Ich that won't go away.

[canadiandude]

My 90 gallon reeftank was wiped out by ich so I left it empty for 6 weeks. All that was left in it was a LT anemone, condy, hermits, and snails. I added a regall tang, a scopas tang, foxface, and a watchmen goby. These fish were all QT with copper treated water (cupramine levels were 0.3 - 0.5) for over 2 weeks but did show any signs of disease the entire time. The fish were in the lfs for a month prior to me bringing them home and again showed no signs of disease there either. I took them out of QT and placed them in my main tank and within 2 weeks they were covered in ich. All I have left now are the tangs. I've been treating with Kick Ich for now only because I really don't want to rip the tank apart again to get the fish out if I don't have to (also because I had success with it once in my FO tank). I've tried hypo with success in the past but don't want to do it again if I can't get the ich out of the main tank.
My question is with the inverts and anemones that were in the tank, is there anything that the ich could have been living off for the 6 weeks my tank was without fish? I'm to the point I'm going to take down the tank, clean it and start over cause I just can't seem to get rid of ich. Any help is appreciated.

 

[canadiandude]

The fish were in the lfs (fish ar QT here for 2 weeks before being moved to display tanks. Copper is in QT tanks all the time) and appeared healthy for over a month prior to me bringing them home and QT for over 2 weeks. Copper levels were checked once a day. When treating with copper how long should the QT period be?
I do not add fish to my display without a QT period of at least 2 weeks and have got into the habit of pre treating with copper as a safety net. I know probably not the best practice but I hate this damn parasite.

 

[daniel411]

I believe it takes 30 days for the cysts...eggs... of ich to hatch. I might be wrong though.

 

[canadiandude]

I know about the 21 day cycle, that's why I left it empty for so long, I wanted to be sure I got rid of it. Apparently it didn't work.

 

[canadiandude]

Originally posted by Canadiandude
My question is with the inverts and anemones that were in the tank, is there anything that the ich could have been living off for the 6 weeks my tank was without fish?
When treating with copper how long should the QT period be?
I know about the life cycle of ich and about hypo etc.
These were the initial questions I was asking. DOes anyone have answers to them?

 

[canadiandude]

Thanks Terry. In answer to your question, I've had better success withe copper. Can you answer my initial question?
Originally posted by Canadiandude
[My question is with the inverts and anemones that were in the tank, is there anything that the ich could have been living off for the 6 weeks my tank was without fish? [/B]