This may have been done several times, but my powder blue tang has ick. After doing searching with this forum I save several posts on garlic in food. I think it would be easier to treat him in tank than th stress of chasing him in and out of the live rock. I have softies and snails so I am limited on tank treatments. How does the garlic treatment work and how long do you have to feed it, would this hurt and corals or snails? I never had ick in a salt water tank so this is new to me.
Ick and garlic
- Thread starter Tab64
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Even thought they make claims to be reef safe, in reality ther is no product that is reef safe. Trust me on this one. I put someting in my reef to kill cynobacteria and it caused my reef to crash killing everything in it's path just about. I do not believe there is any product that is reef safe.
As far as the garlic is concerned, I use garlic x-treme that I put into the food when I am feeding. I do this on a regular basis with all of my tanks weather they are saltwater or freshwater and my fish are very healthy. From what I have read and heard on this, the garlic makes some kind of repellant that the parasites do not like and cannot adhere to so they cannot stick to the host, that being the fish, and make them sick. I do not think that using garlic once the fish is already sick is going to be of much benifit. It would be in the best interest of the fish and your reef that you catch the sick fish and put him into quarentine where you can start a treatment for ich with hyposalinity or copper. You cannot use these methods safely in your reef because it will cause death for sure. If there are other fish in your reef, I would consider catching them too and putting them in quarentine too since if they are with the sick fish, they are probably sick too and need to be treated even if they are not showing any sympotoms at this time. I know. It is a pain to catch fish in a reef and it may require that you drain some of the tank and remove some of the live rock to accomplish this, but in the end it wil be worth it and you will not be putting your reef at risk.
Marinemom
As far as the garlic is concerned, I use garlic x-treme that I put into the food when I am feeding. I do this on a regular basis with all of my tanks weather they are saltwater or freshwater and my fish are very healthy. From what I have read and heard on this, the garlic makes some kind of repellant that the parasites do not like and cannot adhere to so they cannot stick to the host, that being the fish, and make them sick. I do not think that using garlic once the fish is already sick is going to be of much benifit. It would be in the best interest of the fish and your reef that you catch the sick fish and put him into quarentine where you can start a treatment for ich with hyposalinity or copper. You cannot use these methods safely in your reef because it will cause death for sure. If there are other fish in your reef, I would consider catching them too and putting them in quarentine too since if they are with the sick fish, they are probably sick too and need to be treated even if they are not showing any sympotoms at this time. I know. It is a pain to catch fish in a reef and it may require that you drain some of the tank and remove some of the live rock to accomplish this, but in the end it wil be worth it and you will not be putting your reef at risk.
Marinemom
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I'm sorry but I have to disagree with the above statement. There are 1000's of reasons a tank can crash. I will not get into them as to not start an arguement but I can tell you that garlic will help the fish's imune system therefore makeing it easier to battle ich. I know for a fact that ich-attack is reef safe I have used it several times and on ocassion at double strength as the bottle says you can. It will not harm your reef if you use it right in my opinion. But my best advise would be to get a qt tank and treat with garlic, a varied and healthy diet, and hypo-salinity.
Good luck,
Joe
Good luck,
Joe
He got the ick whenever he was stressed from my, moving items in the tank. It took longer than I thought it would, but doesn't it always. It seems to me ick is like a flu it is always there but hits when the fish's immunity is low. Hopefully if I can keep him calm and feed him garlic he may be able to get his resistance up. Should I turn the heat up, or on in my case, slightly in the tank? Right now it is maybe 80-82 in day a few few degrees cooler at night. If he does not show less spots a few days I will catch him and treat.
I am still maintaining that there are in reality no reef safe products on the market today that will not affect your reef in one way or another. It may be as little as killing off some of your good bacteria needed for the tanks long term survival or as bad as a tank crash or anywhere in between the two extremes. Any time you introduce a medicated product into your reef you are in essence putting your reef at risk and stressing all of the inhabitants including the corals and the inverts. Inverts especially seem to be at most risk on this one. I have had this drilled into my head and I am sure there are many here that will agree with me. NEVER TREAT IN THE MAIN TANK. It is just easier and safer if this is done in a quarentine set up. Put the sick little guy in a quarentine set up and start treatment right away before things get worse and you risk losing him.
Sorry I did not get back to you yesterday. I had a medical emergency.
Hope this helps and keep us updated on the progress of the sick fish.
Marinemmom
Sorry I did not get back to you yesterday. I had a medical emergency.
Hope this helps and keep us updated on the progress of the sick fish.
Marinemmom
Marinemmom I read your post on the "crash" you had. Having something like that happening would be very disheartening. I also had issue with the product on bleaching some of my leathers. I feel in my case it was a combo of factors, but I lost no reef mates or corals. I am glad your tank is back, and we do learn.
I fed him garlic laced frozen food last night he would not eat it that but he did eat regular food, so he may have gotten some while eating non-laced food. During the day the spots just about completely disappear and then reappear at night. So I think I will do a freshwater dip tonight. I have read the temp and the PH have to be the same, I have read anywhere between 3-10 minutes. I am more opted to the 3-5 area. I will also turn the heater on to stop the few degree drop at night. I have had this fish for about 5-6 years and this is the first ick he has gotten. He is a nice healthy fish and should pull out.
I fed him garlic laced frozen food last night he would not eat it that but he did eat regular food, so he may have gotten some while eating non-laced food. During the day the spots just about completely disappear and then reappear at night. So I think I will do a freshwater dip tonight. I have read the temp and the PH have to be the same, I have read anywhere between 3-10 minutes. I am more opted to the 3-5 area. I will also turn the heater on to stop the few degree drop at night. I have had this fish for about 5-6 years and this is the first ick he has gotten. He is a nice healthy fish and should pull out.
if i can add something..
Garlic should only really be used to boost your tankbuddies immune system.
I read this the other day. A scientist somewhere in the states did extensive testing. It doesnt cure Ick though. Try to use a liquid garlic form and soak some flakes in there, then feed it to the fish. they say that the liquid form is more exceptable by fish as its less odourous. Good luck im sure it'll pull through.
Garlic should only really be used to boost your tankbuddies immune system.
I read this the other day. A scientist somewhere in the states did extensive testing. It doesnt cure Ick though. Try to use a liquid garlic form and soak some flakes in there, then feed it to the fish. they say that the liquid form is more exceptable by fish as its less odourous. Good luck im sure it'll pull through.
On the freshwater dip, I would only leave him in there for three minutes and less if he appears stressed. You can always do it again the next day if you need to. From what you are saying that the spots come and go it sounds like it may be stress induced because of the temperature flucuation. I would advise keeping the heater on at night and during the day if necessary to keep the temperature consistent, thus reducing the stress on your fish. Tangs are ich magnets anyways and they will stress out over any little thing in thier enviroment that they do not like.
Good luck with him. If you have had him for five to six years I bet he is beautiful.
Marinemom
Good luck with him. If you have had him for five to six years I bet he is beautiful.
Marinemom