Defeating ICH/ICK once and for all!

[BronxReefer]

Hey all. So I've been battling my first ich outbreak since starting the hobby about a year and a half ago. She wont admit it but I blame my girlfriend for bringing home a petco fish (we've since discussed why this can never happen again) and not putting it in QT but just STRAIGHT INTO THE TANK :headwalls:

Whats done is done, so after seeing my poor fish itching themselves I bit the bullet and and put them all into a hospital tank. I'm going to starve the ich out of my display tank with 5-6 weeks of no fish.

My questions is: If my hospital tank has no substrate, is it possible to just wait the ich out and let it die when it drops off my fish? Or do I NEED to use medicine to get rid of the ich? thanks!

 

[Deinonych]

Display tank needs to be fallow for 72 days for crypto (ich). You cannot wait out crypto if there are fish present. It will continue to multiply even in a bare-bottom tank. I personally recommend tank transfer method (TTM) for elimination of crypto as it targets the predictable front end of the life cycle. More information is available in the Fish Disease Treatment forum.

 

[Bmwm235i]

Dt tank needs to go 72 days with no fish. The qt tank is bare bones, filter, heater, airstone, some pvc, and Ammonia alert badge. I am going through this also, I am 3 weeks in. I am running copper at 2ppm-2.5ppm. I lost one fish to ich, the other 4 showed no signs while in my dt. But once a fish has it the entire tank has it. My other fish are just strong enough to fight it, but they are infected. They will remain with copper for 30 days, then after ich and copper a bacterial infection can follow. I will also dose prazipro during the 72 days AFTER the Copper is gone. The ttm is another option. The copper will kill the ich. I don't understand the ttm and think it's stressful on fish being moved every 3 days but everyone has their method that works which is most important.