Garlic Guard vs Garlic Boost

[Deleted]

Greetings All,

I will be wanting to buy another Garlic product soon.....I have been using Weiss Garlic Boost for many years. Now, only a few online retailers have NEW product (some have the product on clearance and the product is already over a year old). Garlic Boost has a 2 year shelf life - max. I keep mine in the fridge as soon as it arrives. I have a couple months left for my current bottle. This is one product I don't keep a "back up". 

With Garlic Boost, you treat the water....I dose a couple times a week -- not every other day as suggested... It is just too time consuming. With Seachem Garlic Guard, you treat the food from what I have read). I do have frozen foods, so could give a garlic enhanced treat a couple times a week. They do get vitamins added to the frozen food a couple times (I wouldn't do vitamins and garlic the same night).

What is the shelf life of Garlic Guard? What, if any, are the benefits over Garlic Boost (Weiss product -- although no longer Marc).

I know I can buy Garlic Guard from AAP. Convince me it is better (smile). NO RUSH for an answer...... and remember, we are only comparing Garlic Guard and Garlic Boost (not that tiny 1 oz bottle). Garlic Boost is a 6 oz bottle and is indeed more expensive than Garlic Guard....but cost is not the only factor when it comes to my fish....

Cheers,

Judy D.

[devonjohnsgard]

Oct 20, 2014 18:54:13 GMT -5 @judy4fish said:

Greetings All,

I will be wanting to buy another Garlic product soon.....I have been using Weiss Garlic Boost for many years. Now, only a few online retailers have NEW product (some have the product on clearance and the product is already over a year old). Garlic Boost has a 2 year shelf life - max. I keep mine in the fridge as soon as it arrives. I have a couple months left for my current bottle. This is one product I don't keep a "back up". 

With Garlic Boost, you treat the water....I dose a couple times a week -- not every other day as suggested... It is just too time consuming. With Seachem Garlic Guard, you treat the food from what I have read). I do have frozen foods, so could give a garlic enhanced treat a couple times a week. They do get vitamins added to the frozen food a couple times (I wouldn't do vitamins and garlic the same night).

What is the shelf life of Garlic Guard? What, if any, are the benefits over Garlic Boost (Weiss product -- although no longer Marc).

I know I can buy Garlic Guard from AAP. Convince me it is better (smile). NO RUSH for an answer...... and remember, we are only comparing Garlic Guard and Garlic Boost (not that tiny 1 oz bottle). Garlic Boost is a 6 oz bottle and is indeed more expensive than Garlic Guard....but cost is not the only factor when it comes to my fish....

Cheers,

Judy D.

Are you using these for treatments or long term immunity?

I do know continued use for Garlic, actually can do harm over time. IMO, garlic should only really be used as an immunity boost for fish battling disease or for fighting bacterial infection.
www.americanaquariumproducts.com/quality_fish_food.html#garlic

I've also been involved in a pretty popular discussion about the use of garlic on another popular forum. A disease scientist of fish came into the discussion and backed his opinion about the negative effects of garlic over long term use, with lots of scientific research.

As for the difference between the two products, I can't honestly say.

[Deleted]

Thanks Devon,

I guess it is a good thing I don't use Garlic Boost all the time as suggested on the bottle.
Thanks for the link. I did read that section - but it was good to review.

My bottle is getting close to its 2 year limit....Maybe I won't even get this bottle all used up? Using an old product won't harm the fish - but won't help them either (according to the owner of the company).

Judy D.

[Deleted]

A P.S.....

Just did a Google search -- dangers of using garlic with freshwater fish....Now I have some reading to do (smile).

From my reading:

As you may well of guessed, there is a lot of "bad" information out there too....I ignored most of the forums. Here are some of the more valuable links:



reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/sp/

For salt water....



nippyfish.net/2011/05/17/treating-tropical-fish-with-garlic/

Has info in how the use of garlic may have gotten started.....

>>Jack Wattley in the May 1999 issue of Tropical Fish Hobbiest. In that one little article I was able to attribute most of the origins of the garlic rumor AND got to read about the quasi-scientific study he performed with garlic.

www.ehow.com/info_8162882_would-kill-freshwater-ich-parasites.html

>>They also state that many aquarists report mass die-offs after using garlic and say that hobbyists should be wary.


Seachem web site:

And you already know this.....

>>Garlic is safe for all fish and there is no danger of overdose.


briansaquariumcare.com/garlic.html



I do use New Life Spectrum Thera A (garlic enhanced). This is the reason my Garlic Boost is coming close to two years old... I bought the bottle before I started to use Thara A.

My fish do not get Thera A at every meal....and I don't give them any on the days I put Garlic Boost in the water.


