diff --git a/tools/setup_ci.sh b/tools/setup_ci.sh
index 543b7c0..d43c584 100755
--- a/tools/setup_ci.sh
+++ b/tools/setup_ci.sh
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ conda config --remove channels defaults  # get conda-forge, not main, packages
 conda create --yes -q -n python${python_version} -c salilab -c conda-forge python=${python_version} ${pip} ${crypt} scipy matplotlib imp-nightly ${BOOST} gxx_linux-64 eigen cereal swig cmake
 eval "$(conda shell.bash hook)"
 conda activate python${python_version}
-pip install mpi4py-mpich
+conda install mpi4py
 if [ ${python_version} = "2.7" ]; then
   # pytest-flake8 1.1.0 tries to import contextlib.redirect_stdout, which
   # isn't present in Python 2