Discus and Ick

[HAGAR]

Hello I need some help. I have a 55 gallon tank, I purchased 2 neon blue discus fish a month ago and they have been doing great. That is until I purcbhased 2 discus fish from a supplier online. I introduced the new fish and now a week after placing the new discus in the tank I now have ick. I have raised the temp to 82 degrees and yesterday treate3d the tank with copper safe. Today I noticed that there are more spots of ick on my neon blues. I am upset what do I do. I am new to the discus community. These are ther first discus I have evre had. Thanks to all that reply.

Dan

[Elliots]

Raise the temp to 88-90 to kill the Ick. There is something called "Super Ick" I know nothing about. With the higher temps add or increase aeration to keep up the oxygen level at the higher temps. I think there is some debate on SD about using Ick meds. If you do use meds and have other fish in the tank make sure the meds will not kill the other fish. Keep the temp up for at least 1-2 weeks. Try the search function on SD for more info.
If you read SD you will read that it is best to buy all your Discus at one from one supplier. It is also best to buy from SD sponsors, you will not get any fish with Ick.

[Trubble]

Hi Hagar,

We went through a round of ick when we got back into discus. It came into our tank on a group of cardinal tetras. We raised the temp to 90ish degrees, added a couple more air stones and added 1 1/2 tablespoons of aquarium salt per 10 gallons of water. We did large daily water changes. We kept this up for about 2 weeks with the lights off, and the discus all came through the ich with no ill effects. We did not use any meds, just the heat and salt method we found researching on this site.

Hope this helps. Good luck and welcome to Simply.

[DonMD]

I also successfully treated ick by raising temps, mine to 93 degrees. You must add extra aeriation. This is far better than dumping meds into the tank.

[bbhill]

Hi Welcome to SD! I noticed you said you raised your temp to 82. What temp were you keeping them at? All discus need to be kept in temps above 82 at all times. I keep my discus at 86 constantly. You won't have a problem with ick and discus if you keep the temp up. According to what I have learned here, you will always have off and on problems if you try to keep your discus below 82 minimum. It lowers their immune system.
Read this forum every chance you get and educate yourself. This forum is rich with info from experienced, long time discus keepers. Good Luck!
Becky from Ky

[John_Nicholson]

Hi Welcome to SD! I noticed you said you raised your temp to 82. What temp were you keeping them at? All discus need to be kept in temps above 82 at all times. I keep my discus at 86 constantly. You won't have a problem with ick and discus if you keep the temp up. According to what I have learned here, you will always have off and on problems if you try to keep your discus below 82 minimum. It lowers their immune system.
Read this forum every chance you get and educate yourself. This forum is rich with info from experienced, long time discus keepers. Good Luck!
Becky from Ky

Sorry but I have raised literally thousands of discus and keep everything at 82. The other posters are right though raising your temp will knock out the ick but then it is perfectly fine to drop your temp back to 82.

-john

[lipadj46]

Sorry but I have raised literally thousands of discus and keep everything at 82. The other posters are right though raising your temp will knock out the ick but then it is perfectly fine to drop your temp back to 82.

-john

+1 82° is perfect for discus

sent from an undisclosed location using morse code

[Discus Origins]

Raising temp and aquarium salt will rid the discus of ich and any other external parasites they may be harbouring. 88-90F and up to 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons of salt. Remember to add back the appropriate amount of salt when you do water changes.

[j03yYung]

Yup like everyone said, raise the temp a bit 85+. Once its gone, you can drop it back down. I'm around 83 ish.

[HAGAR]

Thank you to all who have replied. I will let you all know how I fair. I have the discus fever. I will keep ya posted. Thanks again.

Dan

[Ryan]

I agree with John, but Dan said that he raised his temperature to 82. That suggests it was lower. What was it before 82? I've never kept discus below 82. I usually keep juvies around 84/85 and then bump adults down to around 82. This goes with angels and severums, and several other types of South American cichlids that I keep. Dips below 80 won't usually cause issues for most fish but I've found that discus don't like extended time below the low 80s. They usually get sluggish and act "off." If you're trying to keep them at traditional "tropical fish aquarium" temps of 76 - 78F, that could lead to issues IMO.

