What About Garlic???

[Ninong]

Having observed what appeared to be a positive correlation between adding freshly minced garlic to the fishes' diet and the disappearance of visible signs of Cryptocaryon irritans trophonts, I searched the medical literature to see if there was any possible explanation for this based on studies that have been done on the effects of garlic on human health. I posted the following a few years ago in another thread. All of the information relating to human health I copied verbatim from a British medical journal.

I think that if you are going to feed garlic to your fish, it is better to use fresh garlic cloves that you yourself finely mince or crush just prior to feeding.

A few years back Horge wrote a nice article on the possible benefits to be obtained by feeding garlic. He pointed out that the active ingredient in garlic is allicin. He also mentioned that freshly minced garlic cloves would be more effective than garlic extract or commercially available chopped or crushed garlic in a jar. I believe he said that this was because of the short "shelf life" of allicin, if I remember correctly. He also pointed out that the fish would have to consume a large quantity of the garlic to ingest a sufficient dosage of allicin to be therapeutically significant.

Anyway, a couple of years after reading that article, I successfully fought off an outbreak of ich in my aquarium by feeding the fish freshly minced garlic three times a day for about five or six weeks straight. I used fresh garlic cloves that I chopped over and over again until they were practically mush. My ich was imported on a Coral Beauty Angelfish (Centropyge bispinosa) that I thought was ich-free when I purchased it. Since I had only five relatively small fish in my aquarium at the time, I fed only about 1/4 tsp of finely minced garlic three times a day.

Since then I have done additional research on garlic to see if I could find anything to explain it's effect. I was about to say to support Horge's claims but he didn't actually make any claims as such. In fact, he was careful to point out that no scientific research has been conducted on the effects of garlic on Cryptocaryon irritans. If it is effective -- and I believe that it sometimes is -- we don't know for sure why it is effective. Does it interfere with the parasite's ability to locate the host fish? Does eating garlic make the host fish "unattractive" to the parasite? Does eating garlic cause the parasite to disengage from the host fish prior to maturity? Does consumption of garlic by the host fish somehow affect the parasite's ability to successfully complete it's life cycle?

We know for a fact that garlic has some beneficial applications in human medicine because it has been researched extensively. A review of some of those applications led me to discover that the biologically active allicin molecule is created when the garlic is crushed or minced. Alliin is the name given to the amino acid that is present in large quantities in garlic cloves. Alliin is the stable precursor to allicin. Alliin is transformed into allicin when garlic is crushed. The enzyme responsible for this transformation is allinase, which is present in garlic cloves in large amounts (10% of the total protein content -- 10mg/g fresh weight). This transformation takes place within a matter of seconds. There are some commercial processes that transform allicin into a stable powder or extract but I think that best results for our purposes are obtained by feeding freshly minced (crushed) garlic to the fish. My fish seemed to think it was a special treat. I was surprised that they actually ate it. Again, I think it is better to prepare the minced garlic yourself from fresh garlic cloves just before each feeding.

Here is some additional background that I copied from the medical literature. I didn't copy any of the charts or graphs and I left out the current laboratory studies but I think it will give you some good food for thought. A review of this literature has led me to believe that it is quite possible that freshly minced garlic could have as yet unexplained beneficial results when fed to fish.

Garlic cloves are odor-free until crushed or processed when garlic supplements are manufactured and cross-section studies have indicated that the substrate alliin and the enzyme allinase are located in different compartments. This unique organization suggests that it is designed as a potential defense mechanism against microbial pathogens in the soil. Invasion of the cloves by fungi and other soil pathogens causes the interaction between alliin and allinase that rapidly produces allicin and which in turn inactivates the invader. The reactive allicin molecules produced have a very short half-life, as they react with many of the surrounding proteins, including the allinase enzyme, making it into a quasi-suicidal enzyme.

