Tropical Heater Help!?

Question

I PREVIOUSLEY ASKED

'I have a black mollie, it has white spot, how do i cure it?'

I HAVE ADDED A WHITE SPOT TREATMENT WHAT TEMPRATURE SHOULD MY HEATER BE SET TO NORMALY AND WHAT TEMPRATURE SHOULD I RAISE IT TO WHEN TREATING DISEASES?

Answer 1

The heater should normally be set around 78°C or a Degree or so either side.

The books often recommend raising the temperature a few degrees to cure White Spot but this goes back to my early days of fish keeping where the only cure for White Spot was to pour so much Methylene Blue into the tank that you couldn't see the fish, raise the temperature to 85°C or thereabouts and leave them like that for a week or so.

Thankfully that is no longer the case and these days raising the temperature really isn't necessary.

Answer 2

This can be a touchy subject, because some species of fish will tolerate higher temperatures than others, and how well an individual fish can tolerate the change will depend on how quickly it's done, and how far along the infection has progressed (and the fish fish weakened).

Generally, the higher you can go, the better and more effective the cure. But the higher the temperature, the less water is able to hold dissolved oxygen, so depending on the fish species and your filtration, an airstone may need to provide better water circulation. There is some evidence that ich can be killed at temperatures above 90o, but this will be likely to dtress your fish as well. The reproduction is inhibited at temperatures above 86o, so this is a better temperature to aim for if you have tropicals. Even goldfish can tolerate this for a time, as long as they have adequate oxygen and the temperature change is done GRADUALLY (a few degrees change per hour).

The change in temperature, unless it's extreme, doesn't actually affect the ability of ich to survive. What it does do, is it speeds up the metabolism, and therefore the life cycle, of the parasite. When you see it attached to the fish, it's protected by a cyst, so it's not affected by any madication in your tank. It's only when the cyst bursts and releases the parasites into the water that they can be killed, and this is the purpose of the raised temperature - to speed up the stage on the fish so they're released into the water sooner. So any temperature elevation will help.

If they only species you have are mollies/tropicals, I would certainly try for 86o, since these can normally be kept from 76-82o.

Answer 3

The ideal temperature for the black molly to be kept at is 78 degrees, but they can handle anywhere from 70-82 degrees. When treating white spot you should "gradually" change the temp. to 82 degrees this will speed up the life cycle of white spot and allow you to kill the parasite quicker because the medication will only work when the white spot is a t the free swimming stage. You should treat for 2 weeks just to make sure you get rid of the white spot completely.

Answer 4

Well you really shouldn't raise it above the max temperature that a molly can bear. Only One white spot may not be white spot it my be the start of a fungal disease....monitor your molly for the next couple of days and if the white spot increases then carry on with the treatment....here is a link for the temperature that a molly can stand.
http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/molly1.htm
This may also help you to understand the problem.

Answer 5

thanks for voting me the best answer for your last ? I will therefore try and help again - I hope this helps
I have had so many problems with ick and i found the best cure to be prevention , i therefore stopped keeping mollies . the reason .....they like a slight salt content in the water this means that you can't keep them with fish that don't . Mollies also like a slightly warmer water than most other fish .
I found (when I kept mollies) that the best to have when they got ick was 27 degree Celcius . After your water has reached this temp the white spot will go in about 2 day without medicine.
Good luck

Answer 6

80

Answer 7

look on the package of the treatment, some of them require you to raise the temp and some dont.