I had "Ich" just a few months ago, and although I am no expert, I spent hours and hours researching it. This is what the experts say: "Ich" has a 4-stage life cycle and time line of each stage. The complete life cycle takes anywhere from 28 days to 6 weeks. If the display tank is empty of fish for 6 weeks, the parasite is irradicated from the tank, as it has no fish to attach to and will die. Therefore, your tank will remain free of ich until you introduce it again: by new fish, inverts, live rock, wet net, etc. If you discover Ich in your tank, you must remove all fish for 6 weeks. QT the fish for this period and treat with hypo salinity or other treatments. (Stop Parasite is a real hit-and- miss treatment. Didn't work for me and some of my corals went into a real pout. Some people have had some success with it though.)
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