This very efficient organization ensures that the clove defense mechanism is only activated in a very small location and for a short period of time, whereas the rest of the alliin and allinase remain preserved in their respective compartments and are available for interaction in case of subsequent microbial attacks.

Successful clinical use of garlic for treating elevated blood pressure and arteriosclerosis has been known since the early part of this century (20th century). It has been reported that regular garlic intake causes both a prolonged lowering of hypertension and an improved sense of well-being in patients. As early as 1928, definite blood pressure decreases were achieved as well as increases in productive heart power with garlic therapy, not only in older patients, but also in younger hypertonic patients.

It is also well established that garlic extracts, in particular the powders can show a significant anti-cholesterol activity. A 12 week study comparing the effect of standardised garlic powder tablets (900mg daily) with that of bezafibrate (600mg daily), one of the most commonly prescribed blood lipid-lowering drugs until the advent of the statins, has also been conducted. The multi-centre, double-blind study was performed with 94 patients having cholesterol and/or triglyceride values exceeding 250mg/dL. After 4 weeks of treatment, the decreases in cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglyceride levels were all statistically highly significant, and there were no differences between the effects of garlic and bezafibrate. HDL cholesterol values in the course of 4 weeks also increased significantly, again without any differences between the two regimens.

The antibacterial properties of crushed garlic have been known for a long time. Various garlic preparations have been shown to exhibit a wide spectrum of antibacterial activity against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria including species of Escherichia, Salmonella, Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Klebsiella, Proteus, Bacillus, and C!ostridium. Even acid-fast bacteria such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis are sensitive to garlic. Garlic extracts are also effective against Helicobacter pylori the cause of gastric ulcers. Garlic extracts can also prevent the formation of Staphylococcus enterotoxins A, B, and C1 and also thermonuclease. Cavalito and Bailey were the first to demonstrate that the antibacterial action of garlic is mainly due to allicin. The sensitivity of various bacterial and clinical isolates to pure preparations of allicin is very significant. The antibacterial effect of allicin is of a broad spectrum. In most cases the 50% lethal dose concentrations were somewhat higher than those required for some of the newer antibiotics. Interestingly, various bacterial strains resistant to antibiotics such as methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus as well as other multidrug-resistant enterotoxicogenic strains of Escherichia coli, Enterococcus, Shigella dysenteriae, S. flexneni, and S. sonnei cells were all found to be sensitive to allicin.

Most recently the University of East London have shown that aqueous extracts of allicin when formulated into a simple cream are able to kill vast swathes of the so called "superbug" MRSA (methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus). This nasty bacterium is forever changing its structure and developing resistance to many pharmaceutical antibiotics. This may have a significant effect on people who suffer from skin diseases such as eczema and acne as this bacterium is 6 to 7 times more likely to colonise these patients.

There is a growing body of evidence that garlic may have significant enhancing effects on the immune system. While most of the work has been conducted on animals or in vitro, the human studies that have been conducted are encouraging.

Preliminary studies in humans, using an alliin standardised garlic powder preparation, have demonstrated positive effects on immunoreactions and phagocytosis. In geriatric subjects, the administration of 600mg garlic powder per day for 3 months induced significant (p<0.01) increases in the percentage of phagocytosing peripheral granulocytes and monocytes when tested ex vivo for their ability to engulf Escherichia coli bacteria. The cell counts of lymphocyte cell sub-populations were also increased. Another human study was conducted with an unrefined garlic extract (5-10 g/day) which was given to AIDS patients. For the seven patients who completed the 12-week study, there was a major increase in the percent natural killer cell activity from a seriously low mean value of 5+-4% to a more normal mean value of 36+-15%.

The biological activity of allicin extracted from fresh garlic is thought to be related to a combination of factors:

1. its activity as an antioxidant

2. its ability to attack the sulphur (SH) groups in enzymes and proteins and modify their activities and

3. its ability to rapidly penetrate into cells through the cell membranes.

