I need to treat Ich in my tank, and since it spreads so easily I am going to treat the main tank. I raised the temp to about 83 but I wanted to know what medication works best and if there are any that would not kill off the beneficial bacteria. I have african cichlids, and a pleco if this impacts the treatment. Thanks

What kind of cichlids and what kind of pleco?
The size of tank would be good to know too.

I have african cichlids (mainly mbuna) and a common pleco in a 75 gal tank. I am trying to determine which medication I should buy to treat Ich most effectively without harming the beneficial bacteria. I am not interested in doing salt treatments that I hav about because I have heard they can hurt the pleco. Thanks

I have used a product called Quick Cure (malachite green and formalin) for ick for years without noticing significant damage to the beneficial bacteria......You must follow the instructions fully and half dose if you are worried about a particular type of fish......................Not good for invertebrates in the tank.

I, too, have used half dose of Quick Cure with no ill effects on the bacteria. It also tends to not stain the silicone seams very much at that dose. Honestly, I've never gotten any more effective cure or shorter time frame from the full dose so I only use half dose any more regardless of what fish I've got. As dano said, however, it is not good for any inverts. Oh, and they aren't kidding when they say pull the carbon from your filter.

I use it at half dose as well, just as good as full dose.

You do know that common plecos get up to a few feet long?

...

You want a non-medicated treatment?

Raise temperature and use aquarium salt.

http://thegab.org/Illness-and-Treatment/treating-ich-with-salt.html

X2 on what the Evil Jojo said (Khrister)

You can always try a copper dip also medicine never really enters your tank..might stress the fish out if it is the very progressed stage of the disease. This is where you use a small backet/tank treat it with copper and simple net you fish dip them in the bucket set them back in the tank. We used to treat salt water fish in invert tanks this way.