Lorna if you have a sump just throw a piece of sponge - make sure it is just sponge and preferably get it at a LFS - in your sump (or tank if you don't have a sump) for 3 or 4 days and it should colonize with bacteria that you can then move into your quarentine tank.
I have crabs advise was right on the money though. I see time after time people advising to feed garlic and use cleaner shrimp to battle ich. It simply does not work. My theory on garlic is that it encourages fish to eat more thereby boosting their immune systems to be better able to fight of diseases and parasites. Cleaner shrimp just cannot get ich parasites, that burrow into the skin, off the fish. Copper is probably the best and quickest way to treat remaining fish. You will have to leave your main system fish less for 6-8 weeks in order to eliminate the parasite from your system.
The ich parasite will continue to live in your system as long as there are fish in there. If they are strong and healthy it probably won't affect them unless they get stressed or weak. I think a lot more of us have ich in our systems than we know. I have never had an outbreak of ich in any of my tanks but I am willing to bet that it is probably in at least one of them
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