Is garlic so useful?

[lona]

I add garlic religiously to my fish feed (mysis, brine and dried flake) with EVERY meal..

This morning I saw ich on my baby ocellaris clown..why?

I tried to separate him but couldn't catch him..had to come to work already.

THe rest of the fish SEEM ok..but dunno if things'll get worse. I know ICH's been discussed to death here already..but I want to know what my options are if I don't have any resources for a hospital/quarantine tank.

Should I separate him anyways? I don't have anything..I could put him in a little container and change water more often would that help? Fresh water dip after that back in the main tank?

I feel so disappointed..

[Limpc]

At least it worked for me. My blue tang made it.

Besides garlic juice, I also have CS for assistance. Saw the tang visiting the CS very often during consultation time.

Limpc

[lona]

ya I also hv a pair of skunks..but my fish somehow dun really visit my skunks ley..why?

am I doing something wrong? all my five fish don't..one clown, two anthias (1 got sucked into the PH so left 2), 2 damsels..none of them visit.

In fact, when the skunks try to clean them the swim away quite fast..

and using copper is out of the question for me..I don't want to try that after reading so much stuff..

[Limpc]

ha ha ha, maybe u have fake skunk with painted stripe.

Heard from someone that smaller skunk are much more hardworking with adult skunk.

Limpc

[lona]

so now dunno how also, I'm thinking just leave everything as is, and hope for the best..hopefully what little they can clean is good enough..

I should have just bought one large one small...both my skunks are quite small now..only about an inch and a half...

[[d]3v|L]

ha ha ha, maybe u have fake skunk with painted stripe.

Heard from someone that smaller skunk are much more hardworking with adult skunk.

Limpc

haha i agree my new small skunk always clean my finger when i put my hand in.. ticklish

[KingFish]

Iona,

When my FireClown came down with Ich, I tried Garlic too, but it didn't work very well.

Then Morgan (may I dub thee "SRC Resident Doctorfish"?) suggested raising the PH. So I got hold of KENT SuperBuffer and bumped the dKH up to 14 (PH would be around 8.3-8.4)

... zapped the Ich and that clown seems happier

So bottomline: checked your water parameters as well.

[lona]

Rumour> Hmm..ok will check up on the water..I have a seachem buffer..so I suppose should be the same thing..how fast did you raise the dkh may I know?

[KingFish]

Hehe... the embarassing bit, my dKH was actually at 7 , which means those clowns were really stressed. It took me 3 days (a slightly higher dose a day)to bring it the dKH up to 10, then slowly over the week up to 14.

The key is raise slowly as sudden change of water paramter may stress them even more.

[KingFish]

Oh yes, forgot to add also that I made my refugium work harder by extending their lighting hours, my PH change may not be solely due to the buffer additives, so you'll really have to moderate your dosing.

Meanwhile, keep feeding Garlic as it seems to whet their appetite, its cool to see my clowns swimming up in anticipation of food.

[Achilles Tang]

Hehe... the embarassing bit, my dKH was actually at 7    , which means those clowns were really stressed. It took me 3 days (a slightly higher dose a day)to bring it the dKH up to 10, then slowly over the week up to 14.

The key is raise slowly as sudden change of water paramter may stress them even more. 

Low KH will not stress fish as much as very low PH or high PH.

7dkh is pretty close to normal seawater levels. The act of raising to 14 dKH is practiced mainly for SPS corals and to make conditions unfavourable for nuisance algae.

Actually what Morgan advised is not meant to kill ich but to make sure that your PH is at the right value, constant and stable. Raising dKH would help to buffer your PH as it cannot be lopsided. At stable PH, fishes are not stressed. That may be key in helping the fish fight the ich.

[KingFish]

Low KH will not stress fish as much as very low PH or high PH.

7dkh is pretty close to normal seawater levels. The act of raising to 14 dKH is practiced mainly for SPS corals and to make conditions unfavourable for nuisance algae.

Actually what Morgan advised is not meant to kill ich but to make sure that your PH is at the right value, constant and stable. Raising dKH would help to buffer your PH as it cannot be lopsided. At stable PH, fishes are not stressed. That may be key in helping the fish fight the ich.

Thanks for the clarification AT.

So it is essential to address the problem and NOT the symptom. IMO, feeding garlic is only treating the ailment, but if the cause of it is not addressed, Ich will come back again.

Stress can arise from many factor of which some are controllable, and some are not; say water condition versus hostile tankmates.

though, controlling nuisane algae aside, may I ask if raising dKH up to 14 (which indirectly meant PH of about 8.5) is advisable for a non-SPS tank?

[Achilles Tang]

Bringing dKH to such a level would be tottering dangerous on calcium precipation ie. snow storm!

[lona]

Hi guys,

here's some updates..

Some background first..I tested my water after rumour's lead, but the water's still the same as for the last 3 weeks already. Because my tank's so young I initially tested twice a week in case anything happens so I can arrest the changes quickly.

Anyways, the status has been 0 for no2 and nh3, no3 is around 10 plus minus. dkH at 9 pH at 8 (abit low I know but somehow can't seem to raise it) I've been adding the buffer for the whole time about once a week, but since rumour's suggestion I've added the buffer twice, and plan to do it again soon.

