New substrate = no ick?

[justinl]

Up until now I have had crushed coral in my tank as a substrate. All of my fish are in a hospital tank being treated for ick.
I am going to clean out the tank and loose the gravel for live sand.
Will eliminating the current substrate from the tank and putting in new sand eliminate or signifigantly reduce the ick in my reef tank, or will the live rock and such re-introduced back into the tank re-seed the ick into the system.
Also, how long should copper treatment for ick generally continue after no sign of it is seen?

 

[beth]

Not to worry. Leave the fish in the hospital tank until all ick signs are gone. Then wait a month before reintroducing the fish back into your main setup. DON'T put new fish in the tank! In the absence of fish, the ick will die off in the main tank.