garlic??? ich!!!!! is that a fact?!?

bandr1002

hey all new to the site, and the hobby. my name is christian and i have a 60 gal fowlr that had an outbreak of ich. i have been reading the forums on the subject and know that a qt tank is best. I however, do not have a qt tank setup yet due to financial reasons. Does garlic actually help? I have been using a product called kick ich and i am not sure if it is even doing what it should. I have had to take out the carbon filters (emperor bio wheel) and shut off my pro skimmer as directed by the kick ich. still doing regular water changes. I am not really thrilled about having to shut down all of the mechanics of my tank. the only fish who has the spots is my royal gramma. i also have one clown, one six lined wrasse, one filament wrasse, two cleaner shrimp (hard working), one diamond watchman goby, one starry blenny, and one alans damsil.

like i said it apears that the royal g is all that is affected by the attack, but if you all could tell me what other copper free meds are out there that work and if garlic actually does work, that would be most appreciated!!!

thanks all btw this site live rocks!!!!

las4444

I have used kick-ich and had success. How long into the treatment are you? You MUST dose per the instructions. I saw the most improvement close to the end of the treatment. The good sign was when the ich stopped getting worse after a few days.

Garlic may not necessarily rid the ich but help the fish keep healthy. I only use fresh garlic and mince it up to very fine pieces. I feed this to the fish BEFORE they get their normal food. They will eat most of it. One must remember that garlic is a very potent herb. Be careful not give the fish too much. A couple pieces the size of frozen mysis shrimp(1/8") each day per fish. Even when the fish are healthy, I try to do this one feeding once a week.

Good luck and finish the kick-ich treatment by the book.

bandr1002

thanks for the reply,, i am nearly finished with the kick ich. tomorrow is my last dose then i am going to wait a few days and do a water change. its just that it almost looks worse than it did when i started. worried, i guess.

las4444

Kick-ich does say that severe cases may require a second run at it if I remember. My sailfin tang was riddled with spots so I treated it like a sever case. My only suggestion is perform a water change and hit it one more time. IMO I would let a fish die before putting copper in a display tank. I do not have a hospital tank either. So I play the hand I'm given.

One more thing, I ran my SG to 1.018 during the treatment and kept a steady 78 F. Ich with a SG closer to 1.025 will be harder to rid. However, If you plan on hyper-salinity you really need to be using a refractometer for the needed accuracy.

Finally, a photo would really help. It may not be the common ich at all.

bandr1002

in regards to a photo, i will post one this eve. in regards to sg, fresh water ich lives with no salt is saltwater ich a diff species all together??

Nereaga

Yes Marine Ich is very different from FW Ich. Fw Ich is way easier to rid than that of Marine.....

Garlic will not kill it, it will help boost the immune systems of fish, so that it can try and fight the infection itself. Most of the time this does work, but for severely infected fish, treatment is needed....

Good Luck

Brad

bandr1002

Royal Gramma... The white spots did not show up this morning. Hoping the kick ich finally worked. Today is the last treatment, so I guess we will soon find out.