Ever since i got hooked on keeping an aquarium(about 10 years or so now) I learned from a Discus breeder friend of mine in New Jersey that he used Garlic (fresh) in all his homemade food preparations. I was given his recipe for Discus , Angels (pretty much any FW Fish) and I never ever had ICK in my FW tanks. I was breeding FW Angel fish they were all fed homemade good that include a good dose of Fresh crushed Garlic.
Recently I had my 1st ever ICK case. I ended up getting Mike's Blue tank when he moved back to the States. The outbreak occured almost a month after getting the fish/i decided to try soemthing.. I took a peice of Nori, crushed up a clove, smeared the paste on the Nori, let it sit for a while to soak in, I put it in the tank on a small piece of PVC. within a few days Ick went away and has not returned. Coincidence? Maybe, but how many people do you know who have only had 1 ICK outbreak in 10 years? Maybe there is alot I dont know
I also know garlic is definately a appitite stimulant. ifYou can get a fish to eat a little they generally get better. 9I have done this when I was keeping Discus, they can be the most finiky of fish going off their food, and garlix brought them back 9 times out of 10. Hell I even once force fed a $120 discus with a small tube on syringe filled with a food mixed with Garlic as the fish stopped eatting (Ya I am nutz) I did this a couple of times and the fish started to eat on its own... (I was not the only one who has ever done this, a few people I know have tried this method, thats how I got the idea
Garlic definate has some "magical" propertiies
Bob, the Tang was also well Nourished, it was fat and plump when I got it from Mike, it even took over being the 1st one to eat the night I feed em