Ich...please help

[brsdr32]

I am still having a problem with Ich. About a month ago I lost all my fish but one in my tank. It was running great for more than 2 months. All of my fish had signs of Ich when they died. I tried to treat the tank, but it was too late and that didn't work and I accidentally killed most of my inverts when I did that. I've been having some back luck lately, stupid me, but oh well.
After I took the dead fish out, I let the tank run for almost 3 weeks with the one surviving fish and my live rock and hermit crabs. I put some more fish in there from my LFS and for a few days there were good. Last night I noticed one of my fish started showing signs of Ich and I set up a quarantine tank for that one fish, 10 gallon tank. I checked the main tank, 55 gallon, today and everything is good. All my parameters are good, salt, temp, etc...and my other fish aren't showing signs of Ich. I am treating the one fish in my quarantine tank right now and so far so good.
But I need to know what to do to help me prevent this from happening again.

 

[bseth90]

What type of fish? Some are more prone than others. When you buy from the lfs do you watch the fish for awhile or just go in and buy? If I buy them from a lfs..I place them on hold to watch them, but I recently decided to stop buying from the lfs.....due to an almost total fish loss about a year ago. When I first started nine years ago I ran into the same problem. I solved it by added copper to the tank. Obviously I lost all inverts and my live rock as well. Then I used carbon filters to remove the copper....this took awhile, but eventually the live rock grows again and all is well. I know its frustrating, but we've all been through it....this is a hobby that takes awhile.

 

[oceana]

If there was a fish in the tank when ich was present then nothing went away
The fish you had was strong enough to not be effective but there was still a host for the ich cycle
The best way to do it is to let the tank sit fallow for at least 4-6 weeks. I personally say go for 8 to try and be sure.
In sort the ich gets on the fish fall to the floor makes new ich . Old ich dies new ich starts the whole process over again. The only way to stop it is to not give the ich a host (fish) without that the process is interrupted. It’s more technical then that but that is the readers digest version. lol
NEVER TREAT YOUR DISPLAY!!

pull the fish out treat them in QT tank while the tank sits empty

 

[brsdr32]

I have a community tank. 2 Percula Clowns, Molly (the one that survived), Huma Huma and an Coral Beauty. The Coral Beauty is the one that has Ich.
I learned the hard way about treating the main tank. I didn't have a quarantine tank available at the time.
Should I treat all of my fish even though they don't show signs of Ich?

 

[oceana]

All of them. If you leave them in the main tank you will never get rid of the ich. They may not show sings of it do to various reasons such as thicker slime coats but they will still continue the cycle. Once you add a new fish to the tank that is vulnerable to the ich then you will start all over again.
btw you should have nothing in your GT tank otehr then maybe somthing for the fish to hide in to help them feel comfortable.
no cc no ls. just bare bottom tank.
i use formaline but most people wont due to the need to be VERY carful with it, i also like coppersafe. works well and does not seem to bother the fish in the QT. the formaline is very bad for the fish and ich so you must be very careful when using it