# Am treating 32 gal tank for ick... was told to keep the lights off...



## mags2313 (Nov 25, 2008)

IH ave been treating my 32 gal tank for ich for the last 5 days.
I am using ich x and am doing 3 days with medication then 20% water change with a two day break...for two weeks.
I was told it is best to turn the heat up to about 79 and keep the lights off.

Well I am cheating and have had the lights on for about three hours because i am worried about my plants.. I have water wisteria, java fern, jungle val and brazil swords...

Anyway, will me turning my light on for a bit totally mess things up?

Thanks in advance for any replies!!:-D


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## Twistersmom (Dec 9, 2008)

I don't think that turning out the lights has been proven affective. I have treated for ick a few times without tuning out the lights, and it worked just fine.


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## jeaninel (Aug 24, 2007)

I believe it's because some medications are sensitive to light and are more effective when the lights are out.


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## Kim (Apr 30, 2008)

^ what jeaninel said. I treated ick with Quick Cure and never turned the lights off at all and everything went fine. But, the med never said to turn them off.


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## jeaninel (Aug 24, 2007)

I had read in a number of places that Malachite green is de-activated by light. I would rather just err on the safe side so I always turn off the light when treating. I've noticed that my LFS also turns out their tank lights when treating a tank. It's a shame that the manufacturers give such poor instructions on a lot of the medications out there. A lot of the ich meds also say to treat for 3 days but we know that this is not long enough to fully irradicate the parasite.


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## iamntbatman (Jan 3, 2008)

Never heard that about malachite green. I wonder how light deactivates it?

I've read in several places that ich needs light to live and that a dark aquarium can help battle it, but I'm not sure how true that is.


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