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ich, UV and timeframe
First, I would like to state that I messed up. I haven't had ich in a tank
in over 10 years but got in a hurry on a water change and dumped in water
that was too cool.
It is a quarantine tank (26 gallon low-tech plant tank) and these are new
fish but I think the stress of being new acquisitions and too cool water was
too much. Nevertheless, the fish (5 Microgeophagus rams) definitely have
it. I knew heat was good to get it into the free-swimming stage and from
what I have read on the archives, UV's are good to treat it also. I haven't
raised the temps yet but put a 15 watt UV on it yesterday. I realize the
vulnerable stage is the free-swimming one and so the UV is useless until it
is free-swimming.
The question is this: How long should the temps (80-85 degrees) be raised
in conjunction with the UV? I've seen everything from 4-5 days to a couple
of weeks on strictly raising the temp. It would make sense that it should
take less time if a UV is frying the free-swimmers, I just wanted to see if
anyone had a good timeframe recommendation for the combination. As always,
I prefer to take care of problems through other venues and dump medications
in the tank as a last resort.
Thanks as always,
Daphne in Hotlanta (if it isn't GW it is ich but hey, I am finally getting
to use my new UV!)