Garlic

[timrandlerv10]

who uses garlic or other food supplements?

i picked up some garlic drops on saturday, and i was wondering if anyone had any tips.

i already know the easy one, which is dont get any on your desk, because it smells like garlic all day. really strong garlic. all day.


i defrosted some of my frozen mix, added some tank water, then put in two drops of garlic and mixed it up, then turkey bastered it into the tank.

 

[dave3112]

I have used it before but I just used the liquid from the jar of minced garlic I buy at the grocery store. What I would do was buy frozen brine, mysis and emerald bites( the green frozen food in the cubes) let them defrost in the fridge and mix it up with a table spoon of the garlic liquid. Them put the mixture in small waterbottle ice cube trays and re-freeze them in a ziplock bag and use as needed.

I never noticed any detrimental effects and the tank never got ich again.

Dave

 

[NicoleC]

Despite exaggerated manufacturers claims, there little evidence to back up any of the claims about garlic. Steven Pro wrote a good article some time ago:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/sp/index.php

Garlic is - probably - pretty harmless. That can't be said for much of the junk bottled up, given a splashy label and sold to hobbyists.

The real questions to be addressed whenever you consider adding something to the tank (or removing from) are:

What benefit do you expect to see?
Is this desired benefit supported by real evidence?
Does the benefit outweigh the potential harm?
And, is there a more effective or proven way to get that desired benefit?

 

[timrandlerv10]

What benefit do you expect to see?
general health
Is this desired benefit supported by real evidence?
i have no idea...i just keep listening to about six people...
Does the benefit outweigh the potential harm?
i think you told me it was, but i had a splashy label
And, is there a more effective or proven way to get that desired benefit?
let me mirror that to you: what is the most effective way to help supplement my fishes diet to encourage good health and longevity?

by the way, you're one of the six

while you're typing, feel free to throw out tank planning tips when we want to have mandarins...

 

[wpecoul]

Don't know about its efficacy as an appetite enhancement or miracle cure, but wasn't there an article somewhere recently (maybe by Eric B.) that detailed his tests of crushed garlic and extract as a paracide, specifically directed at undesirable nudibranchs?

 

[Tomoko Schum]

I read that article by Eric Borneman in the last month issue of Reefkeeping online magazine. He cited only a couple of commercial garlic preparations that contain allicin as effective molluscicides/monti eating nudi killer. He consider other garlic products to be pretty ineffective/useless. You can also crush a fresh clove of garlic and wait 10 to 15 minutes for the enzyme alliinase to convert precursor alliin into allicin.

I find good water quality and good food to be the effective way to promote health of our fish. I hardly ever use any supplement like garlic, iodine, etc., but my fish seem very healthy. Only when I supplement (with vodka), my sensitive fish dies on me (I wish my foxface was one of them )

Tim, you are obsessed about the virtually invisible fish, lol. They are hidden most of the time in a large tank that can support them (with a lot of rocks with nooks and crannies), but if you must have them, I'd plan on a good size refugium and periodically supplementing the tank with copepods. Also look for one that eats frozen food. Pete told me about this huge blue male mandarin that one of his customers has. He asked his customer what she feeds it. She said "watch" and threw some flake food into her tank. To his amazement, the first one to get to the floating fish food was the mandarin, shooting out of the depth of her big deep tank. Somehow she got the darn fish trained like a puppy coming for a treat. I need to find out how she did it so I can do that with my mandarins, too

Tomoko

 

[NicoleC]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10936996#post10936996 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by timrandlerv10
What benefit do you expect to see?
general health
Is this desired benefit supported by real evidence?
i have no idea...i just keep listening to about six people...
Does the benefit outweigh the potential harm?
i think you told me it was, but i had a splashy label
And, is there a more effective or proven way to get that desired benefit?
let me mirror that to you: what is the most effective way to help supplement my fishes diet to encourage good health and longevity?

by the way, you're one of the six

Then this is the perfect occasion to be a reminder that just because a lot of people say something doesn't mean it's true. And any or all of them could have good intentions but still be wrong when they say it, and they will hopefully correct themselves later when they find out.

