Ich clarification

[Aquarist007]

In a discussion on another thread regarding how long your tank has there has to be no signs of ich to be ich free two opionions have arose:
six weeks with no fish and no signs of ich

six weeks with fish and no signs of ich

Any clarification here?

 

[ihavtats29]

lol hmmmm from what i remember is that ich has a 6 to 8 week cycle you will only see signs of ich on fish

 

[xenon]

6-8 weeks for the ich life cycle to die competely.

I would go with 8 just to be 100% sure. Your tank must be without any fish for that period and you start the clock once the salinity reaches 1.009 in your QT tank.

 

[Aquarist007]

that's what I thought--thank you for your inputs

 

[reefergeorge]

Bump
So Just to make things clear. He is asking if a fish tank that has ich, but hasn't had a visual outbreak in six weeks is considered ich free?
I always thought it took 11 months for ich to die off with fish in the tank, or six weeks without any fish in the tank?

 

[greenbean36191]

Unless all fish have been removed for at least 6 weeks and treated for ich, the tank can never be considered ich free regardless of how long it goes without a visual outbreak. The spots are not the parasite, which is too small to see, and better than 90% of the surface area of the fish is in the gills where you can't even see anyway.

One study found that a line of ich in the lab couldn't be maintained after something like 11 months, but several other studies have disputed that finding.