30 days after Hypo

thejdshow

Member
If I have not seen my ich in 30 days since my hypo is it safe to say they are dead? It has not been 6 weeks yet like I had planned on waiting, but I have not seen any ich in 30 days. It was my understanding that 30 days without a fish to live on kills the ich. I guess i'm asking if its safe to go back into the main tank now, or should I just wait 2 more weeks to be safe. Thanks!!!
-JD
 

elfdoctors

Active Member
The life cycle of ich is 23-28 days depending on temperature. 30 days is a conservative measure to ensure you do not have to go through treatment again.
As long as you did the hypo correctly, (3 weeks after the external parasites had fallen off), your fish should be ready to go back into your display.
There are other infections (e.g. marine velvet) for which a longer fallow period is necessary for the parasites to die off.
When I had an ich outbreak in my tank, I only waited the 30 days. I have not had any ich in the 20 months since.
 

thejdshow

Member
awsome thanks for the advice. I am going to wait a couple more days since I didn 't start my hypo on the first day. But I still have not seen ich in 30 days.
Thanks again!
*JD
 

teen

Active Member
i didnt perform hypo because i have inverts in my tank. my only fish died, so im waiting the 30 days too. june 15th will be 30 days since the incident. imo, i would say go ahead and add the fish back to ur tank, but its up to u if u want to wait another couple days. it wont hurt to do so. :happyfish
 

plumbjohn

Member
Why rush it. If the fish are doing ok IMO I would wait the full six weeks. Better to be safe than sorry. I know an empty Display tank is a terrible thing to look at but as with your initial cyclying of the tank patience is a virtue. Again just my opinion. Good luck :)
 

beth

Administrator
Staff member
Originally Posted by Thejdshow
So after 30 days with no visible ich is safe to add the fish back to the main tank?

You should be clear as long as you followed the procedure correctly and accurately. Go ahead a raise the salinity, slowly, over a 5-7 day period. Once the fish are acclimated to the normal salinity, you can transfer them to your main tank. Use water from the main tank to increase your salinity, this way, you should not have to do much acclimation during the transfer.
 

thejdshow

Member
Awsome. Thanks to everyone for all the tips. It has made my Ich Nightmare go by much more smoothly.
Thanks Again,
*JD
 
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