Which method for treatment?

[madchase18]

While I was out of the country for a couple months my 120 reef tank crashed (due to poor maitenance) and everything died. Anyway, my family proceeded to call in professionals to restart everything with a new and improved filtration system, new sand, water, and cleaned off the LR. After a few weeks their maitenance guy deemed it safe for fish again and my mom bought 2 clowns, a sail-fin and purple tang from a LFS. Well they have been in the tank about 2 weeks now and I just arrived back from Asia a week ago.
Well a few days ago I noticed on my purple tang some white spots and some strange brown stringy things coming out near his tail. I am pretty sure he has Ich, but am not sure about the stringy things (a worm?). Well I have called my LFS and have gotten varying opinions for treatment, like: installing a UV Sterilizer (which I can't afford) and from the other store, taking out the tang and treating him with Rid-Ich in a hospital tank.
So I come here knowing what good advice I'll find and hope someone can suggest the easiest course of action. The other 3 fish look great and all 4 of them are eating and scavenging well. After reading on here I have seen the hypo option, but that is out of the question at my house. What methods would you suggest to effectively, safely, and quickly treat my little tang. Will the other fish continue to remain free from Ich as long as they aren't stressed or will they most likely eventually get it?
Any help and advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time and support.
Mads

 

[lion_crazz]

Mads, it is neccessary that you treat all fish that are exposed to ich. I would strongly recommend you get a 10-20 gallon quarantine tank, put on a cheap filter and heater, and hypo all four fish. This is the only way you will successfully get rid of all ich.
A UV sterilizer will not work, nor will Rid Ich. These are wastes of money.
A set-up QT will cost you $30-$50 and will prevent ich from EVER coming back because you will now have a quarantine tank to make sure you never introduce ich.

 

[madchase18]

So I have plenty of tanks laying around that are or were used for my reptiles, will just a 10 gallon be big enough for the 4 of them? How long do I really have to keep them in there, really a few weeks or more? A heater won't be necessary since my house (and therefore tank) is hot- about 79-81 most of the time. So I just need a cheap whisper filter or something like that? Powerhead too? Maybe a plastic reptile vine decoration for them to hide in? Anything else?

 

[lion_crazz]

The 10 gallon would be a minimum. If you have something bigger, that would be preferred, but a 10 might work okay. Many LFS' use 10 gallon tanks and they do okay for a few weeks.
You need to hypo the fish for 3-4 weeks to get rid of all ich.
I would make sure you get some decorations in there to help the fish feel comfortable.
No powerhead is neccessary if you have a decent filter.
You also need a sponge to put into your display tank so that you can transfer the biological bacteria from the display to the QT. Leave the sponge in the display for a few days, and then transfer it to the QT.
I would definitely recommend a heater, regardless of what your house temp is. If your temp is constantly fluctuating, the quarantine tank will be counter-productive.

 

[madchase18]

So if I do this I get rid of Ich for good, where-as with just treating the one tang the ich is still in the tank.. correct? But is it true that there will always be parastites in my DT ? And if I keep the rest of the fish healthy won't they stay strong and not get ich? Or will they still have a chance? This is just a big procedure to undertake. So fresh water baths and meds could help, but you're saying that in the long run this QT/HT is the best way to go?
Also this means I can't get any more fish for a month as well correct?