What to do with Ich?

[ddaddy]

This is my problem: I have a 75 gallon fish only tank with Ich. The current inhabitants are a powder blue tang, valentini puffer, picasso trigger and a hippo tang. The water conditions are in my mind good (ammonia and nitrites 0, sg 1.024, nitrates 0 and pH 8.6) As treatment I have mostly been using malachite green directly in the tank. The parasites would seem to leave and then start back up again. I do have a quarantine tank, but I am reluctant to move the fish for fear of killing them. Lately I have tried formalin against the ich. It seems to have the same result. I have thought about copper treatment, but I've heard mixed opinions. What should I do? <img src="graemlins//confused.gif" border="0" alt="[confused]" />

 

[ddaddy]

Thanks for the response Ed. I have read up on ich lately and I am planning on treating the fish with copper in a quarantine tank. I don't have an accurate enough salinity tester so I won't go with the hyposalinity method. I was just wondering though, how long should I leave the tank without any inhabitants? I have read that the parasite will die without a host in as little as two weeks and I have heard that I should leave the tank for up to a month. Any suggestions?