Allicin has a number of beneficial properties, which could act together to enhance the body's response to disease. Published laboratory studies have found that allicin:

>Enhances the activity of phagocytic cells

>Enhances the activity of natural killer cells

>Inhibits the growth of pathogenic micro-organisms

>Inhibits the growth of certain cancer cells

One of the main problems with laboratory studies has been the purity of the extracts used, only recently has a purified, natural, stable extract of allicin become available for testing. Recent studies in our own laboratory have confirmed the antibacterial activity of this purified allicin extract against a number of different bacteria including multiple antibiotic resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Clinical trials with this substance are currently underway.

[sober_pollock]

Ninong:

Thank you very much, very informative, I'll be reading this several times over!

[Ninong]

Just don't read too much into it. It's meant as food for thought, nothing more. I chose my words very carefully.

The only proven methods hobbyists have for dealing with marine ich are hyposalinity and copper. I think hyposalinity is the better choice. And the main display tank must remain fallow (fishless) for a minimum of six weeks but three months is better.

[Doodaa]

Very nice write-up!

Alliin is transformed into allicin when garlic is crushed.

Would the "chewing" of the fish do this? Wondering if you can feed your fish larger pieces and the let the them grind it up themselves to possibly give them more benifit of the allicin.

I have not tried this myself. Luckily I haven't had to deal with marine ich (yet). I notice a lot of foods claim to have garlic included. Since the shelf life of allicin is short, it doesn't seem that they would be benificial in that sense.

Also there is on other HUGE benifit of garlic that most people neglect to mention. Maybe because they forget, maybe because they are superstitious, but garlic has long been known to keep vampires away!

[Seige]

Ninong,

Are you aware of any side effects? Since the fish seemed to like it so much I'm just wondering if it would be possible to add garlic mush to the diet for all new fish and maybe periodicly in the main tank.

[Ninong]

Would the "chewing" of the fish do this? Wondering if you can feed your fish larger pieces and the let the them grind it up themselves to possibly give them more benifit of the allicin.

The pieces of garlic have to be the right size for your fish, which is true of any food. My three fairy wrasses and my orchid dottyback were all zooplanktivores. They eat tiny pieces of food. Only the foxface rabbitfish and the coral beauty angelfish could have eaten slightly larger pieces.

In any case, if you mince fresh garlic just before each feeding you are achieving your goal. Every time I minced a clove of garlic, I threw more than half of it away, unless it was a very small clove. I used a level 1/4 tsp of finely minced garlic that I added to the regular food in about 1/4 cup of tankwater. I usually added two drops of Selcon, too. I allowed that to soak for 10 to 15 minutes before feeding it. That's a lot of garlic for a total of only six fish. If I knew that I was going to feed more than twice on any particular day, I would reduce the garlic to maybe 1/8 tsp per feeding.

I notice a lot of foods claim to have garlic included. Since the shelf life of allicin is short, it doesn't seem that they would be benificial in that sense.

Perhaps they are using one of the methods I wrote about in my initial post to produce stable extracts?

P.S. -- In my particular case, I noticed ich trophonts on the coral beauty and the foxface about two or three days after adding the coral beauty to the tank. Within 48 hours, five of the six fish showed visible signs of ich. Only the orchid dottyback didn't. He never did.

All of the fish showed improvement after about 72 hours of feeding garlic. If they hadn't I would have had to move to plan B (setting up a QT). The number of visible trophonts peaked about three days after initial sighting (which was three days after the start of garlic because I began it immediately) and then declined. There were no visible signs of trophonts seven days after initial sighting.

I continued to feed garlic for about another two weeks. Then I stopped. That, of course, was a big mistake and I should have known better. I think I just got tired of chopping garlic two and three times a day. After a period of about two weeks with no visible trophonts, they returned. I noticed two or three on a couple of fish.

I resumed feeding garlic and this time I continued for another five or six weeks. Once I resumed feeding garlic, the visible trophonts disappeared within 24-48 hours. There were no visible signs of trophonts after that and I had the tank set up for another two years before selling it. Another point that should be considered is that I did not add any more fish after that.