One thing about reef keeping: you are going to be wrong in the hobby a LOT. Often about the same things over and over. It would be a heck of a lot easier to be "right" if there was one single answer.

I may very well have advocated garlic to you at one point because I did used to use it as a component of my home reef food brew... pretty much for the same reason you cited. "Well, a bunch of people say its good." A slap on the wrist for me.

How to keep your animals healthy: quarantine ruthlessly, feed them a high quality diet that mimics as closely as possible their natural foods, maintain water quality and parameters which mimic their natural environment and create a low stress environment which fulfills their biological needs. Which means research, of course, for each animal and either committing to a biotope or species tank or finding some happy medium, if possible, that is within acceptable parameters for all inhabitants.

And re-research periodically as new information is available. Because you are going to be wrong.

 

[Bignasty1]

Garlic was suggested to me this past weekend as a solution for a picky angel that never eats anything I tried to feed it. I will say in the last few days it has actually eaten when I feed.

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Bass anglers seem to believe in garlic extract as fish attractant. Reilly has a few bottles of the stuff. I don't know if it is really effective since I don't get to see the evidence. Sportsman fishing...

Tomoko

 

[dave3112]

timrandlerv10,

I have used garlic liquid from the jar that I use to cook with for about 2 years or more and have not noticed any adverse effects to the tank. Corals, clams fish or anything. I used it as a paracide for my tangs. They used to get ich ALOT and once I started using it they didn't get it anymore. I have never had a problem with fish eating so it wasn't used as an attractant. That is just my PERSONAL experience with garlic. But as we all in this hobby, or is it actually a lifestyle, know that what one person experiences may not be the same as someone else.

Tomoko,

There was an article in FAMA a few months back about how to "train" picky eaters to eat. I will have to look through the back issues and get back with you.

Just my 2 cents,

Dave

 

[Tomoko Schum]

If you can train small mouth bass to eat Reilly's lures, I am sure he'd be thrilled

Tomoko

 

[kiran523]

As far as training picky eaters goes, hands down the best reaction I have gotten has been with Reef Chili. I use a sea squirt for feeding and most of the time my fish and arrow crab try to latch onto the tip like a bottle. I use it alone with Selcon or I make a mixture of Selcon, Reef Chili, a little cyclopeeze, and brine or mysis that feeds the whole tanks. Phillip was surprised to see that a very nice Red ball sponge of mine was surviving but it's been over 3 months and it looks better than compared to when I bought it. I can only attribute that to the reef chili since it does state it has food down to the very fine micron density all the way up. The funny thing is that the owner of Sharkys.com (Reef chili, two part solution.com) doesn't use his own product in his tanks (as of a month or two ago as far as I know). Go figure.

 

[8BALL_99]

I use it.. I started along time ago when I had a picky eater. As far as exactly what all it does.. Heck if I know. Fish seem to like it.. It did help me get two different eels to eat peices of shrimp from a stick.. I also used it to do the same with my Peacock Mantis. IME at the very least fish and other critters seem to really like it. I love steak and garlic.. I let my dogs eat left over steak might as well let my fish have Garlic.. Its only fair..

 

[H@rry]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10947664#post10947664 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 8BALL_99
I let my dogs eat left over steak

What's left over steak?

 

[Nitroq2]

LMAO I am with H@rry! You have left over steak? It might get left over from one meal to the next but the dogs had better hope I drop one from the grill.

 

[kg4izw]

I use garlic about once a month, fresh from the clove. I got a tip a while back and hey, it does not hurt. As far as a nutritional supplement, I'm not so sure. I use Selcon for that.

 

[mltmtascp]

We fed out tang garlic because he was scratching against the rock. It seem to make him healthier and he quit scratching.