natural cure for ich

You could try a good old fashioned salt bath and keeping the temps up. However, I think that the ick parasite lays eggs and so even if you can get it off of your fish the eggs will hatch and it will start all over. I would really recommend treating with a medication that will kill the eggs as well. I haven't found most fish meds as particularly expensive (under $5 usually for small amounts) but if you cannot afford this I would talk to a LFS. I am sure if they are reasonable they will work something out for you, like treating your fish for you, offering a discount, or maybe some samples.

http://groups.msn.com/TheBettaObsession/bettaillnessandtreatment.msnw

I though this website did a really good job explaining ick and how to treat it, and had good advice on treatments for 1 gallon set ups. Even though it is specifically talking about Bettas, the advice is still the same for any fish. HTH.

I've gotten rid of ich successfully (thanks to the advice I got on this forum) by raising the temperature to 90 degrees (87 if your fish can't tolerate it) for a minimum of 3 weeks. Even if there are no more visual signs of ich on your fish, stay the course and keep the temps elevated for at least 7 days after the last visual signs of ich. The fish tolerated it well and I had no losses.

yup raise up the temps high and get some salt in there, thats all you have to do and it will be fine as long as you catch it early.

Ive been told by many that keeping water temp at or above 82 degrees will not allow ich to grow.

Forget salt and temperature. Just perform water changes and gravel vacuuming. During the life cycle of the ich parasite, the parasite is in the gravel bed. Vacuuming the gravel will greatly reduce the parasite and give the fish a chance to recover. I stopped using ich medications years ago. Instead, I simply perform daily water changes and gravel vacuumings for about a week. It has worked every time.

Vacuuming the gravel will greatly reduce the parasite and give the fish a chance to recover. I stopped using ich medications years ago. Instead, I simply perform daily water changes and gravel vacuumings for about a week. It has worked every time.

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I have to dis-agree with that one, while it will help, it won't eradicate the parasites completely unless you just get lucky and happen to catch every single parasite in the tank during your water change. It only takes one to start the cycle over, and if your fish aren't stressed, you may not even know you have ich in the tank until something stresses one and the parisites gang up on it.
Here is an article that is pretty in- depth
ICH
HTH

The scientific articles I've read state that the ich parasite will exist even in a tank that has been "cured" of it with medication. The ich parasite apparently can go into stasis and continue to exist even after a tank has been heavliy medicated. So actually eradicating a tank of ich is not possible unless one breaks the system down and scrubs out the tank completely.

Fish can also develop an immunity to the ich parasite. Their slime coats do contain antibiotic enzymes.

This is why I advocate heavy water changes and gravel vacuumings instead of medications. By removing many of the ich parasites with tank cleanings one can give the fish a chance to fight off the parasites more naturally. It does not matter if I remove all the parasites, because it is not possible to do so anyway. Most fish in nature do carry parasites, but only a few. It is only in the confines of an aquarium that the parasite population exlodes. In nature the fish and parasite exist in a kind of equilibrium.

While some might be skeptical of this approach, I have used it for ten years and have had nothing but success.

The scientific articles I've read state that the ich parasite will exist even in a tank that has been "cured" of it with medication. The ich parasite apparently can go into stasis and continue to exist even after a tank has been heavliy medicated. So actually eradicating a tank of ich is not possible unless one breaks the system down and scrubs out the tank completely.

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The article linked in my previous reply speaks to many of these claims, and gives some very in depth information about truth and mis-conception related to these parasites. I certainly don't argue that water changes are a good idea, but I do believe that ich can be irradicated from a tank. please share your sources as well, I am always looking to learn more.
Dave