I have no scientific proof any of the products I use work....but also no evidence they are harmful in any way (no "massive fish deaths" after using the products like some articles stated). I do not have fish deaths that appear to be from internal parasites (fish don't show the typical signs), I rarely have a fish death from Ich. Three fish since 2006 have died that had Ich. Ich didn't pass on to other fish. Only one fish was a new fish (and it was my fault it died - I didn't test store pH at that time. Store pH was 8.4 -- mine was 7.0). One fish that got Ich had to have other problems as well... I put it down using clove oil based in its behavior. The other fish, I kept in a hospital net while I treated the whole aquarium with my trusted product (fish must have had other issues as well. It died, but no other fish got Ich).


I don't use Garlic Boost to "kill" Ich parasites (as one article suggested). Garlic Boost also contains some trace minerals that are helpful. Such a small amount goes into the water (1/2 ml for 10 gallons, 1 ml for 20 gallons -- and so forth). I don't trust Garlic Boost to extend time between water changes ( a claim made on the bottle).


As a result of all of my reading today, I will not be buying any more Garlic Boost (or Garlic Guard). I do plan to use up my Thera A -- and more than likely will buy more -- but may use it less often. In the future, if I feel there is a need for Garlic Guard -- or Garlic Boost -- I knew where I can buy fresh product.


Well.. I guess now I am not an "idiot" as one person wrote. Now I am "informed" - but still plan to use up the food I bought. That person has no evidence the food harms my fish. I also bought some of it for my son's fish and have no plans to tell him the food may be harmful. I did tell him to only give it to them one meal a day - and to watch how they respond. My son doesn't have Ich issues either (he also uses my trusted product).

A Post Script:
I already know what Weiss would say about using their product as I spoke with the owner the other day.... I wrote to New Life Spectrum about using Thera A and will post what I found out here.

Thanks Carl for the post.

[Carl]

I think you answered most of your own questions.

Garlic is one of those rare subjects (IMO) where the aquarium keeping hobby actually seems to be examining the science versus the anecdotal hype.

I used Garlic Boost many years back, long before all the hype got going.
I have also used the SeaChem product and cannot say that either is any better then the other.

Shelf life was never an issue either, since I never went even more than a year with the products.

I also agree with one of your links as per Mycobacterium marinum along with use with antibiotics. I in fact did not inject, rather soaked the food and found positive results over just the Garlic or antibiotic used.

But this also brings about the point as to why I only used it sporadically, just as one would use the human herbal treatments of Oregon Grape Root or Echinacea, and that is the effectiveness is diminished with constant use.

My personal opinion based on my own anecdotal observations, research, and minor tests is that Garlic Guard or similar products are useful for occasion use in food soaks, such as when fish are sick or new fish are introduced, but not for continued use, not as a sole treatment, especially for Cryptocaryon

Product Resource:
www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Seachem.html#garlic

Carl

[Carl]

BTW, I thought the Reefkeeping.com article was well written with a lot of objective thinking, but did notice that this author still did not apply his objective thinking when he made a subjective "cut & paste" quote about Malachite Green
Here is a quote from his article: "The push for this study involved malachite green, a substance routinely used to deal with this parasite that was banned for use on food fish because it is carcinogenic"

The facts are there is no such conclusive evidence and the so-called evidence used for this commonly thrown around mis-information is based on mega doses that are not real world and even then the results were far from conclusive

From Aquarium Medications 2; Malachite Green:
"Finally, as to often thrown around anecdotal comments about the carcinogenic properties of Malachite Green, these are at best inconclusive, especially at normal therapeutic doses.
This scientific research article deals with this in detail: Toxicology and Carcinogenesis studies of Malachite Green-
ntp-server.niehs.nih.gov/files/527-C_LowRes_Bookmark.pdf (Link is no longer valid)

In the one study used to state that Malachite Green is dangerous has this statement: "The data relating to the carcinogenicity of malachite green are extremely limited"
More importantly that amount of MG used to achieve the most toxic results was 1,200 ppm fed daily for 28 days.
THIS IS 24 TIMES THE HIGHEST THERAPEUTIC DOSE USED FOR FISH, USUALLY PERFOMED FOR ONLY 10 DAYS!
To draw the conclusions many draw from this study is ludicrous, yet many in the hobby have cut and paste this so much, most now believe that Malachite Green is highly toxic and carcinogenic at the low doses used for fish treatments.

Many will also cite the US governments ban on Malachite Green for food fish use as proof of toxicity of Malachite Green, however this is not proof rather precautionary as the above referenced article points out that most toxic effects from MG come from vastly higher than normal doses (although I would not bath yourself in Malachite Green, but who does). Please read the facts!!!!
One also might compare this to the State of California’s ban on Piranha out of fear they will accidentally find their way into lakes and reproduce, unfortunately there is absolutely no evidence for this whatsoever, yet the ban persists.

Further Reference:
Toxicity Studies of Malachite Green Chloride "


Reference:
www.americanaquariumproducts.com/AquariumMedication3.html#malachite_green

Carl