I know there are a ton of posts in here about ich, the trouble is there are too many to filter through (for me at least).
Quick backstory, setup a small marine tank a few months ago, went through the expected cycle, added a few fish over a couple of weeks at the end of the cycle. Then the ich hit our royal gramma, once I realized it, I setup a hospital tank and moved her over, but unfortuantely she died pretty quickly. I soon noticed ich on the neon goby and firefish. They both got moved to the hospital (where I was treating with copper). The neon goby was doing well and I thought would make it when he suddenly died. The firefish made a full recovery and is doing great. There was also a rainfordi goby in there that went missing and is presumed dead (he has not been seen in about a month).
I left the display tank empty for 5 weeks, when I figured it was all clear (the LFS said to wait 3 weeks). I added another neon goby, and one week later (a couple of days ago) I moved the Firefish back in from the hospital.
Well, I take a look this morning, and the neon goby seems to have some ich going on. The hospital tank is being set back up and now I just need to catch him. The firefish looks ok for the moment, but I am worried.
All that leads to 2 questions:
1) Where the heck does this stuff come from?
2) How long do I need to leave the display tank fish free to get an all clear from the ich to put fish back in?
Thanks,
Quick backstory, setup a small marine tank a few months ago, went through the expected cycle, added a few fish over a couple of weeks at the end of the cycle. Then the ich hit our royal gramma, once I realized it, I setup a hospital tank and moved her over, but unfortuantely she died pretty quickly. I soon noticed ich on the neon goby and firefish. They both got moved to the hospital (where I was treating with copper). The neon goby was doing well and I thought would make it when he suddenly died. The firefish made a full recovery and is doing great. There was also a rainfordi goby in there that went missing and is presumed dead (he has not been seen in about a month).
I left the display tank empty for 5 weeks, when I figured it was all clear (the LFS said to wait 3 weeks). I added another neon goby, and one week later (a couple of days ago) I moved the Firefish back in from the hospital.
Well, I take a look this morning, and the neon goby seems to have some ich going on. The hospital tank is being set back up and now I just need to catch him. The firefish looks ok for the moment, but I am worried.
All that leads to 2 questions:
1) Where the heck does this stuff come from?
2) How long do I need to leave the display tank fish free to get an all clear from the ich to put fish back in?
Thanks,
