# Flowerhorns, internal protozoal infestations, and garlic



## heylady (Oct 14, 2004)

Some background: Not too long ago I bought a female flowerhorn. About a week after I got her she spawned. Up until then she was fine, ate pretty good (although not with the enthusiasm I am used to with cichlids), color good, etc.. 2 days after spawning she stopped eating altogether and her color darkened. She took to hanging out in the back corner of the tank. She did show signs of ich so I went ahead and dosed coppersafe which did indeed get rid of the ich but still she would not eat, still dark in color. IME* once the initial dose of coppersafe is used the fish tend to feel much better so I guessed that something else was wrong and that the ich was merely a secondary infestation. 
After doing some research I figured she was suffering from an internal protozoan and after doing a massive water change I dosed the tank with metronidazole. After 3 dosings she improved greatly, color back to normal and no more hiding. But her appetite still was lacking. And that's when I remembered something from the saltwater side of the hobby. Garlic is often used in SW to stimulate fish to eat, also to control internal parasites. So I went out and bought some liquid garlic (I'm sure you could crush your own for the juices) added 2 drops to some pellets and `voila! 
I just wanted to share this info with anyone who may have a fish that won't eat or has suspected internal parasites. It really does work....and if you have a fish that won't even look at the food you can also dose the juice directly to the tank, one drop per 10 gallons. If added to the food, allow the food to soak in the juice for a couple of minutes and no more than 2 drops added to the food or the taste becomes overwhelming to the fish.

*I have had the unfortunate experience of dealing with ich lately. All the fish I have bought from one particular store have had ich and I have had to deal with it. No fish lost but I won't buy anything from this store again and I won't recommend him anymore which is a shame because he has awesome fish but they have all had ich and yes, I did tell him and he basically blew me off saying it was brought on by stress. BS IMO because I've bought fish from 'not so great' stores in the past and _they_ didn't have ich...


----------