There are several explanations for what I observed. I can think of at least three or four myself. I cannot prove one way or the other whether the parasite was completely gone from my system. I believe it was but since I never added another fish, I don't really know if all six fish might have been harboring very small populations of ich trophonts in their gills where I couldn't see them, thus allowing the parasite to keep its life cycle going. I seriously doubt that but I can't prove it.

If you read the initial post, I'm sure you can think of at least three explanations yourself. I know I can. I just don't know if any of them have merit. I believe they do but, if they do, I have no way of knowing which one is the correct one.

[Ninong]

Ninong,

Are you aware of any side effects? Since the fish seemed to like it so much I'm just wondering if it would be possible to add garlic mush to the diet for all new fish and maybe periodicly in the main tank.

There are no side effects that I know of to feeding garlic to fish. A possible side effect to feeding anything to your tank, if fed in excess, is that the extra nutrients will fuel nuisance algae. I never had problems with the usual nuisance algae or cyanobacteria in my tank. I did have a problem with an unknown red turf alga that I finally got rid of after several months. To this day I'm not sure exactly which species it was or exactly how I got rid of it, although I tried everything.

I continued to add a tiny amount of freshly minced garlic probably once a week. The Ocean Nutrition flake food that was one of the components of my extremely varied selection of fish foods claimed to contain 2% garlic. They started adding garlic in 2004 or 2005.

I usually fed frozen foods at least once a day. Usually either the SF Bay Brand frozen mysis shrimp or one of the various Ocean Nutrition frozen concoctions. I thawed those in about 1/4 cup of tankwater. It didn't take long because my tankwater was always around 83-85 F. I usually added one or two drops of Selcon. I also fed freeze dried Cyclop-Eez that had to be soaked in water for several minutes before feeding so that they wouldn't all float on the surface. Whenever I wanted to add a little minced garlic, I used only freshly minced garlic that I chopped myself into very tiny pieces and I added that to the soaking food.

And, since I had a foxface rabbitfish in my tank, I fed a small piece (2"x2") of Ocean Nutrition's seaweed product daily with a "lettuce" clip. That was always gone within an hour or two.

[metalhead]

Time to put your Garlic theory to the test Ninong... My tang has the Ich

I'm going to try the garlic treatment you describe first since I havent been able to get him out of the tank. Every time he sees the net he goes deep in the rocks and stays there.

If I don't see any improvement in two weeks or so I'll break the tank down and quarantine. After reading your post though I am curious to say the least. I'll let you know how it goes and thanks for sharing.

[Ninong]

Here are a few important points to remember:

• Originally, I stopped too soon.
• You should continue non-stop for five weeks, even if you don't see any visible signs of ich.
• The garlic must be freshly minced just before each feeding.
• You should soak the freshly minced garlic with the food for 15 minutes.
• All of my fish actually ate the tiny pieces of garlic. That surprised me.
• I fed two or three times a day with garlic every time.
• I started my garlic feedings immediately upon seeing the first signs of ich.
• I would have stopped feeding garlic and gone to more traditional methods (a separate hospital tank) if the ich had not shown signs of dissipating within the first three or four days.

Good luck and let us know what happens. I have been told by many, many people that this is witchcraft but it actually worked in my situation. Maybe it will work for you.



P.S. -- The reason you have to continue feeding garlic for five weeks after the last visible sign of any trophonts on the fish has to do with the life cycle of the Cryptocaryon irritans parasite.

It's a big PITA to have to mince fresh garlic just before each feeding but this step is extremely important. Do not mince a batch in advance and then store it in the refrigerator for two or three days. It's okay if you can only feed twice a day but you must start with a fresh clove of garlic each time. One clove is almost certainly going to be too much, just discard the rest. Do not save it for next time. For my 120-gal tank with only five fish, I used probably 1/4 teaspoon of finely minced garlic for each feeding. Adjust this quantity based on the size of your tank and the number and size of the fish. This is a judgment call on your part.

