Soaking food in garlic

[ktipp]

I'm not having any issues. Just curious what others are doing.

Are you soaking food in garlic as preventative? If so, what garlic are you using?

I heard you could just use garlic juice from HEB.

lmk

Thanks
KT

[Reef newb1982]

Id like to know as well

[alton]

The stuff from Kent is not that expensive and I would trust it more than home made or HEB. I once had a Regal Tang that refused to eat foods soaked in Garlic. I quit soaking my food years ago, I think fish food today has so many additives, you don't need to anything else.

[Dean]

I add two drops of Kent garlic to the frozen mysis when I feed that every other day.

[ktipp]

I assume the garlic is just fine for corals as well?

[Dean]

It hasn't hurt any of mine. I have been feeding with garlic for over a year. If you read the ingredients on a lot of the prepared marine foods you will see that garlic is a common ingredient.

[cowboy572]

The only time you need an food soaked in garlic is when you have a fish that is not eating. Garlic is a stimulant to get them to eat, and it it has been shown there are no other health benefits of garlic. The reason you see garlic working helping fight off the ick, is the fact the fish are eating at it brings their immunse system up to fight off the infection. I did the MAAST meeting presentation on how to make your own fish food and did some research on the the subject of garlic and ick.

Also the garlic juice you find in the green box at HEB, is all natural. If I remember correctly it only has two main ingreidents, garlic juice and vinegar. Since vinegar a carbon, it shouldn't hurt your aquarium. Hmmm let me see $8 for Kent's or $3 bucks for the juice.....

[Dean]

The only time you need an food soaked in garlic is when you have a fish that is not eating. Garlic is a stimulant to get them to eat, and it it has been shown there are no other health benefits of garlic. The reason you see garlic working helping fight off the ick, is the fact the fish are eating at it brings their immunse system up to fight off the infection. I did the MAAST meeting presentation on how to make your own fish food and did some research on the the subject of garlic and ick.

Also the garlic juice you find in the green box at HEB, is all natural. If I remember correctly it only has two main ingreidents, garlic juice and vinegar. Since vinegar a carbon, it shouldn't hurt your aquarium. Hmmm let me see $8 for Kent's or $3 bucks for the juice.....

So the garlic extract additives are just another snake oil? I haven't done any extensive research into it but what I have read is that is helps boost a fish's immune system. That's why I have been using it. Of course I realize that if a fish isn't eating and the use of this product gets him eating then it did in fact help boost his immune system just by getting him to eat. But if the fact actually is that it is merely a feeding stimulant (which I know it is very effective at that as I use it in fishing on my artificial baits) then I need to stop using it. We really should not add anymore more organic matter than is necessary to our tanks..

So does it or does it not boost a fish's immune system when fed regularly?

[Zack]

By secondary effect, yes. Directly there are no benefits of garlic.

[cowboy572]

Yeah, garlic is one of those touchy subjects that could go either way in a conversation. I just haven't seen enough evidence to support that it helps with their immune system.

Just my .002 cents. Thanks inflation

[Dean]

By secondary effect, yes. Directly there are no benefits of garlic.

You read a lot that when you have an ich outbreak, feeding the fish in the system a garlic supplement aids in staving off the parasites. Some articles lead you to believe that not only does garlic promote the infected fish's appetite to increase but also that the parasites will not attach themselves to a healthy fish that has been consuming garlic. If this is true then perhaps garlic may not benefit the fish's health directly but could keep an ich outbreak from occurring in a tank that is regularly fed with a garlic supplement.

In my personal experience, I had an ich out break that killed 6 fish in a 29 gallon tank about 18 months ago. I let the tank run fallow for 3 months and ran a UV sterilizer to rid the system of the parasite. I slowly restocked the tank back up to where there is now 6 fish in it and after 15 months (feeding garlic supplements every other day or so) none of my fish have shown any symptoms of ich. I also feed it in my 65 gallon mixed reef tank that houses 10 fish. This tank has been running for about a year now and the fish have not shown any symptoms of the ich parasite. I am knocking on wood btw!!
This could of course just be a string of good luck but it could also be that the supplement does actually aid the fish in staving of parasites.

Does anyone have an experience where they have been feeding their fish garlic long term and still lost the fish to a parasitic infection?

[ktipp]

+1 on Deans comment but with one twist, have you had any coral issues as well.
Does anyone have an experience where they have been feeding their fish garlic long term and still lost the fish to a parasitic infection?

[LuckySingh]

Garlic works . It's good for us aswell .

I have used to treat ich and has worked like charm . However I have only used it when ever it's needed. Ich is a sign of not a happy fish . Don't know if garlic will prevent it buy sure helps of boosting fishs immune system

[alton]

Garlic works . It's good for us aswell .

I have used to treat ich and has worked like charm . However I have only used it when ever it's needed. Ich is a sign of not a happy fish . Don't know if garlic will prevent it buy sure helps of boosting fishs immune system

I agree, I love home made garlic sausage

[rrasco]

So the garlic extract additives are just another snake oil? I haven't done any extensive research into it but what I have read is that is helps boost a fish's immune system. That's why I have been using it. Of course I realize that if a fish isn't eating and the use of this product gets him eating then it did in fact help boost his immune system just by getting him to eat. But if the fact actually is that it is merely a feeding stimulant (which I know it is very effective at that as I use it in fishing on my artificial baits) then I need to stop using it. We really should not add anymore more organic matter than is necessary to our tanks..

So does it or does it not boost a fish's immune system when fed regularly?

It's my opinion it's purely a stimulant to get fish to bite, as supported by the fact fisherman also use it on their hooks. That, of course, doesn't exactly mean there are no health benefits to it, I just don't believe there are any based on what I've read about it.