I thought I'd post this, since I've seen a lot of ich questions and I've found this recipe useful.
Years ago, I struggled with hypo-salinity, quarantining, invert-killing chemicals, etc. to treat ich... usually, these approaches were unsuccessful. Often, for mild outbreaks, they seemed to cause much more stress, thereby accelerating the spread of the poarasite. Fortunately, a freind suggested garlic-soaked food. This has worked like a charm for mild infestations. Unfortunately, many fish cannot get to the food before the garlic is soaked out, or their tankmates have eaten it. This is an especially bad problem when a fish is sick with ich or other parasites. Thus, I've experimented with the following solution:
Garlic-Infused Live Brine Shrimp:
-Take some live brine shrimp and rinse them out with freshwater (You'll allways want to do this, as Brinies often carry parasites).
-Disgard the old freshwater and place the brinies a a small amount of new freshwater (i.e. 1 OZ of brine shrimp to a few teaspoons of water).
-Add a healthy portion of water-soluble garlic extract in with the shrimp (I'm not a scientist, so I don't know how much I add... usually about 1/6 the water volume)
-Let the shrimp soak in their freshwater-garlic solution for a while (I've let them sit for over 1/2 hr. with no apparent ill effects... don't know how long they'll last?)
-Feed the shrimp to your fish in small increments (i.e. ensure that your fish eat the shrimp, before they've shed the garlic)
-Watch the ich fall off and stay off
-*You may also want to experiment with things like Zoe, Vitamin C, etc. in the brinie water
Again, I've seen this work with ich for mild infestations. I've heard mixed reviews on more advanced infestations.
I usually feed my fish this recipe whenever I add a new fish to one of my tanks, or whenever there's been a major disruption (i.e. power outage)
Hope this helps
[ July 07, 2001: Message edited by: tangs_in_pacifica ]
Years ago, I struggled with hypo-salinity, quarantining, invert-killing chemicals, etc. to treat ich... usually, these approaches were unsuccessful. Often, for mild outbreaks, they seemed to cause much more stress, thereby accelerating the spread of the poarasite. Fortunately, a freind suggested garlic-soaked food. This has worked like a charm for mild infestations. Unfortunately, many fish cannot get to the food before the garlic is soaked out, or their tankmates have eaten it. This is an especially bad problem when a fish is sick with ich or other parasites. Thus, I've experimented with the following solution:
Garlic-Infused Live Brine Shrimp:
-Take some live brine shrimp and rinse them out with freshwater (You'll allways want to do this, as Brinies often carry parasites).
-Disgard the old freshwater and place the brinies a a small amount of new freshwater (i.e. 1 OZ of brine shrimp to a few teaspoons of water).
-Add a healthy portion of water-soluble garlic extract in with the shrimp (I'm not a scientist, so I don't know how much I add... usually about 1/6 the water volume)
-Let the shrimp soak in their freshwater-garlic solution for a while (I've let them sit for over 1/2 hr. with no apparent ill effects... don't know how long they'll last?)
-Feed the shrimp to your fish in small increments (i.e. ensure that your fish eat the shrimp, before they've shed the garlic)
-Watch the ich fall off and stay off
-*You may also want to experiment with things like Zoe, Vitamin C, etc. in the brinie water
Again, I've seen this work with ich for mild infestations. I've heard mixed reviews on more advanced infestations.
I usually feed my fish this recipe whenever I add a new fish to one of my tanks, or whenever there's been a major disruption (i.e. power outage)
Hope this helps
[ July 07, 2001: Message edited by: tangs_in_pacifica ]
