So after all I've read, I'm still a bit confused about Ich.

[DubJ]

I've read that it needs to be treated early, but that it can only be killed when it is in the final free-swimming stage. Also, I've read that after the parasite has it's fill, it drops in order to reproduce and find more fish to infect. If that is true, once the fish has the first obvious sign of the parasite it is too late to treat. I'm not understanding something here.

I currently have 1 clown loach with the obvious spots and two other barbs with the "flashing" behavior. When I realized what was happening, i went to the fish store and picked up a bottle of Ich-Attack (recommended for my loach since the medication is purely organic and will not harm scaleless fish). Today is the 2nd day of treatment and I'm not yet seeing any noticeable difference in the fish.

I really just want to understand if what I am doing will save my infected fish, or whether keeping any more from becoming infected is the best I can hope for. Any comments would be appreciated.

 

[dkpate]

You are doing it right. After a few days you will see less spots on your fish, because the ich are dropping off into the substrate. You can speed up the life cycle by turning up the temp gradually to around 86 degrees, which will make them fall off your fish faster. The medication will kill the ich once it has fallen off the fish.
When the ich falls off, it lands in the substrate, creates a cyst, and then explodes into thousands of new ones, which will get back on your fish. So with the meds, you are killing the ich as it falls off, or is swimming back up. The reason you keep using the meds for a few days after you see the last spot is to make sure you have killed them all. You should do a deep gravel vacuum when this happens too.