# Can you put garlic water straight into your Freshwater aquarium?



## Flossy

Hi all,

We had a bit of a disaster this week after treating our 120litre aqua szut tank with Tetra general. We lost a gourami, 3 platys & our beloved cory  We dosed correctly but I have a feeling that we had not aerated the tank sufficiently to compensate for the treatment. 

After some great advice on here......(thank you Julian!), I have been doing 25% water changes daily and what fish we  have left seem to be buzzing again, (although, their personalities have changed....i.e. those who were quite aggressive are now passive and vise versa!). 

My question is, as the fish have obviously been through a trauma this week, am I able to pour some fresh garlic water directly into the tank to boost their immune systems? I've heard you can soak veg in garlic water and put them in but I'm just curious........I was going to soak some cucumber in garlic later for them but will it help to also add some of the water direct to the tank? I've made some homemade garlic water that I'm keeping in the fridge!

Thanks for any help!


----------



## roadmaster

Who is to say that water changes alone did not bring relief to fishes remaining?
I would be more tempted to go with 50% water changes each week before I considered pouring garlic water in the tank .
Good water quality = healthy immune system.
I sometimes use medciated fish food that contains garlic and praziquantel but only if I suspect or see evidence of parasites.


----------



## Flossy

Yes, it seems to definitely be the best tonic for the fish Roadmaster, thank you! I can't believe the difference it has made to "wash" the treatment out, they all seem so lively again! Thanks for the advice!


----------



## zozo

If you like to give your fish  extra vitamines, there is notthing wrong with feeding them real garlic.You could cook it..But even better would be if you roll it into aluminium foil and heat it for a few minutes in na oven. Than the juices stay in instead of cooked out  and the carlic gets soft so you can mesh it,mix it with the inside mesh of peas. Most omnivorous fish will love it and it's very healthy  for them. My goldfish even eat fine choped raw garlic like crazy..


----------



## Flossy

Thanks Zozo! Due you mean put the whole clove of garlic in the oven to roast for a few mins in tinfoil? We have platys, danios, dwarf gourami's, sailfin mollys & neon tetras. We bought some new fish yesterday and from reading up online, it says sometimes to feed new fish garlic incase they have any internal parasites as the parasites HATE garlic!....so was going to treat all the fish to some chopped up peas with garlic tonight. Do you think the mix of fish we have would enjoy/benefit from this? Thanks for your help! x


----------



## zozo

Yes Flossy that's what i mean..  You also can blanch it in hot water, not that it's a big issue but it spoils a bit of the vitamines in it, which you throw away with the water. Like heating it a few minutes wrapped in tin foil it cooks from the inside out in it's own moist. There are recipes to find on the internet to make your own vegitarian fish food and mix it with jelly..  When cooled down and dried it can be crushed in tiny pieces and fed to the fish and kept in the freezer. Chopped parsley is also a very healthy addition.

Molly's, platy's and gourami's are omnivorous the will certainly nibble of it. In nature they also eat plants and algae. If you have no plants in the tank they can nibble from then vegtables are a good alternative to keep them healthy. And it goes more easy om your water quality as well then flake food only. It also could prevent them distroying edible plants in your tank.. Tetra's probably wont eat it, they are micro predetors and like more protien rich food liek dry flakes or froozen insect larvae, i believe danios as well but not sure. 

Garlic has indeed some positive effect against certain parasites, but its more like a healthy prevention then a cure. It works as in nature if the fish is healthy they fight of parasites themselfs or are not realy negatively affected having one..  Many fish tanks have few parasitis in them without it's keeper knowing it, these you only find under a microscope if you know what to look for. Waiting for a fish to get sick and weak. But it's not a problem, as long as you keep your life stock in good shape. Feed them healthy don't over feed and keep 'm clean..


----------



## Paulmk

You can buy frozen garlic paste from the supermarket.It comes in little cubes,i put a few cubes in my beefheart mix,you can also thaw some out and mix in some flake food then feed it to your fish,better than using garlic water imo.


----------



## Flossy

Thanks so much for your help guys! Very much appreciated! xx


----------

