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Quarantining is, of course, the best way to prevent disease outbreaks in a tank. I will do that with my fish, even though they come from an LFS that does an amazing job with fish health... they have two full-time vets and a QT hallway where all new arrivals live for a week before being moved out onto the floor. The reason my fishies stay in a bare tank for a while isn't necessarily disease, but instead, I want them to get comfortable with me and learn to eat the stuff I provide. It works well and is worth having the extra 15 gallon setup for that purpose.
I wanted to mention Ich Attack as another medicine to treat a planted tank. Rid Ich is one of the best ones out there, but there are a few plants that just can't handle it; when I first started with planted tanks, I used it and killed off all the rosette plants during the week-long treatment. Ich Attack is a different story, though, because it's herbal... as long as the infection isn't too advanced and there are only a couple spots on each fish, an elevated temp of 82-84 and a week of Ich Attack works really well. The plants and inverts aren't affected in the least; it doesn't require the water change between treatments, either (although it's good to do one to pick up the dying parasites off the bottom of the tank and in the water)
Aquarisol has copper in it, which isn't too plant friendly and will kill inverts, if I remember correctly. Not the best stuff in the world to use, so if you can find Rid Ich or Ich Attack, try that instead. Another med to use (in QT, it'll ruin plants) is quinine, but that stuff is pretty harsh and from what I've seen, is more of a last resort.
Litesky, give the ich attack a try... it's good stuff, really gentle (a friend used some on his seahorses and it didn't affect his LR or copepod population while kicking a fungal infection) Along with the raised temp, you might be able to help your pleco even more.
I wanted to mention Ich Attack as another medicine to treat a planted tank. Rid Ich is one of the best ones out there, but there are a few plants that just can't handle it; when I first started with planted tanks, I used it and killed off all the rosette plants during the week-long treatment. Ich Attack is a different story, though, because it's herbal... as long as the infection isn't too advanced and there are only a couple spots on each fish, an elevated temp of 82-84 and a week of Ich Attack works really well. The plants and inverts aren't affected in the least; it doesn't require the water change between treatments, either (although it's good to do one to pick up the dying parasites off the bottom of the tank and in the water)
Aquarisol has copper in it, which isn't too plant friendly and will kill inverts, if I remember correctly. Not the best stuff in the world to use, so if you can find Rid Ich or Ich Attack, try that instead. Another med to use (in QT, it'll ruin plants) is quinine, but that stuff is pretty harsh and from what I've seen, is more of a last resort.
Litesky, give the ich attack a try... it's good stuff, really gentle (a friend used some on his seahorses and it didn't affect his LR or copepod population while kicking a fungal infection) Along with the raised temp, you might be able to help your pleco even more.
