Garlic

[smidoid]

Some people claim it works, others claim it's as effective as nailing water to windows. What's your take?

[leebca]

Hi Marc,

Welcome to the new Forum!

Claims of garlic has been around almost as long as garlic has. My ancestor, during the Bubonic Plague in Europe, claimed he didn't get the plague because he ate two handfuls of garlic cloves each day. My relatives said he didn't get the Plague because no one could/would get close enough to him to give it to him!

I began studying the effects of garlic during the early 1970's. I have seen garlic juice do the following:
Sometimes create a kind of frenzy in the fishes
Work as a weak antimicrobial agent, and
Guaranteed to keep vampires away.

Beyond the above, I have not shown it to increase a fish's appetite nor create an appetite where none existed. I have tried fresh garlic juice (has to be fresh to be of true value) on foods that fish have refused to eat, and which they still refuse to eat it with the garlic juice on it.

I have tested garlic juice in fish. The fish has to get it into their system to provide some of its antimicrobial value. Eating the garlic doesn't do the fish that much good because the stomach acids break it down and destroys the garlic juice proteins. But if the fish absorbs some in its mouth before it swallows it, it can provide a weak antimicrobial effect.

But the above information has been exaggerated by hobbyists who really want to find a miracle cure. You see, I wrote 'antimicrobial.' It isn't an antibiotic (so it doesn't kill bacteria outright in that sense). It isn't able to give the fish a defense against parasites (Marine Ich, Marine Velvet, Flukes, etc.) nor prevent their infection.

And the most misunderstood part of garlic juice is its affect on fish immunity. It has none. Garlic juice does not improve a fish's immunity. There has been no studies to show that the antibody titer increases with the use of garlic juice. Steven Pro has written a nice paper on this very (misunderstood) subject.

I make my own, since the shelf life of the good components of garlic juice is about 2 days. The garlic juice bought at your LFS may have vitamins mixed in that do help fish immunity and disease resistance, but the garlic juice active ingredients is seriously diminished or even gone and thus useless in any of the functions noted above.

It's interesting to note that the work with garlic juice has shown some affects with its ability to provide some antimicrobial effects, but you know how it is administered? By injection. It's like I wrote above, you have to get it into the fish without going through their stomach. How many of us will be injecting our fish with garlic juice?

Lastly, garlic juice does not cure any of the diseases some hobbyists have reported it does. These are anecdotal instances. There is no scientific evidence that garlic cures nor prevents any marine fish disease.

But. . .He makes his own? I do use it on new fishes in an attempt to get them to eat and reduce the microbe content of my quarantine tank. It is useless to try and do this in my display tank (too much water treatment that removes/destroys the proteins in the juice, like chemical filtration and skimming). With regards to getting fish to eat, I have yet to see it work in about 350+ cases. With regards to it being antimicrobial, I have no doubt.

Steven Pro''s article on the garlic myth: Garlic: What has been Studied Versus What has been Claimed by Steven Pro - Reefkeeping.com

[smidoid]

Thanks Lee. I've read Steven's paper on the web - I really just wanted confirmation that (for the most part) Garlic is snake oil. I think that Steven mentioned it was effective as a deworming agent, but as you say, the stuff that the LFS sell is just riding on the hype.

Funny you should mention the plague! My eldest is doing that at school this week and we were just researching the story (theory) of some guys chucking dead bodies into a village to infect the inhabitants. The story goes that the terrified villagers left in a big hurry and brought the plague by boat to Europe. Personally, I suspect it was the rats (OK, the bugs in the fleas, on the rats) from the seige boat and on the escaping vessell. Nice tale though.

Incidentally, I'm glad Scott gave you this new "domain". I can see it'll be useful!

[BubbaWPB]

I've tried garlic... I especially like it with shrimp. It's a bit strong for scallops but is absolutely necessary for snails. As far as fish are concerned, I prefer thyme and maybe a hint of onion.

[leebca]

WHEW! I passed the test!

I got some good info on another misunderstood set of meds -- Melafix and Pimafix when I was in Germany a couple of weeks ago. I'll post that shortly.

Have a great holiday weekend!

[The R/C Man]

Nicely stated....

I am always skeptical about the latested bandwagon cures. Especially when they lack scientific proof.

Thanks for the info.....

[John Hamilton]

I especially like it with shrimp.

A cockroach with SCUBA certs.

[BubbaWPB]

A cockroach with SCUBA certs.

Duh... I don't get it.

[Steven Pro]

I believe he is saying that a shrimp is a cockroach that can SCUBA.

[BubbaWPB]

OOOOOHHHH! Duh! I can be real dense at times....