As for ich, I have always treated it with 10 days of heat and salt. You don't have to use aquarium salt -- rock or ice cream salt will do. If you're in the US, you can buy Morton's Ice Cream Salt in a red box at any grocery store. Keep the water around 86 - 88F, add the salt, and do daily water changes of 50% or so. Make sure to replace the salt each time. After ten days I quit adding salt but continue the daily water changes and leave the heat elevated for a few days just to be on the safe side. Then you can gradually lower it back down to 82F and you should be good.

This is another great example of why quarantine matters! Even if fish appear healthy, they can easily spread stuff to your existing fish that they picked up at the LFS.

[John_Nicholson]

Good catch Ryan....my speed reading got me in trouble again....

-john

[tonytheboss1]

:bandana: Not sure what your original temp was before 'raising' to 82 but I suspect that might have contributed. Anyways my remedy is 90/92 for 7/10 days with daily W/C's. Didn't have ich w/ Discus but my other trops came thru just fine. No meds No salt Just clean water & lots of it!!! "T"

[Fish from Philly]

Would it matter the temp for Asian vs Euro discus? I bought fish from Hans recently and instructions says to keep them in 85. Is the only advantage to keeping them at 82 because other fish in the tank (assuming rummys, cardinals, etc?) do better in 82 than 85?

[Ryan]

It doesn't matter where they came from. The higher you keep the temp, the higher their metabolism will be. They will eat more, be more active, and potentially grow faster (as long as you feed them enough). But IMO, once they are adults, there's no reason to keep them higher than 82 unless you are treating them for something which requires higher heat.

[Fish from Philly]

It doesn't matter where they came from. The higher you keep the temp, the higher their metabolism will be. They will eat more, be more active, and potentially grow faster (as long as you feed them enough). But IMO, once they are adults, there's no reason to keep them higher than 82 unless you are treating them for something which requires higher heat.

Good to know Ryan and thank you. Hans likely said 85 degrees because I purchased two 4" fish that would need the higher temp for growth. I will bring down the temp later when they grow out and make sure it is slowly as to not shock the fish.

[Ryan]

Hans may suggest the higher temp because it keeps their metabolism up for a while after you receive them, which will encourage them to eat and hopefully ward off things like ich which don't usually thrive in high temps. Some people will keep their temperature elevated for a few weeks after receiving the fish, then slowly bump it down as they acclimate. It's really personal preference -- discus will tolerate a range of temps from the low to high 80s, so it's whatever you feel your fish seem most comfortable with. Personally I do keep the tanks cooler because I often have tankmates (plecos, sometimes other cichlids).

There's also the line of thought among cichlid keepers that you can "burn out" fish if you keep them at elevated temperatures for too long. They follow the reasoning that the higher metabolism will cause them to be shorter lived. I'm not sure if there's ever been a study on that, or how long it would actually shave off the life expectancy of the fish (months? years?), but it's something to be aware of.

[DonMD]

:bandana: Not sure what your original temp was before 'raising' to 82 but I suspect that might have contributed. Anyways my remedy is 90/92 for 7/10 days with daily W/C's. Didn't have ich w/ Discus but my other trops came thru just fine. No meds No salt Just clean water & lots of it!!! "T"

+1. Also, make sure you add an extra air stone during high temps, as hot water will hold less oxygen.

[tonytheboss1]

+1. Also, make sure you add an extra air stone during high temps, as hot water will hold less oxygen.

:bandana: Good call Don! Depending on your setup that extra airstone will do wonders. I usually don't because I lower my water level a bit. Between the waterfall effect from the A/C's & the spraybar running along the surface, oxygenation is increased plenty. They have a ball!! "T"