Confusion about Ich and its treatment

MUB

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This is my first tank ever. I have a 24G AIO that has been running for 8 months now. I never had a quarantine tank due to space issues until my fish got ich mid-April. I wasn't sure it was ich as the first fish that died had no spots or anything visible on them (Hector Goby). After a day, my Yellow Clown Goby died. Then I noticed a few white spots on my clown fish. Since I didn't have a QT tank ready, I was treating them with garlic, different kinds of food, and some "reef-safe" poly lab medicine. Every single one of my fish died within two weeks (around 6) except for my filefish. Only my clownfish had white spots on them.

Exams hit so I couldn't leave the house for a while. The end of April came and my filefish was the only one that remained alive. It was the only fish that didn't experience any ich symptoms; it had no spots, no difficulty breathing, no lethargic movements, swam the same, and ate the same. I became complacent thinking my filefish was probably fine for a while so I ended up buying the QT tank in mid-May. The fish still had no symptoms which made me start to question whether it was ich in the first place. I also checked my parameters and they were normal at all times aside from the pH going above 0.2 here and there which I fixed. I've been dosing Copper Power above the therapeutic level for 2 weeks now and stopped at 1.8 ppm.

The guide says to treat for 30 days and if you see any symptoms, you need to wait another few weeks. My filefish never had symptoms since the beginning.

1. Do I just play it safe and treat for longer or is 30 days enough?

2. Do I do a 100% water change at the end of the treatment in the QT tank since my DT will be in fallow for a while more?

3. From now on when I buy new fish, do I just use the same method, place them in the QT tank and follow the Copper Power treatment for 2-4 weeks before I place them in the DT?
 
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jabberwock

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Ich is a complicated issue. Eradication is a long shot maybe. Management is a maybe until it is not anymore. Focus on reducing aggression and competition. Less stress is your fishes friend.

Clownfish = stress
 

keithmeseroll

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Had a bad outbreak in my 30g. Ended up putting all my fish in qt, drained all the water, changed out the sand, rinsed the rock and haven't had a problem since. This was after copper treatment and quarantine treatments. Didn't work. Ended up loosing 3 clowns to ich in the end. It worked for me but that was my last option. I'll never start with live sand again. Pretty sure that's where it came from. Good luck
 

Shibaken3

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1. ich is probably in the tank, to play safe I will qt the filefish with medication.
2. if the tank is fallow for 2 months, ich should be gone in the DT. Replacing the water won't make the DT ich free. ich can also be on the sand and rock.
3. yes new fish get medicated with copper. also, treat for fluke if u can with prazi pro.
 

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