Quote:
Originally Posted by sphelps
I think 10 weeks might be a bit aggressive, once fish are removed worst case all the ich will be in Tomonts within 24 hours and that stage can only last up to 4 weeks after which they hatch and can only survive a couple days without a host. So realistically 5 weeks is actually enough, 6 weeks to be safe, 10 weeks to be overkill.
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The 9-10 week time frame is the result of peer-reviewed work on cryptocarion irritans that showed in extreme cases tomonts could produce viable and infective tomites up to 72 days after encystment. It's an extreme case, obviously, and likely represents less than a tiny fraction of 1% that will stay encysted for that long, but all it takes is one to start the whole process over again. If you're going to go through the nightmare of catching all your fish and treating them, isn't it worth it to wait the extra few weeks to be sure?
ETA: stupid auto-correct, though '...produce viable and infective tomatoes' did read pretty well for an auto-correct fail.