Store Bought Minced Garlic With Citric Acid, Safe For Fish?

Ive been reading that garlic can help boost the immune system of a fish. In particular I read a threat which said what kinds of store bought minced garlic was safe. It said that the ingredients could only have garlic and water.

My fridge already had garlic in it, but the ingredients were garlic, water, and citric acid. I would assume that citric acid is not safe for fish, but I just want to double check. Citric acid is not a strong acid, so would it be dilute enough to be okay? Or if I rinsed off the garlic before feeding it to my fish?

In my tank (20 gal) I currently have 4 platys, 3 mystery snails, and 2 horned nerites.

I'm asking because I originally had 5 platys, but one seems to have gotten stressed out, sick, and just recently passed away (either yesterday or the day before, I can't really remember.) Now one of my other platys, another not very popular with the other three fish, and the first platy to live in the tank (which is cycled, I've had it for many many years, when I say he's the first I mean he is offspring from the last batch of platys which belonged to my sister and then reproduced like rabbits.) is starting to not look good as well.... So I just wanted to get him some help while I get my quarantine and other tanks set up and get space available for them. (Right now there are some shelves in the way.)

Thank you!

 

I don't think I'd go that route, but I was surprised to find real scientific research with pretty positive results on the subject


Prospects of Using Citric Acid as Fish Feed Supplement (PDF Download Available)

 

No, just garlic and water. Can use whole cloves if minced and mushed. I chop mine really fine and put it in my frozen foods that is thawed out in their tank water. My fish go crazy for it.

 

I don't think I'd go that route, but I was surprised to find real scientific research with pretty positive results on the subject


Prospects of Using Citric Acid as Fish Feed Supplement (PDF Download Available)

Oh wow that is fascinating!

Can I ask why you wouldn't go that route? I think I might want to try it if it will be good n healthy for my fish, but I don't want to make that decision without thinking.

Thanks!

No, just garlic and water. Can use whole cloves if minced and mushed. I chop mine really fine and put it in my frozen foods that is thawed out in their tank water. My fish go crazy for it.

Alright, thank you! I'll check to see if I have any cloves and try that out.

 

I use citric acid as a reactant for my co2 system, but the acid itself never enters the aquarium, so I'm not sure. Citric acid is the same stuff used in sour candies and pickling, so if it is in very small amounts I have no doubt that it will be okay for fish.

 

When I said I wouldn't go that route I meant I wouldn't use food prepared/ manufactured for human consumption.

I'd either buy or make something intended for fish

 

The claims about immune health are something I can't find backing for, but in fish, garlic stimulates appetite and apparently works in the gut to aid growth. Citric acid works in the same direction, but is an acid - it has also been used to reduce pH in tanks.

We always have to remember that we have closed systems - small boxes without a lot of water in them. How we apply this research is limited by that. Water pollution is a proven fish killer...

We have to really look into these things. The main ingredient in melafix, for example, is a proven killer of dangerous bacteria. That's a fact. However, in order to kill the bacteria, we have to use it in a concentration that also also kills fish. The fine print in the research matters. So the meds made from the oil dilute the active ingredient to the point that it arguably does nothing, and we spend money and hope on it. I am skeptical of the amounts of garlic in commercial foods, but if you are making it yourself, go for it.

Here, you can feed garlic, but it is only a proven growth food. There are claims about the other benefits, but not anything solid I can find. Is growth the goal? So adding citric acid in prepared garlic with no clear target benefit seems unnecessary. Buy a couple of very cheap cloves, crush them and try it. Delay by the day or two that would take, since there may be no benefit to your adult fish anyway.

 

When I said I wouldn't go that route I meant I wouldn't use food prepared/ manufactured for human consumption.

I'd either buy or make something intended for fish

Ohhh I see, that make sense. Thanks

 

The claims about immune health are something I can't find backing for, but in fish, garlic stimulates appetite and apparently works in the gut to aid growth. Citric acid works in the same direction, but is an acid - it has also been used to reduce pH in tanks.

We always have to remember that we have closed systems - small boxes without a lot of water in them. How we apply this research is limited by that. Water pollution is a proven fish killer...

We have to really look into these things. The main ingredient in melafix, for example, is a proven killer of dangerous bacteria. That's a fact. However, in order to kill the bacteria, we have to use it in a concentration that also also kills fish. The fine print in the research matters. So the meds made from the oil dilute the active ingredient to the point that it arguably does nothing, and we spend money and hope on it. I am skeptical of the amounts of garlic in commercial foods, but if you are making it yourself, go for it.

Here, you can feed garlic, but it is only a proven growth food. There are claims about the other benefits, but not anything solid I can find. Is growth the goal? So adding citric acid in prepared garlic with no clear target benefit seems unnecessary. Buy a couple of very cheap cloves, crush them and try it. Delay by the day or two that would take, since there may be no benefit to your adult fish anyway.

Everything I've seen about garlic has been from other forums, so I don't have much backing. But from what I remember what makes garlic so amazing for fish is the fact that it stimulates apetite and growth. Cause if a fish is sick they tend to stop eating, so that can be the difference between life and death for many fish. As for growth, this is my own guess, but if you stimulate growth than I would think that healing wounds would speed up and be less susceptible to infection.

As for the citric acid, I was asking about it because I have pre-minced garlic, and citric acid is used as a preservative. I wanted to use this but also wanted to make sure I didn't kill my fish. It would have been so dilute that I thought that it wouldn't cause harm if it polluted the water, but I wasn't going to use it anyways and just use fresh garlic, but also figured that I shouldnt double check both things. Aha that's rlly confusing but I hope you get what I mean. Thanks for your response