Ich and Loaches

Question
I have a yoyo that has been in Q. for 6days treated with aqua-sol (copper is best for loaches?) at 80-82 degrees. He is still washed out and his eyes are pale. I have been treating the tank he came from with Quick Cure           ( formaldihyde) and upped the temperature as well as taking out the filter inserts. He arrived at the same time as ten glass shrimp and by the next day started showing signs of ich. Today I did a 50% water change in the comm. tank and  afterward noticed that my  big rummy nose now has two spots on him.
What do I do?
Do I quarantine him with the loach?
DO I change medicine?
Are the glass shrimp making it worse?
Can I add kosher sea salt?

**** Also - can Plecos have white tips as part of their colouring?******

Any assistance you could provide would be appreciated.
Thanks for your time


Answer
Dear Alexis,
Sounds like a very scary situation. Everything's fine, then boom, everybody's dying in the aisles. If it were my tank, I would quit adding all chemical treatments, because if the fish are going to die, the aquarium store medications won't help. I have also tried salt and it doesn't work.
The main thing is to provide a healthy environment and that means stabalizing the water. The fish need a good ecosystem that includes friendly bacteria. When you change out the water (especially a big change, like 50%) it takes away the ecosystem and replaces it with sterile water.
You need a product called "Cycle," which is friendly bacteria. They call it "biology." Add the recommended amount and put the bottle in the fridge. Use it whenever you change the water.
It's also important that you use bottled water (unless you have very pure tap water) and make sure the temperature of the new water matches the temperature of the existing water in the tank. Changing the temperature, even by one degree, can cause more problems than the water change can solve.
The leading cause of fish loss is overfeeding. I would suggest that perhaps the reason everybody got sick in the first place could have been from overfeeding.
So here is my suggestion. Put Cycle in the water and quit adding chemical medications. Gradually take out the chemical-treated water and replace it with fresh water and Cycle (maybe 10% a day or 10% twice a day for the first day or two). Lower the temperature gradually back to normal. Stop all feeding for 24 hours and then start back in with a drastically reduced diet.
You can still isolate the fish who get too sick, but don't use aquarium store remedies on them. Just put extra Cycle in their hospital water.
A good cure for ick is to get a bottle of Stress Coat (an aloe vera solution). Wait for the fish to come to the top and drop some stress coat right on the fish where the ick is.
Never handle fish and only use Stress Coat in the tank if you have disease.
My page for easy aquarium care is here:
http://steamboats.com/aquarium.html
Please write back if you have any questions after reading the page. If the terror continues, please write back to discuss further.
I hope this helps.
Sincerely,
Nori