AT you were mentioning that everything stable is better, so mine as far as I can tell has been pretty stable. Unless I've been missing the pH swings that I keep reading about.

Just did a 20% water change after rumour's earlier post and usually do that once a week so far.

Ok now the updates: Instead of putting in the recommended 2 drop dose of garlic for the food, I upped it drastically to about 8-10 drops..and soak really really long to make sure everything goes in. The ich as of yesterday seems to have subsided from the clown. So far, the other fish have not gotten anything yet as well..I guessing still too early to tell?

Is there anything I should be expecting or anything else I should be doing? Cos I'm not too excited about the idea on raising the alk so high to 14 leh..

[newfisher]

iona.... i think my tank just had an ich outbreak too.....

lost 3 fish liao.... the rest seem to be infected too...

at a loss now... haii...

but then from wat i gather.... the ich will initially appear on the fishes and then after a while seem to subside..... if u think its gone..... think again...

its something to do with the cycle of the parasite life and after disappearing from the fish.... it will come back to haunt the fish in even greater numbers.. aka more ICH.......

so i guess when u see no more white spots now... better catch all the fish and put them in a qurantine tank and let the ich parasite die off.....

[SpiderOne]

hey.. that was 6 months ago

[seamonkee]

I had my experience of ich before and was told by the LFS that garlic (I used Kent Garlic Xtreme) ONLY works hand-in-hand with Kent Rx.P (Pepper Solution)...

Not sure how true it is... apparently, the storeowner said that garlic added to food will help "raise" the temperature of the fish internally.. Very much the same experience when u drink a hot bowl of "garlicky" Bak Kut Teh...

This helps to expel the ich that is embedded deep in the fish especially those living in the gill but DOESN'T KILL IT. The Kent Rx.P (Pepper Solution) is to be added to your tank at intervals and the pepper solution is the one that "kills" the ich...

Anyway, I tried and it works... amazingly, garlic... becoz of its strong smell, is also good in luring the picky eaters to eat what you give...

In less than a week, all my fishes were free from ich...

One important note: Kent Rx. P (Pepper Solution) is irritable to some invertebrates, cucumbers, apples.

It says too that it is not recommended for Lion fish and scorpion fishes... hmmpph, I wonder why?

Rx.P is damn strong & once it touches your finger.. MAKE SURE YOU DUN RUB YOUR EYES... I did it anyway "out of habit" and my eyes were screaming for the next few minutes.. The perfect concoction for those who wants to make a "Pepper Spray" for their girlfriends... hahaa...

[KingFish]

Man... reading my own posts from 6 months ago can be rather amusing ...

It was good then when there was less / no crap posts

But to stay on topic nonetheless, Garlic serves to boost the fishes immune system to aid in its fight against Ich, or any stress-related diseases.

It should one, but not the only control hobbyists should have in place to prevent diseases breakout. Other measures should include maintenance of stable water parameters, as well as keeping in mind incompatibility of fish species.

[IcecruncherZ]

Hrmz... i tried the Kent Pepper one before lehz... not very effective... but maybe its cos my tang quite hopeless liao...

I think it doesnt raise the temp of the fish lahz (so chinese medicine 'heat' and 'cold' haha~) I think it makes the fishes produce and sloathe away slime more quickly and literally slimes away the white spots...

Wonder if my hypothesis is correct... or just crap... Haha~

[yus75]

hiat....just curious....how do u guys treat ich w garlic.....??squeeze the juice??? how much to put at a time???

[SpiderOne]

soak the fish food in garlic juice before feeding. save urself a lot of trouble and buy a commercial garlic supplement. i have tried smashing the juice out of garlic myself. and its not worth the effort

[dodo]

[tanlc]

Hi Dodo,

which LFS can I find these garlic juice?

My blue tang has been having white spots for weeks. I'm not too sure whether it is okay or not, 'cos I still see white 'patches' on its body. I bought a cleaner shrimp two weeks ago, it don't seem to 'treat' my blue tang.

[Dispar_Anthias]

I add garlic religiously to my fish feed (mysis, brine and dried flake) with EVERY meal..

This morning I saw ich on my baby ocellaris clown..why?

I tried to separate him but couldn't catch him..had to come to work already.

THe rest of the fish SEEM ok..but dunno if things'll get worse. I know ICH's been discussed to death here already..but I want to know what my options are if I don't have any resources for a hospital/quarantine tank.

Should I separate him anyways? I don't have anything..I could put him in a little container and change water more often would that help? Fresh water dip after that back in the main tank?

I feel so disappointed..

IMO garlic should be add as a preventive instead of a source for curing ich........ IMO having a quarantine tank is alot better and save the risk of other fish getting the infection

[Dispar_Anthias]

Hi Dodo,

which LFS can I find these garlic juice?

My blue tang has been having white spots for weeks. I'm not too sure whether it is okay or not, 'cos I still see white 'patches' on its body. I bought a cleaner shrimp two weeks ago, it don't seem to 'treat' my blue tang.

You can get garlic extreme at seal*** and garlic guard at petmar*