Step 1 remove itch from tank.
The only RELIABLE and TRUSTED method is to remove every last fish from the tank NOW and put them in QT.
Leave the display tank COMPLETELY empty of ALL fish for 6 weeks. If you move any fish into the display tank for any reason at all (even a quick dip) you must start over again for a period of 6 weeks. This CAN'T BE SIMPLER to understand. No fish AT ALL in the display tank for 6 weeks.
Step 2: While ALL fish are moved to QT tank(s), treat with hypo or copper treatment to rid your fish of ich.
Step 3: Any time you purchase/receive a new fish you MUST treat it for ich REGARDLESS of if you see ich or not for a minimum of 4 weeks (I'd go for 6 weeks). After this treatment the fish will be ich free and ready to move in the display tank.
For treating/ridding ich I personally would recommend most people go with a copper treatment instead of hypo. The reasons are:
A) most/many LFS's are running copper in their tanks anyway. So the fish you just purchased is probably already going through some type of copper treatment anyway. (ask your LFS or better yet test the water in the bag with your fish).
A Special Note) For many people who just dump the contents of the bag they receive fish in directly into the display tank. DON'T do this. You have NO IDEA what you are dumping into your display/QT tank (chems, parasites, fungus, etc).
B) Hypo treatment is harder to do correctly for most people. It's critical to have a good refractormeter or salinity monitor (my preference) or your treatment really won't be a treatment. If you plan on doing hypo I personally wouldn't recommend it unless you have two good digital monitors for both PH and Salinity. Pinpoint makes both and they together cost around $225 or so. Using these meters takes the guesswork out of reading tests and makes it a lot easier to do quick visuals of these two very important items. A cheap digital temp for $10 is a good investment also.
C) If at any time (doesn't matter if it's the next to last day of treatment) you break exceptable levels of treatment water parameters you are back to DAY ONE and starting over again. You can't ASSUME things will be ok. You have to ASSUME things are not good and start all over!
D) There ARE NO surefire ways to ridding yourself/tanks of ich other then these know methods. There are possibly other methods that COULD work but hypo and copper DO WORK and copper is easy to do so JUST DO IT.
Courtneyclv, unless I mis-read another post of yours last night you are were not FALLOW in your display tank. I say this because you mentioned you had A fish in there for part of the time. There can't be ANY fish at all in there. No shortcuts allowed.
E) You can NEVER break these rules or make exceptions or YOU WILL still have ICH in your tank.
NOTE: Notice how I said to actually treat the fish in QT regardless of signs of ich or not? They may not show it for 4 weeks but still carry it into the display tank if you simply use visual monitoring. If you actively TREAT the fish using a proven method then you can be 99.99% sure you will not introduce ich into your display tank.
F) Get over any fears of using copper (in hospital/QT tank) to actively treat ich (your fish will thanks you later). One of the good products that is hard to go wrong with if you follow manufacture directions (you will test copper levels and everything else) is CUPRAMINE.
G) You must QT anything you put into your display tank that isn't a fish for visual monitoring to make sure they aren't sick or worse yet going to bring in the ich parisite into your tank. While not as common you can introduce ich into your tank by way of corals. If they are in a QT tank for 4 weeks minimum with no fish in the same QT tank then you will not introduce ich into your display tank via other additions.
H) Make sure you never share ANY equipment between your QT tanks and display tanks.
I) PATIENCE and meticulous procedures is the number ONE thing you need to get rid of ICH.
Carlo
