Is there an Ich Treatment that won't kill the beneficial bacteria?

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.

khrister wrote:

You want a non-medicated treatment?

Raise temperature and use aquarium salt.

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

Took the words right out of my mouth!

I agree 100000%

No meds! Heat n salt

You can't kill ich ....you can only speed up the process.

Will raising the temp to 86 degrees without adding salt still work? I don't want to add salt because of the pleco, I've read that it can harm them. I did read that temp works because it keeps the Ich from being able to reproduce. I was thinking of just raising the temp for 10 days and trying not to add anything. What do you think?

I've always used Quick Cure to treat ich and never had a problem, works quick and dont harm anything on the tank...

The salt won't hurt your pleco if kept at normal doses. Raise the temp and add the salt. Khrister raises plecos and wouldn't recommend anything that would harm them.

Ok so what is the best dosage regimen for salt addition. I read 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons in an article. Does this sound right? How long do I keep the salt in the water? For the 10 days of the raised temp?