Dosing garlic directly into water?

[ylmaya]

I am having an Ich outbreak and am going to try the garlic thing. I bought the Kent garlic (because I wasn't smart enough to read first and just go to the grocery store...but anyway)....and it says to add a few drops to the food but that you can also add 1 drop per gallon directly to the water.

Has anyone tried this? Will it cure the disease faster if I put directly into the water?

Anyone know how long it will take for the ich to go away once I start the garlic feeding?

[Geoff]

i may be wrong on this, but it is not a "cure" for diseases. garlic helps the animals immune systems. it is also a good way to increase thier appetite. i know it does me, i will eat anything that has garlic in it.

the garlic helps the fish fight off anything that could be in the tank.

G~

[Toadfish]

I don't know about dosing it directly into the water??? Use it as a food supplement. It may help, but garlic is more of a preventitive measure. How bad is the ich?

[Prismaco]

Just plain ol garlic from the store ?


-Paul

[ylmaya]

No - Kent Garlic 'stuff' . . . it mentions dosing into food to help with bad appetites and parasites....it mentions dosing into the water for bad appetite...but doesn't mention that for parasites and I was wondering.....

[Casey]

No It doesnt help if you just put it in the water,it needs to get into the fishes body to help make the ich jump off,they dont like garlic,it doesnt cure ich just helps.Raising the temp will speed up the lifecycle of the spores just a little bit.

[ylmaya]

Great - thanks Casey....hey - does anyone know - do Cleaner Shrimp or Cleaner Wrasses help with this as well?????

[MontanaRocknReefer]

I know cleaner shrimp will rid fish of parasites but as far as Ick is concerned this comes about from fish being stressed for various reasons and comes from within the fish! Man I feel like a newbie on this problem! Any help as I need to learn too!!

[Toadfish]

I have heard of people leaving their lights on for 2 days straight to throw off the life cycle. I have 2 really good articles on parasites if someone can advise me how to attch them.

[Casey]

cleaner wrasse etc will help but will die when the ich is gone thats about all they eat

[Pirate]

Toadfish mentions leaving lights on, and you know what always happens... here I come and say I always believed that the opposite was true. In other words reduce the period as ick and stress most times go hand in hand. Water quality is also really important, I'd be doing 2, 3 water changes a week along with feeding some garlic. I have used a brand I get at the health food store called Kyolic. And yes that is the proper spelling, I questioned that also. I hope this did make things worse for you. Just had to relay my very limited knowledge.

[Toadfish]

Here is a link that address parasites, their life cycle and treatments. http://www.fishvet.com/pages/articles.tmpl
Pay particular attention to the ones that pertain to Cryptocaren irritans, and Oodinium.


BTW, I am not advocating certain treatments. Just putting the info out there as food for thought... Stress is a major contributor to "Ich". But so is infestation, of ich or other parasites. Leaving the lights on may be a viable option for some systems and not for others do to stress, poor water quality, etc...

[dark horge]

Most of the suspected benefit to garlic is lost by dosing straight to water. It would be better to lace the patient's food with it.

Keep in mind that while garlic is an established anthelminthic (de-wromer) and general irritant to many parasites, there has been no clinical test regarding garlic's efficacy vs. Cryptocaryon irritans infestations of marine fish. 'marine ich'

Here's a rather old article that dwells on it, and compares (theoretically) the dosing of garlic straight to water or via food:

http://www.reefs.org/library/article...tes-jorge.html

[yardboy]

As the subject says, just mine. Started my tank up and put 2 damsels in for three weeks. Then a coral beauty which had ich the very next day after introduction. Also a small tomato clown which got it also. The coral beauty died, the damsels never caught it and the clown got over it with no medication. Three weeks later (I know, too soon) put another coral beauty, a firefish and yellow tang. Everyone but the damsel fish got the ich bad. Put two cleaner shrimp and bought some garlic from Kent. The shrimp were shy for three days, but I could see them back there behind the rocks working over the fish (really cool even if I had to put my head against the wall to see) Feeding the fish, the shrimp would stay in the rocks. According to instructions (I thought) I put 4 drops of garlic in the sump near the return. Within 5 seconds, the shrimp were out front and center, looking for food! They went after the flake like it was gourmet. They've never been shy since, and now I use just one drop of garlic, kinda like a dinner bell, every time I feed. Makes the shrimp go crazy. As for the ich, between the shrimp and garlic, it seems to be gone, though I will occasionally see the shrimp try to get on a fish, even though there are no obvious white spots. Also, occasionally I will see the tang rub against a rock like he did when he had the parasite, though he did it frantically then.

[ylmaya]

Thanks - I am on my way to get another cleaner - I had one actually but he died about 2 hours after entering the tank - I think I didn't acclimate him long enough. (At least I hope that was the problem and not my Coral Banded Shrimp being agressive.....) Anyway - I'll try again today!