Had ich.. now what?

[joshace]

My 2" long Blue German Ram had ich on it's side.

I put it in a small tank and treated the water with salt, malachite green, and melafix for a few days.

I assume the ich is now dead, but my fish still has a bare white area on it's side, and he just sits in one spot all day long and does not eat.

What should happen next? How long does it take to heal?

===
By the way.. it annoys the hell of of me that fish stores are loaded with diseases. Just about all the fish deaths I have occur within a week or two of buying them. If they survive a month.. they survive for years. I'm no fish expert, but I go into fish stores and see dead fish, and fish covered with white spots. Why don't the staff remove those fish?

 

[IllusionX]

You should quarantine your fishes before putting then in.

The fish store I go to; all the fishes are treated, and quarantined before they are sold.

 

[joshace]

You should quarantine your fishes before putting then in.

The fish store I go to; all the fishes are treated, and quarantined before they are sold.

The fish in question was from the most reputable fish store in my county. The tank that fish came out of was 200 gallons - so not practical to quarantine it.

 

[mambee]

It doesn't sound like your fish had ich. Ich spreads all over the body and isn't localized.

Reputable or not, there is a good chance that your LFS is exposing their fish to ich every time they get a new shipment. Some places keep salt in the water which keeps the ich at bay. I keep a 17 gallon tank running just to quarantine new fish. I have a 90 gallon tank which was hit hard by ich because I didn't keep the new fish in quarantine long enough. I lost about 20 fish, including dwarf loaches and a fancy pleco.

I have new fish in quarantine who have ich which I am treating. They are staying in quarantine for at least a month.