Need Help - Ich!!!

[gthompson1968]

Powder Blue has come down with Ich and it has spread to my Trigger. I have been treating with GreenEx for the past couple of days without pulling out my Chemi-Pure. My LFS thought that it would be Ok - I hate tearing down my canister. However, it appears now that I should have taken out the Carbon because the GreenEx does not appear to have done anything. The owner of my LFS suggested that I start the treatment again but this time take out the Chemi-Pure and turn off my Protein Skimmer.
Now to my questions... my LFS carries a product called Kick Ich. Would this be better than GreenEx or is the GreenEx just as good? Should I keep the lights off during treatment? Is Ich usually able to be cured?
Need some advice fast. I am ready to take the Powder Blue back because he has been a problem ever since I got him 1.5 weeks ago.

 

[carrie1429]

Do you have a hospital tank? I would ditch the medication and do hyposalinity. Lowering the salinity level to where ich can;t live. Its safe for the fish and the most effective way to get rid of ich IMO. But it has to be done in a hospital tank because inverts and stuff can't live in hypo saline water. Usually a lot of times medication doesn't work.

 

[gthompson1968]

I do not have a hospital tank and have no plans on purchasing one. I would rather keep things simple and treat the fish in my main tank. I have never had an Ich problem for 2 years now until I introduced this Powder Blue Tang. Obviously, they are a problematic species.

 

[gthompson1968]

One question that no one seems to be able to answer… how can a hospital tank prevent the fish from getting Ich or other parasitic infections? Granted the fish can be observed for a couple of weeks to make sure that it is eating and looks ok, but once you net it out of the tank and transfer it to the main tank you have stressed out the fish again which in turn can bring on infection and parasites. To me a hospital tank seems to be a solution, but still is not a perfect one. In regards to the medication not working, I believe it is due to the fact that I never removed the carbon or turned off my protein skimmer. The medication was most likely extracted from the water before it had any chance to be effective.
My LFS will most likely take back the fish since I have been dealing with them for quite some time. I would really like to get rid of it because I do not want the headache of dealing with a troublesome fish from now on out. I think that I would like to obtain a Purple tang again – I never seemed to have any problems with them in the past.