Tropical Fish Forums

Mormegil · Members Joined: 26 Apr 2006

Sorry for another post, but I think the length of the last post made this question a little hard to find.

I now have a recently emptied (thanks to Ich) planted tank.

I'm worried if I wait 30 days at 80 degrees, I'll have to start cycling again. So I'd like to cut that time down by killing off the Ich either through medication, heat or a combination of both.

So, when I say planted tank, I have one plant - an Anubias.

What temp can I safely crank up the tank with an Anubias in it?

Can the plant handle copper sulfate?

Should I just pull the plant out and isolate it for a month while I crank up the temp to 90 degrees for a week? That way I can get a few fish back in there, then just replant in a month.

Thanks

McP · Advisors Joined: 24 Jul 2004

Personally I would tear down this tank and set it up again. After a thorough cleaning you will have to cycle the tank again but I think that this is the best way to go. The anubias will be fine for some time without typical aquarium conditions. I've kept anubias submerged without great lighting for extended periods without incident.

Mormegil · Members Joined: 26 Apr 2006

Surprisingly, one last fish is still alive. I've started raising the temp and put in copper sulfate.

I may go with the above suggestion if this fish doesn't make it.

Thanks

Jon_The_Newb

If you don't have any fish in the tank, or you think your remaining fish can handle the temperature, use the heat treatment. Beats chemicals, IMO.

There is an article here, http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_ich2.php about using heat to treat Ich. I did it once in my tank because my wife swore we had Ich. No fish died during or after the treatment.

Jon

Cathy G · Advisors Joined: 27 Jan 2006 Location: Wisconsin

Unless your medicine bottle specifically says 'Can be used with high heat' you should NOT combine the 2. The medicine will already reduce the amount of oxygen in the water, high heat also reduces the amount of oxygen. To combine them both is to threaten the life of your remaining fish.

As to keeping the tank cycled, add fish food daily like I suggested. The food will rot, ammonia will be produced...the bacteria will be fed.

I know you believed your micrographs showed ich. Is this certain? There could be something else you new fish or new plant brought into your tank that killed every thing. In that case, you would want to leave the tank empty for a while so whatever parasite/bacteria it was couldn't survive.

Cathy

Mormegil · Members Joined: 26 Apr 2006