API General Cure can be used to help with the following fish diseases:
- Fish lice
- Gill flukes (Dactylogyrus)
- Hole-in-the-head disease (Hexamita spp. and Spironucleus)
- Skin flukes (Gyrodactylus)
- Velvet
So, does this treatment have a temperature requirement? You can find out in this guide from Aquarium Blueprints.
At what temperature should you use API General Cure?
According to API, there should be no temperature requirement when using General Cure.
With that said, increasing the water temperature to 82°F (or 28°C) will speed up the life cycle of parasites, making General Cure more effective.
What precautions should you take when raising the temperature of your fish tank?
Before raising the temperature of your fish tank, you first need to make sure that your pet fish is able to tolerate the higher temperature. Otherwise, you will only end up hurting them.
Furthermore, we also recommend that you have a thermometer to verify water temperature so that you don’t accidentally overheat your tank when it comes to dosing General Cure.
You should also make sure that you change the water temperature in your aquarium back to the what it was before after completing the treatment. This is because warmer waters will deplete the oxygen levels in your tank water and may shorten the life span of your fish if they are exposed to it for an extended length of time.
How to raise temperature when treating API General Cure
To see how you can raise the temperature when treating with API General Cure, you can take the following steps:
1. To start off, increase the temperature of your heater to 82°F (28°C) if your fish is able to tolerate the hotter water.
2. Remove any activated carbon from your filtration if you haven’t done so already.
3. You can then start dosing API General Cure.
If you have the normal version that come in packets, then you need to use 1 full packet for every 10 gallons (or 38 liters) of tank water.
If you have the bulk powder container version of General Cure, then you need to add 5 mL for every 20 gallons (or 75 liters) of tank water.
4. Optionally, you can also add API Aquarium Salt and API Melafix to your tank as well as these will also help your sick fish with recovery.
5. Once you are done with dosing, you need to wait for at least 48 hours.
6. Once you left the tank alone for at least 48 hours, you then need to re-dose your tank with General Cure by the same amount as before.
7. After adding Genral Cure to your tank a second time, you then need to wait for another 48 hours to pass.
8. After waiting at least 48 hours, you need to a 25% water change.
9. The API General Cure treatment should be completed. You should now be able to turn your heater down to its previous temperature level.
10. To remove General Cure, you can add activated carbon to your filter. Along with water changes, this chemical filter media will eventually remove the treatment from your tank water.
