Continued use of Garlic

[redright28]

Is continued use of garlic (Garlic Guard food soak twice a week) safe for fish?  Some folks claim that it is harmful long-term as it weakens the liver.  My local fish store garlic soaks their food routinely. 

Thanks,
Greg

[Carl]

Dec 12, 2017 8:54:32 GMT -5 redright28 said:

Is continued use of garlic (Garlic Guard food soak twice a week) safe for fish?  Some folks claim that it is harmful long-term as it weakens the liver.  My local fish store garlic soaks their food routinely. 

Thanks,
Greg

This is a very good question!

Since the aquarium hobby/industry has very little $$ for real research, the best way to check something like this is via medical websites where there likely more real research instead of the anecdotal and worse, often opinions with no basis of fact behind these opinions.
All I could find is problems via interaction with other medication including NSAIDS, blood thinners, & Protease inhibitors (a class of antiviral drugs)


It is highly unlikely you or others would use such drugs in your aquarium and so it is more likely the fish liver would actually benefit from the use of a garlic soak.
Just make sure the garlic is not heated or if processed, it is processed in a manner that does not heat the garlic (Allicin) there in

I would caution though that raw garlic can burn through intestinal walls and kill off gut bacteria, so I would suggest on/off use

References:
www.livestrong.com/article/517935-garlic-liver-damage/
www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Quality_Fish_Food.html#garlic

Carl

[redright28]

Thank you...I will use it occasionally.