Internal parasite treatment results

[Avalon]

That's a very interesting perspective you have revengeishere. I've always thought of garlic as a potential method and mode of treatment, and I highly regard garlic as a possible regiment. I'm very open to the possibilities of a garlic treatment. Seachem has a product available that supposedly enhances the immune system as well as the appetite. Both are of considerable worth in fishkeeping, as the vitality and general health of fish depend on them!

I'm one to look to scientific information for the facts, but I always have an open ear to anyone's success. Can you tell us more about how you use garlic? How do you prepare it? How much do you use (per gallon)? How long do you use it for? How do your fish respond to the garlic? Explain your results! I think everyone that keeps fish should be interested in what you have to say about garlic, so tell us more!

[revengeishere]

I'm glad you are open to it, avalon. Ive read the scientific facts about it, allicin, the active ingredient is reported to be effective agains gram negative and gram positive bacteria. I could also confirm that it might kill your nitrifying bacterias as Ive seen my display tank(When I added 4-8* cloves for the 75 gallon) hazy for a couple of days. But it was planted, so no worries about the ammonia/nitrite(But I didnt test, though.(I seldom test now, and if I do, only with ammonia).

Ok, This is what I did with my first case. My SAE had symptoms of internal bleeding, like I said. I took him out and since I didnt have a hospital tank then, I used a half gallon betta hex, and had it floating in the 75 gallon for temperature stability. I just basically took 1-2* cloves of garlic and chopped tham in half, and put them in with the SAE. I had him in there for 4-6 hours, I really dont remember how long, but im pretty sure it was between 4-6 hours, although I felt it would work better if I had a hospital tank, and left him in there for a couple of days, with garlic of course.

The next two days, I didnt do anything, and i really didnt have time to observe him, but he was swimming fine, and eating well. After the 3rd day, all the sypmtoms were gone. To this, I still have him with me.

The next instance I used garlic when one of my tiger barbs was looking pale, and had fin rot.There was nothing wrong with the tank, nor do the other tiger barbs. I took him out, and put him in the betta tank again, and added garlic. This time, he stayed there from the afternoon of the day had him in the tank, and somehow, overnight(while we were sleeping) he somehow managed to escape, and I thoguht he was long gone, jump out of the tank and got eaten by one of my 3 kittens. But voila! I counted the tiger barbs, and none was missing. I had trouble looking for the specific sick tiger barb, as he wasnt pale anymore, although, still needs to grow the fins back. As with the SAE, he is still with me and is now courting/dancing with the females, or flaring at the other males. These events happened 3 months ago.

just two weeks ago, I had a disaster, and accidentally siphoned too much water with a water change( I did about a 35% water change, but I usually do a 20%). I poured in the water, and one of the fish suffered, one of my other SAE, he had symptoms of ich or fungus, it was too early to tell, but none of the fish had any sort of symptoms. I could not catch him this time, so I just proceeded to add garlic in the whole tank. After about 2 days of waiting and swearing to be more careful next time, the symptoms cleared, and now, he is back to normal again.

Anyway, sorry this is too loooooong. I just wanted to share you guys every detail of what i did and how garlic helped me. I cannot gurantee this will work with everyone, and I'm no expert myself, I've only been in the hobby for 8 months now, and I have more experience with plants more than fish.

Ok, I'll stop now, and hope the borad lets me post this...lol

Note: Btw, I forgot to mention that I only used Raw garlic. I dont believe that processed garlic still retains its antibiotic properties. Ive read on a website that akkicin needs to react with garlics other raw ingredients in order to be effective, so crushed/chopped raw garlic is ideal. Also, some fish might even eat it, which is better!

[Lotus]

I found an interesting article about garlic's properties in relation to horses here: http://www.equinecentre.com.au/healt...s_garlic.shtml
And some information about treating fish with it here: http://www.geocities.com/shtinkythef...ses/garlic.htm
Maybe I will try some garlic-soaked food for my fish to see if they like it

[revengeishere]

Ohhh...thats the same references I used. There is also a seal rescue org. based in Canada that uses herbal remedies or what some might call as "alternative medicine". I think the link is www.sealrescue.org

[Lotus]

I tried feeding some of my fish a little garlic this morning. My drarf gourami has an injury and my betta is recovering from a little tail rot. Both of them chewed, spat then chewed and spat again. I guess I will be trying to soak bloodworms with garlic later to see if they eat it. Neither fish is in critical condition, but both could probably use an immune system boost.

Something else I read a while back suggested feeding live worm cultures with internal medicines then feeding to the fish. I'm not sure whether the medicine would lose potency this way, but I guess if you have a live culture going its worth trying.

[Somonas]

It would be interesting to see how this works for African cichlids.
I finished my last dose of Hexamita (metro) on Saturday, but I wont be able to do any waterchanges until Wednesday. The fish seem to be eating more now. it's hard to target feed big frisky cichlids in a 110gal. I just throw in a handful of pellets every 10 seconds and try not to get splashed
on wed after the wc I'll sit and watch the tank for a while and watch the fish poop. and see what it looks like

[pablo111]

Garlic. Thats seriously cool.

I have been feeding metro to an IP fish- a dwarf gourami.

I mix the powder from about 250mg of the stuff with about 25ml of water and shake the crap out of it then I soak brine shrimp in said water for 12 hours or more. It seems to be working after about 4 or 5 days of doing it every day.

I will try adding garlic to the mixture

[Lotus]

From what I read, you should only dose garlic OR medications. Maybe once you finish the medicine course, wait a day, then add garlic to the food.

My fish were happy to eat frozen bloodworms that had been soaked in garlic.

[jeanne]

This is fantastic! Thank so much for the great info so far; I love knowing more "organic" things one can do for a tank rather than treating the entire tank with things that might also kill the good bacteria. I'd like to add a couple of cloves of garlic to my 26g tank b/c I have one new ram that has a few tiny spots that could be ick, though it's too early to be sure, so I don't want to get aggressive.

My enthusiasm comes with a few questions: 1) Do I need to fish out the garlic after some amount of time so that it doesn't start to rot and add ammonia to the bioload? If so, what would that amount of time be? 2) Would you think it would be better to put the garlic through a garlic press, so the bits get really small, so that perhaps the fish could eat them, too? 3) If one didn't have a quarantine tank or were stocking slowly a first tank, would you recommend treating the tank with garlic for a short period of time after each new fish addition? If so, what would be your suggestion of amount of garlic/gallons of water?

Thanks so much for helping all of us keep healthier fish!

[Purple]

Another med that works for internal parasites is Hexamita by eSHa. Comes in liquid form which is handy if your fish aren't eating, and one bottle ($5) treats around 200 gallons. It also covers velvet and other fungal problems, and is effective against gillflukes.