Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2005 10:44 pm
Great job! You can lower the heat some, in a few days, but keep the heat up higher for 21 more days.
21 days is a bit excessive in my view... Certainly, better safe than sorry, but I think that's being unnecessarily safe--but please correct me if I'm wrong!
Ich won't stay encysted longer than 4 or 5 days at that temperature. When they hatch into tomites the salt almost guarantees that they will perish all but immediately. In order to get through another life cycle, the tomites would need to attach to a host--which is clearly visible to the naked eye, remember. So if the fish have no visible ick, keep the heat up and salt in the tank for 7 days; by then you should be in the clear. Gradually bring the temp back down, ditto for salt levels.