anti itching medicines will affect plants.

Question
Hi,
In my fish tank I have some Amazon Sword Plants in my aquarium.
Some of my gold fish and koi fish is facing problem of itching and I want to add anti itching medicines in my tank,
I just want to know whether anti itching medicines will affect my plants.
Pl give me some tips for growing plants in a healthy way.

Answer
Hi Avi,
I might not be the expert you are asked but I can give you a few suggestions and possibilities.

Usually when a fish has an itching problem, 9 times out of 10 it's because of a parasitic infection such as Ich.  If all your fish are itching themselves on surfaces of decorations, plant leaves, substrate then it's best to take action immediately.  Do any of your fish have any white cysts on them?  If they do or don't, you can still take a preventive measure and add aquarium salt 1tbps/5gallons of aquarium water.  The salt will kill ich and will also reduce fish stress along with providing electrolytes for the fish.  Along with adding the salt, increase temperature to 86F-90F.  The reason for this is, ich stop reproducing at 86F and die at 87F+.

You want to avoid medications as much as possible because it disrupts the biological filter of the aquarium (the beneficial bacteria that breaks down ammonia and nitrite).  Medications should be used as a last resort.  HOWEVER, the salt DOES affect the plants, it will brown the leaves and leaves will die.  BUT it will grow back.  

If you do not want to add salt to the main tank you can do quarantines.  Remove all fish to a quarantine tank and add salt and increase heat.  The advantages of this is, you can add meds to the quarantine tank without worrying about disrupting the beneficial bacteria.  Also, without any fish hosts in the main tank, the ich will die due to no fish host, and will also die due to heat.

Hope this is helpful.
-Matt-