Feeding Garlic

Ems

Ems

Betta lover!
Jan 4, 2005
1,140
6
38
39
British Columbia
Hello!
We have lost several fish (6 german blue rams and 1 scalare angel) due to an internal parasite.
I finally got some garlic and read that you should crush it and feed it to them.
How much should I feed, and should I just do it one time?
Only one Angelfish seems to be showing symptoms, but in the tank I have:
90 gallons
2 Scalare Angels
6 neon tetras
5 female 1 male endlers
5 black neons
10 pygmy cories
2 blackskirt tetras
2 bronze cories
3 yoyo loaches
1 large clown loach
1 rubberlip
and numerous endler fry in the bottom sump tank.
Thanks for your replies.
 
I've personally never heard of this. Are you sure it's an internal parasite? Angels and rams are often quite sensitive to low temps, pH swings, ammonia (even at trace levels). Check all of your water paramaters daily for the next few days.

If you're sure about the parasite (or want to be cautious) look for medicated food specifically for parasites. Most pet shops carry it. Used to be called "PepsoFood" but not sure it's still called that.
 
I tried this with my swordtails who had become infected with worms (thats what i get for not q'ting new plants) Since I'm in the process of moving and these were my breeder females I didn't want to use medicine and stress them even more, so I was up for trying garlic. Well, the fish just spit out regularly crushed garlic. So, I soaked my fish flakes in crushed garlic and they ate that and I put some sliced garlic in the HOB filter. Couple hours later saw the little devils evacuating. All I could think of was, how can such a long worm fit in a fish that size? I did this for a week just to be sure and replaced the garlic in the filter daily. Seems to have worked, no more stringy poop or worms hanging out. Jack Wattley, the famous discus breeder, swears that garlic helps his fish too. HTH
 
Wow.....awesome experience to share! :cool2: Thanks for the insight!
 
ems how do you buffer your water most of abby has extremely soft water. Don't forget about the chloramine too. :(
 
Last edited:
TONO said:
ems how do you buffer your water most of abby has extremely soft water. Don't forget about the chloramine too. :(
Click to expand...

I don't use abby water. thanks though.


thanks for the replies... yes im sure its internal parasites.
we tried soaking food in crushed garlic.. fish seemed to enjoy it.
we'll see how everything goes!
 
I lost an angel a couple of months ago for no apparent reason and was told that angels are more susceptible to internal parasites. It was suggested to me to buy a jar of minced garlic. Soak your food in a little tank water and just a couple of drops of the garlic juice to get them used to the taste. Continue to increase the amount of garlic until you are soaking the food in just garlic juice and include the minced pieces. I was told they will love it so much, they will actually eat the garlic pieces before the actual food! I have also been told that fish that are routinely fed garlic like this also are less susceptible to ick because the angels don't "taste good" when they try and latch onto them. :o
 
helpful advice. i'll remember that.
does anyone know the side effect for adding garlic to a tank? i.e. does it effect the water quality or ph in anyway?
 
Doesn't effect Ph. I only did a water change every 3 days when I added it to my tank. Most I siphoned up when I did a gravel vac. I don't think they ate alot of it. Makes your room smell like garlic though. bu day 3 when I did a water change it was starting to soften up a little, but it didn't trigger any spikes.
 
I like to change it every day when I use it. Garlic is cheap and it turns into a very snotty goo if left in too long.
 
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