sadly no doubt Ich has hit my Flame Angel, (update 1)

what if i were to remove the LR?

 

I'm just going off what I've read but I'd be warey about using copper at all. At least in a tank that will house corals and inverts again. Tanks that have run copper (FW and QT/treatment tanks), from what I've gathered can leach copper even if they had nothing else in them. Maybe it's the silicone that absorbs it? I'd prefer to be wrong and overly cautious than right and have you lose any animals. I'm pretty sure you'd have to change out your substrate if you treated with copper as well. Unfortunately, the easiest way that I know how is the set up a cheap QT and treat the animal seperately. As for eliminating ich from your DT, I imagine you'd have to let your tank lay fallow for as long as 6 months.

Keep in mind, the above post comes from someone with far less experience than most here so if someone recommends something that contradicts me, just assume I'm wrong. Best of luck.

 

what you say makes perfect sense, sigh guess QT is going to hit my wallet after all. how manny gallons am i looking at to house all my fish while i treat them? would 15 g or 60l be enough? soposedly i could just use a really big plastic box no?

 

Well basically you have two choices. You can find or buy another tank and move your fish into there and either treat with copper or better yet treat with hypo by bringing the SG down very slowly to about 1.010. Or you can just remove your fish, feed them food soaked in garlic, and just let your DT run fallow for 2 months and raise the temperature to speed up the ich cycle.

 

iv read about hypo, infact was one of my option in my post b4 i edited it. seems hard to do for a noob such as myself though.
in regards to garlic you say this to boost their health/immune system yes? as there is no proof garlic will directly heal from Ich. if i can avoid bombing my fish with chemicals i would rather but fact remains that ich will be present in my QT tank if i dont eliminate it there as well. If i go through the fuss of letting my DT run 8 weeks ( iv heard 8-10 weeks pastey not 6 months....that would drive me and probably my fish insane) without fish to "starve" the Ich would it not simply come back if i put my fish there again if the QT hasnt been treated? (hope this makes sense)

 

here's what i'm going to recommend, its beenpretty successful for not only myself but other hobbyists as well.
This is going to suck for you but its the safest way. You need to sset up a hospital tank for your fish and treat them with the hyposalinity method, this is effective over time. Now for the part your going to hate--leave your display tank fallow(without fish) for 6 weeks maybe longer, the idea is to kill off the ich in the tank if you place the fish back in the tank too soon you will find yourself back at square one in the ich battle. I would use this time to treat the fish with hyposalinity method but remember when you go to put the fish back into the display tank to slowly raise the salinity in the hospital tank to match. Fish can handle a rapid drop in salinity far better than they can a rapid increase in salinity. Hope this helps

 

yea, 100% hypo treatment read about it and know the steps but it scares me, especially keeping the PH at a good constant level. but i guess i have no choice

15 g enough for my live stock? can a huge plastic box do instead? would save me alot of cash

 

the hypo salinity in the hospital tank will get rid of the ich, the reason you cant just decrease salinity in the display tank is because the low salinity of the water will likey kill other stuff in your tank along with the ich( remember theres nitrifying bacteria, the precious corals we all love, pods and all kinds of other goodies in our tanks that would likely die from hyposalinity exposure)

 

Sorry...I meant 6 weeks...not months. It's early, yet

 

yes you should be fine with a large plastic box, it would actually be good for the fish as far as keeping the stress down, ich and a stressed fish are not good together.