.


yes, the warmth does not kill the ich, it just speeds the stage up where
they are they cyst on the fish. Plus the warm water is less stressful on
the tetras than cooler water is. So it can help. If it was a chill that
stressed them enough to get the ich, then the warmth will cycle the current
infection off of the tetras in 24-48 hours and then they won't get it again
as long as they are not still stressed for some reason. But the most
important thing is to find the underlying cause of the problem or it won't
go away even with medications that can kill the ich.. So the warm water
method can certainly be advantageous and very helpful, but no, it is not a
100% cureall.

--

Margolis
http://web.archive.org/web/200302152...qs/AGQ2FAQ.htm
http://www.unrealtower.org/faq