# Ich and Platy, How High Can I Go?



## GoodGuyKhan (Feb 13, 2014)

So yeah I made a noob mistake. Had an empty ten gallon decided to stock and picked up 3 platies. I noticed one itching and waited to be sure before starting any legitimate treatment and yesterday I found she did in fact have and spread ich to my other two. I want to know if it'd be safe to bump the tank temperature to 89 degrees to hopefully kill the ich without meds. Tank's already at 87 to 88 degrees Fahrenheit. I'll list the conditions below, but my main question is would the platies be able to survive the extra degree? I'm trying to avoid medication, especially because I've treated bettas with heat before. First time owning platies, just want to be sure they won't die from it. 

Housing 
What size is your tank? 10 gallons
What temperature is your tank? Normally at 78 degrees, currently 87 to 88.
Does your tank have a filter? Yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? Yes
Is your tank heated? Yes
What tank mates does your fish live with? x5 ghost shrimp

Food
What type of food do you feed your fish? Various, Hikari Cubes, NLS Pellets, Ocean Betta 
How often do you feed your fish? 1-2x a day, every other day 

Maintenance 
How often do you perform a water change? 1-2xs a week
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 25-50 percent
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Prime, Occasional Stress Coat and Aqua-salt. 

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?

Ammonia:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:30
pH:7.4
Hardness:NA
Alkalinity:NA

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your fish's appearance changed? Ich, white spots
How has your fish's behavior changed? Some itching, nothing major, caught early. 
When did you start noticing the symptoms? Two days ago, Have only had platies for three days
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? Raised heat from 78 to 88 and added aquarium salt 
Does your fish have any history of being ill?NA
How old is your fish (approximately)?NA


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## MameJenny (Jun 11, 2012)

I've kept platies at around 88 during ich treatment. It's really not necessary to raise it above 86-88, though. The more important part is that you leave it that high for two weeks, and vacuum the gravel frequently to remove one part of ich's life cycle.


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## GoodGuyKhan (Feb 13, 2014)

Question on the vacuuming, how many times do you do it for the treatment? I've broken my cycle in the past due to excessive cleaning, so I'm cautious now lol. Like 25 percent/ light vacuuming every two days was what I was planning. Thanks!


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## MameJenny (Jun 11, 2012)

That should be fine. When I had ich, I vacuumed all the substrate once per week, and sucked out gathered debris piles (always lots of it in planted tanks) every day. If you have a good quality filter, you shouldn't have to worry about irreversibly messing up your cycle.


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## GoodGuyKhan (Feb 13, 2014)

Appreciated, here's to hoping that I didn't contact the rare instance of heat retardant ich. Thank you once again!


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## GoodGuyKhan (Feb 13, 2014)

Hm.. well weird update. Entire day I saw no sign of white spots, tanks at 89 degrees, I did a last minute check and found my "patient zero" had more spots than before. I though ich wouldn't reproduce at 86+ degrees?


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