And, just to be extremely clear on this, you must use fresh garlic, not garlic that came in a jar. You should chop it over and over again until the pieces are extremely tiny. That results in more of the active ingredient being released. Soak with the food for 15 minutes in a quarter cup to a half cup of water (either tankwater or R.O./D.I. water) and then pour everything into the tank. I believe I also added a drop or two of Selcon most of the time.

I truly believe that every one of the points I listed above are very important. For example, ALL of my fish actually ate the garlic. That might be a significant point. If a single fish rejects the garlic, perhaps the parasite will be attracted to that fish?

[metalhead]

Well it was two weeks last Thursday since I started the garlic treatment and so far it appears to be working very well. I have not seen an outbreak since day 3 of the treatment though there are still some visible spots around Herbie's face but those seem to be improving as well.

A couple of variations here Ninong from the method you described...

My tang (Herbie) will not eat the garlic straight so, after the 4th day, instead of mincing up to mush I simply started crushing the clove as hard as possible then putting it in a cup of tank water immediately with some flake food. I then let it soak for an hour or so before administering to the tank several times over the next few hours. Crushing the garlic like this really seems to get the juice out and I try to preserve as much of this juice as possible when I transfer it to the feeding cup.

I'll keep you posted in the following weeks. I am very optimistic at this point to say the least!

Thanks Ninong for your help with this and everything else.

[metalhead]

OK, week three (or is it 4) update a few days late but what did you expect, really?

Herbie is doing great!!!

No visible signs of Ich, even the spots around his face/gills are now gone.

I hate to get too excited but this is just too cool!

More updates in the days and weeks to come...

I plan on continuing the treatment for at least 6 weeks...

I may just keep the local garlic farmers in business and do this indefinitely!

[metalhead]

Week 5... All signs point to cured!!!

[Ninong]

You might want to continue feeding garlic at least once or twice a week from now on. That's what I did. I figured it couldn't hurt anything and the fish seemed to like it.

If you use a large clove of garlic and you only need half of it, it's okay to save the other half wrapped in plastic cling wrap in the refrigerator for a couple of days. Just don't chop it up in advance. It's important to chop it up just before using it.



P.S. -- I think I stored it mainly from one feeding to the next the same day or the following day. I'm not sure if I ever stored it more than a day. Anyway, I do remember storing half a clove sometimes because sometimes the whole clove was more than I needed for one feeding. I had only six fish in the tank at that time. But you must never chop it up until just before feeding because chopping it releases the active ingredient and the active ingredient doesn't survive very long.

[metalhead]

You might want to continue feeding garlic at least once or twice a week from now on. That's what I did. I figured it couldn't hurt anything and the fish seemed to like it.

If you use a large clove of garlic and you only need half of it, it's okay to save the other half wrapped in plastic cling wrap in the refrigerator for a couple of days. Just don't chop it up in advance. It's important to chop it up just before using it.



P.S. -- I think I stored it mainly from one feeding to the next the same day or the following day. I'm not sure if I ever stored it more than a day. Anyway, I do remember storing half a clove sometimes because sometimes the whole clove was more than I needed for one feeding. I had only six fish in the tank at that time. But you must never chop it up until just before feeding because chopping it releases the active ingredient and the active ingredient doesn't survive very long.

That's my plan... Thanks again Ninong for sharing and all the help along the way.

Whether the garlic actually cures Ich or just helps the fish in its fight against it, it definitely does something and does it well. My tang was absolutely covered with Ich when I started the treatment... Now there are no visible signs whatsoever and he appears healthier and happier than I've ever seen him.

Personally I believe that everyone would do well to add fresh garlic to their feeding regime on a regular basis. If it is this effective against the dreaded Ich then it stands to reason that it could deter other baddies as well.