I don't understand why everyone gets worked up over this. It is a matter of opinion and an opinion only of another person of something that worked for them. If it works for one great:) If it doesn't for another so be it.

I believe garlic keeps my family healthy. They have a tablet everyday and we rarely get a cold or anything else for that matter. Is it the garlic? Or just because they eat we'll and wash there hands( i hope the kids do...lol) Who knows. But again it is a belief and i will give the tablet everyday for if it is the garlic i do not want 3 sick kids.

The same goes with our fish. We give them garlic in there food with the thought that it keeps them healthy and ick free. If it shows to work why would you take that chance to stop it to find out that you now have a tank full of ick infested fish.

Let other people make there own decisions and not get criticized for that. What one believes in 9 times out of 10 is not what others believe in.

My 2 cent's
Does feeding garlic wipe ich out of your tank? I highly doubt it.
Does it seem to help your fish fight it off. Sure seems like it.

I'm no scientist but from what I've experienced it defiantly seems to help.
Yes I have Ich living in my tank, even as I speak the little buggers are creeping around waiting for a opportunity.
let the water quality go a little south, rearrange the rock work.
Anything that stress's out my fish and all of a sudden they got it.
Add garlic into their diet for a week or so and it's gone.

I've had an Aquarium shop for 33 years and use garlic everyday mixed with flake and frozen foods. Mostly for marine but also on clown loach and other scaleless freshwater.

i dono why this seemed upset people
i just thought i would explain how this chemical works

i can give you step by step enzymatic and immunological breakdown of how garlics chemicals produce a antimicrobial effect but for most people it wouldn't make sense.
the fact is that garlic has these property's and whether its humans, dogs, insects or fish. it works at a certain biological level that wards off and or cures fungus or parasites or bacterial diseases.

i thought i would explain how it works
so people understand what chemicals are present and
why it has this effect.

just because tetracycline works for one person with a sore throat
dose not mean its going to work for someone else:)
and it dose not mean it isn't an antibiotic

Lets just say in some instances garlic has seemed to help some poeple and others not. If you have ich then theres not much to lose by trying to resolve the problem with garlic. In my own experiance it has helped but... If you set two tanks up side by side, and kept everything the same I'm sure the two tanks would still not be exactly the same. I would not say it is a cure but maybe an aid for healing in some instances.

thanks skimmin thats a good idea:)

Everybody go read Albert's link, twice. This should give you a better understanding of why this is a difficult question to answer.

Crushed garlic (delivering allin) has been used for thousands of years to dress wounds and it does help prevent infection, no question. It can not have anything to do with destroying ich through feeding, it would have to be applied topically. I believe Allin is too reactive and breaks down too fast to be delivered through the gut. It's not a good systemic medication, discard this idea completely.

Fresh garlic and a variety of garlic extracts have been shown to have some effect on the immune system. At present nobody has a full understanding of the mechanics. It is this idea that supports the idea of garlic being an effective treatment for ich. Immune boosters, anti oxidants etc. Think things like echinacia and Cold FX.

I don't know how sold I am on the idea that this works, I don't recommend it to people but I don't think it hurts anything either. A healthy fish that isn't being stressed in some way or exposed to an infected tankmate isn't going to have issues with ich. Even notorious ich "magnets" like powder tangs don't start showing symptoms for no reason. If you start seeing it, first fix the problem then fix the ich.

I don't use garlic because I have a variety of other methods at my quick disposal. IME nothing works on ich like hyposalinity.

One other thing I should note. It is possible that either fresh garlic or some extract products have an effect on certain internal (gut) parasitic conditions. There is some evidence to support the idea and I've found it to be somewhat effective with fresh garlic (allin). Some foods and garlic preparations also could be effective, others have had success.

Thank you
 

Reef Kid,

Thanks for posting this topic it was very interesting and I always apreciate when people try to explain how things work.

I laughed really hard going through the whole text. Its actually really funny if you read it fresh from the beggining. People are weird.

Thanks again,

Jon.

What is the best way to feed the garlic to the fish?