Why isn't ich (ick) disappearing from your aquarium fish even after four days with the water temperature above 86°F?
Father Fish answers this question by explaining what could be happening when heat treatment doesn't appear to be working.
First, is your aquarium thermometer giving you an accurate reading? Second, are those white spots really ich, or could they be something else?
Father Fish explains how to recognize ich, why individual white spots are different from patches, and how to judge whether an outbreak is improving or getting worse.
He also discusses his experience treating ich with elevated temperatures, the importance of adequate aeration, and when he considers salt treatment in a separate hospital tank.
In this video, discover:
Why ich might not clear up at 86°F
How to verify your aquarium temperature
How to recognize the white spots associated with ich
What it means when ich isn't getting worse
Father Fish's approach to adjusting heat treatment
Why additional aeration matters at higher temperatures
When a hospital tank and salt treatment might be considered
Father Fish shares his experience with natural aquarium fishkeeping and explains how he approaches stubborn ich outbreaks.
Lou Foxwell, known as Father Fish, is a pioneer of natural aquarium keeping and the creator of the Father Fish Method.
His approach to planted aquariums focuses on building balanced, self-sustaining ecosystems using soil substrates, natural processes, and minimal maintenance. The Father Fish Method draws inspiration from the Walstad Method and the natural aquarium philosophy of Takashi Amano.
Before entering the aquarium industry, Lou spent 25 years as a missionary, serving a congregation of deaf worshipers. He later opened a tropical fish store, where he adopted the role of Father Fish.
His passion for fishkeeping began in childhood, inspired by his grandmother from Berlin, Germany. He went on to become a founder and original board member of the National Aquarium, where he helped shape its early development and leadership.
With decades of experience across the fishkeeping world, Father Fish shares practical knowledge on planted aquariums, dirt substrate systems, and natural ecosystem balance. He also provides plants, soil supplements, and tools to help hobbyists create thriving aquariums with less effort and fewer water changes.
All clips and images are used for illustration purposes only. Learn how the natural aquarium approach changed the hobby forever. This video explores the foundational book behind the method.
Two possibilities come to mind initially.
Welcome to Father Fish and the Natural Aquarium.
The first is that your thermometer may be wrong
and your temperature is not as high as you think it is.
If you have not put a second thermometer on it, do so.
Just to be clear in your own mind that the temperature is,
in fact, what you think it is.
That's number one.
Number two is that what you have may not be ick.
Although if it looks like ick,
if it is tiny white spots distinct from each other and not
patches, and there's a critical difference.
If it's patches, it's not ick.
Ick is single parasites burrowing into the flesh of the fish,
consuming the fluids in
in the flesh and releasing a waste material
that cakes at the entrance that it made when it went
into the fish. That's ick.
And that is distinguishable clearly
from everything else.
So if that is, in fact, what you have,
if that's descriptive of what you have, then
I would say yes, it's ick.
If your temperature is elevated, 86 plus,
and if you have it, and if it is not dropping
off of the fish after, what's it been, four days,
then there's really only one possibility.
I mean, I have never known this not to work.
There have been hundreds of people who,
in my experience, as well as my own, have raised
the temperature and it's fallen off.
There has been some
discussion about
a warm climate type
of ick parasite.
Now, I've never encountered it.
I don't know anyone who has.
That is not to say it doesn't exist.
I dare say that's not what you have
because it would be extremely rare.
However, there is another very simple thing.
It's not one I recommend
in a well-established natural aquarium.
It is one, however, you could use in a hospital tank.
That would require removing all of your fish.
From your main tank to a hospital tank.
Now, the hospital tank is sterile,
clear, new water,
completely empty tank that is never fed.
You do not feed fish in a hospital tank
because that causes bacterial growth.
The one thing you absolutely want to avoid.
If you will set your tank up that way,
put a heater in and get the temperature up, and
then add one tablespoon of salt per gallon of water,
one tablespoon, level, not rounded,
a level tablespoon of salt per gallon of water.
That alone should be enough if it
is a warm water rig to be able to get rid of it.
It not only does not tolerate.
Temperature,
it does not tolerate a high level of general hardness.
It does not tolerate sodium chloride.
It can't live in brackish water, much less in salt water.
So your fish are not going to be troubled by this.
They're not going to be stressed by it.
You can add a level tablespoon per gallon.
And if that does not work in two days,
you can increase it by another half.
If that doesn't work,
then you've got something completely different on your hands.
Now, here's a thought experiment for you.
You say you've been doing this for four days and it's not better.
But is it worse?
Are there more spots than there were before?
That's important.
Because if it is, in fact, ick,
and you've had it in there for four days,
there should be substantially more
of it than there were four days ago.
Substantially more.
So much more that your fish would be endangered.
Well, if it's not getting worse, I would stick with it.
Get the temperature up another degree.
The 87, between 87 and 88.
86 is at the low end of the spectrum.
85 does nothing.
86 begins to work.
87 to 88 is not going to stress the fish.
Just make sure you have adequate aeration
so you're not burning up the oxygen.
At a higher temperature,
fish are going to tend to breathe more heavily, so they're going
to burn up more oxygen.
So, air stone is good.
Kick it up to 87, between 87 and 88.
That should work more quickly.
If it is not getting worse, then it is getting better.
And it may be that your temperature is just right on the edge.
And so that parasites are not as uniformly affected
as they might otherwise be.
I frankly, I say 86.
I usually set mine at 87 or a little higher.
Have a wonderful day.
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