Garlic

Ive had an ich issue which I treated with polyplab medic and its pretty much cleared up but for the last few weeks my regal tang still has a few spots here and there ( he was completely covered ) I do not want to put any more chemicals in the tank at this time if I do not have to, So I was wondering about garlic treatment. I know nothing about doing this and I am wondering if you can buy this stuff at the LFS and what do you do with it ? Ive heard people say about soaking food in it. Can someone quickly walk me through this and give me their opinion on if its the right thing to do or not. I have done a few water changes since medicating them.

 

easy... mash up a few cloves of garlic, strain the juice off, soak food in it.

 

garlic isnt necessarily a 'cure" . it entices fish to eat. the better they eat, the stronger they are , which in turn helps them fight off ich and such. yes you can buy it at an lfs , or grocery stores will also carry the liquid. just whatever youre gonna feed the fish , soak it in the garlic. put the food in a dish and pour it on and let it soak into the food.

 

this concurs with my understanding too

but i've still been known to drop a few drops of it into the DT from time to time...

 

your lfs will carrier some kind of garlic juice where you use an eye dropper to soak your fish food in. I put my cube of food in a cup put recommended amount of drops on the cube let it sit for 20 min then fill cup with tank water and let it sit for another 20 or so then feed.

as peredhil and others states i dont think its a cure but it entices the fish to eat making them stronger. As long as your fish are eating all their food i would say hold off on any medication as the fish will fight off the ich naturally. I would add some garlic tho as i dont think it could hurt any. the more vitamins and food variety the better to give your fish what they need to get healthy... errr but dont OVER do it

 

Actually garlic has anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties. So it might help to fight of secondary infections as well. But I don't think it effects ich directly.

 

The best natural treatment for ich is a hyposalinity and heavy water change regimen, with garlic added for flavor, or so I've heard, and am currently testing.

By heavy water change, we're talking 50% every 2 days, to pull out the stages that free swim and sit on the bottom frequently. Hyposalinity means 1.009-1.010, which badly hinders ich in its reproduction.

 

as long as they are eating i would hold off on any aggressive water changes or lowering salinity. I didnt do either when my hippo got ich and he fought it off within a couple of weeks just by eating well (but every case is different).

 

You know, I would be inclined to agree normally, except every single one of my fish ended up with crypto (marine ich) after a full month life cycle, the total number of spots was about 100 times the number in the first cycle, and I didn't want them all dying when the next cycle comes around. If it were just the one tang that had them to begin with that got it the second round, I might have reconsidered, but it was all 7 fish. Drastic times, drastic measures.

 

Here is the interesting article about ich.

Marine Ich - Myths and Facts - Reef Sanctuary