What can I tell you.... Ich is one of those dirty little
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that can totally devastate a beautiful marine environment. Although it only affects the fish, the hobbyist will try anything to stop it, but, in doing so, ends up hurting most of the creatures in the system. It's a sad reality that most in the hobby will experience at one time or another.
About one year ago, when my system too became afflicted with this "ich", I lost all of my fish. Fortunately, I didn't quit like most do, and decided to wait about six months before adding fish again. Let me tell you, it was a true challenge of will. But I stuck it out, and six months after the ordeal, I purchased two beautiful fish: a purple tang and a marroon clownfish. To date, they are still doing great!
Now to answer your question: Some individuals will recommend that a person wait no less than 45 days before adding fish again (the rule here is the longer the better); the reasoning behind this is that by that time the ich creatures that were alive in the system have died because they haven't had a host on which to feed off of. One must consider, though, that those creatures left eggs that will remain dormant until another host (fish) comes along. The recommended action is to syphon over the top of the sandbed so as to remove as many of those unhatched eggs as possibe.
All in all, it seems that ich is prevalent in all marine systems; there's no way of eliminating every single creature. With this in mind, one must always try to maintain the most stress-free environment possible. A strong immune systeme is all any fish needs to win the war over this "ich".
