Garlic Juice

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mansiz

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Apr 25, 2003
Messages
344
Location
Singapore
Is it advisable to drop 1 drop of garlic juice into the main tank ( around 13 gallon ) with fishes, tube worm, anemones inside? Because i suspect there is ich parasite.
 
Garlic will not kill ich. It can only aid fish in helping repel the parasite.

The best solution to your problem is to set up a proper QT tank and treat the fish with either copper or hyposalinity.

What kind of fish do you have? Some require differing methods of treatment.

Cheers
Steve
 
If you garlic soak your food its been known to help the fish fight off ich. How this works is kind of unknown. There are all kinds of theorys ranging from the garlic oil gets into the fish and the ich parasite dislikes it and falls off. Another one I have heard is that it boosts the fish's appitite and thus increases its imune system.
 
fishfreek said:
If you garlic soak your food its been known to help the fish fight off ich. How this works is kind of unknown.
This is actually not unknown. The main ingredient in garlic the helps the fish naturally repel ich is allicin. Any one interested can read aabout the positive affects (as well as some negative) >>here<<.

>>Here<< is a general article about allicin some may find of interest.

Cheers
Steve
 
I placed a small piece of garlic, about 0.5cm by 0.5cm into the tank, will this helps the fish to fight off ich or? Btw the fish that seems to have ich parasite is a common clown fish ( orange brown in colour with white stripe ), i don't quite know the actual name for that type of clown.
 
mansiz said:
I placed a small piece of garlic, about 0.5cm by 0.5cm into the tank, will this helps the fish to fight off ich or?
No it will have no affect. In order for garlic to work, the natural oils must be ingested by the fish. Simply placing garlic in the tank will have no affect.

Btw the fish that seems to have ich parasite is a common clown fish ( orange brown in colour with white stripe ), i don't quite know the actual name for that type of clown.
It would either be an A. ocellaris or A. percula. You also cannot just treat one fish. Even though they may not show signs of the parasite, all fish must be treated and the tank left fallow for 4 weeks to ensure the parasite dies off.

Cheers
Steve
 
If i don't remove the fish from the main tank, and leave it as usual, take good care of the fishes, will the ich die off too?
 
mansiz said:
If i don't remove the fish from the main tank, and leave it as usual, take good care of the fishes, will the ich die off too?
No, not without proper treatment in a seperate QT.

Cheers
Steve
 
Then is there a treatment at the main tank itself? Cas i don't own a QT, is there some kind of medicine ( for example: anti-ich solution etc ) for salt water?
 
None that I would really recommend. Keep in mind your anemone is going to be very sensitive to anything you put in the tank and has the potential to kill it.

You do not need to have a proper tank to set up a QT, any plastic or rubbermaid bin will do. >>Here<< is a link for step by step instructions on how to set up a quick QT.

Cheers
Steve
 
The LFS owner told me to reduce the specific gravity to 1.019, she said this could kill the ich parasites, does this helps? BTW does anemones help clownfish to get rid of the ich on their skin?
 
Controling the salinity will work but it must be done in a seperate Qt and the salinity lowered to 1.009. This salinity will also kill the anemone so the QT is a must. You can read about the proper use of hyposalinity >>here.

The anemone will also have no affect on wether the fish gets infected or not. Once on the fish, the nematocysts of the anomone will not have any affect on the parasite.

Cheers
Steve
 
Will anemones also be infected by ich? Can coco tube worms tolerate the low salinity 1.009? BTW how do I know if all ich parasites are killed? They are invisible unless some on the fishes scale, but what about those that are free flowing on the tank water? How to detect if there is any more left?
 
No invert would survive hyposalinity. The only thing that would live through the treatment is the fish and bacteria. Hyposalinity must be done in a seperate QT.

You will know the fish is better by it's behavour and outward appearance. The fish should remain in the QT for at least 4 weeks. You will not be able to see the parasite in the main tank and need to allow at least that minumum amount of time to pass for it to die naturally.

Cheers
Steve
 
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