diff --git a/slow-tests.sh b/slow-tests.sh
index de82e2bc..b190a9d8 100755
--- a/slow-tests.sh
+++ b/slow-tests.sh
@@ -1,18 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 set -e
 
-# lsh@2022-08-17: some change has maxed out the default (soft) file limit of 1024.
-# this is a kludge and the real culprit should be found and fixed.
-# - https://github.com/elifesciences/search/pull/382
-ulimit -S -n 2048
-
-function cleanup {
-    rc=$?
-    ulimit -S -n 1024
-    exit $rc
-}
-trap cleanup EXIT
-
 echo "Creating, deleting an index"
 bin/ci-lifecycle