diff --git a/doc/14-features.md b/doc/14-features.md
index 2ee09a06a..5e65cff00 100644
--- a/doc/14-features.md
+++ b/doc/14-features.md
@@ -403,7 +403,7 @@ The check results include parsed performance data metrics if enabled.
 
 > **Note**
 >
-> Elasticsearch 5.x is required. This feature has been successfully tested with Elasticsearch 5.6.4.
+> Elasticsearch 5.x or 6.x are required. This feature has been successfully tested with Elasticsearch 5.6.7 and 6.2.3.
 
 Enable the feature and restart Icinga 2.
 
@@ -433,12 +433,12 @@ Metric values are stored like this:
 
 The following characters are escaped in perfdata labels:
 
-  Character	| Escaped character
-  --------------|--------------------------
-  whitespace	| _
-  \		| _
-  /		| _
-  ::		| .
+  Character   | Escaped character
+  ------------|--------------------------
+  whitespace  | _
+  \           | _
+  /           | _
+  ::          | .
 
 Note that perfdata labels may contain dots (`.`) allowing to
 add more subsequent levels inside the tree.
diff --git a/lib/perfdata/elasticsearchwriter.cpp b/lib/perfdata/elasticsearchwriter.cpp
index 87f299712..2e8ffa515 100644
--- a/lib/perfdata/elasticsearchwriter.cpp
+++ b/lib/perfdata/elasticsearchwriter.cpp
@@ -353,11 +353,10 @@ void ElasticsearchWriter::Enqueue(const String& type, const Dictionary::Ptr& fie
 	String eventType = m_EventPrefix + type;
 	fields->Set("type", eventType);
 
-	/* Every payload needs a line describing the index above.
+	/* Every payload needs a line describing the index.
 	 * We do it this way to avoid problems with a near full queue.
 	 */
-
-	String indexBody = R"({ "index" : { "_type" : ")" + eventType + "\" } }\n";
+	String indexBody = "{\"index\": {} }\n";
 	String fieldsBody = JsonEncode(fields);
 
 	Log(LogDebug, "ElasticsearchWriter")
@@ -419,6 +418,11 @@ void ElasticsearchWriter::SendRequest(const String& body)
 	 */
 	path.emplace_back(GetIndex() + "-" + Utility::FormatDateTime("%Y.%m.%d", Utility::GetTime()));
 
+	/* ES 6 removes multiple _type mappings: https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/6.x/removal-of-types.html
+	 * Best practice is to statically define 'doc', as ES 5.X does not allow types starting with '_'.
+	 */
+	path.emplace_back("doc");
+
 	/* Use the bulk message format. */
 	path.emplace_back("_bulk");