# Using Ginger/Garlic as a food additive to help with Ich and Constipation



## pesothegreat (Feb 3, 2015)

Ok everybody, I understand that this is (and should not be treated as) some sort of hippie wonder cure. I'm not saying that using ginger or garlic has been scientifically tested on fish and there are results that they do certain things for fish. Don't take this too seriously and gripe at each other, please... Good, now that that's out of the way..

I just wanted to bring this up to see if anybody else's betta had a positive reaction to these two ingredients.

My fish got bloated about 3 weeks back and it affected his swim bladder and prevented his gill cover from fully opening. This happened because 1.) I was feeding him a lot of protein rich foods (brine shrimp, blood worms, fruit flies) with no other source of fiber 2.) not enough water changes. After two weeks of constant water changes, days of fasting, and a more varied diet, he got better. But he still had a pretty fat chest, and his gill cover seemed like it was permanently damaged. I then got IAL, fed him a little every other day, and did 50% water changes every other day. Nothing changed.

Anyways, I stumbled across this forum about Salt Water fish and Ginger:
http://www.marineaquariumsa.com/sick-fish/48421-using-ginger-cure-ich.html

Then looked up "The benefits of Ginger" (Testing done on mammals not fish)
http://www.livestrong.com/article/549461-top-ten-benefits-of-ginger/

Here's two excerpts I found interesting: 

_*Kills Microbes*
An April 2011 report in "Chemistry and Biodiversity" assessed the effect of wild ginger on two types of microbes. The researchers exposed five strains of bacteria and four strains of fungi to ginger extracts during a single testing session. The wild ginger easily killed both kinds of microbes._

_*Decreases Cellular Swelling*
An experiment in the November 2011 issue of "Food and Chemical Toxicology" determined the effect of ginger extracts on cellular swelling. The authors exposed cultured brain cells to shogaol -- an active ingredient found in ginger. This exposure decreased swelling by increasing the production of a heat-shock protein._

So I mixed some ginger powder in my bettas brine shrimp, and fed him. The next day he had a huge pile of poo underneath him. The next day, another huge pile, and I mean like 3x the amount of a regular poo. His chest has, for a lack of better words, deflated and his gill cover now fully opens up.

Was this the ginger, or did time do this? Had anybody else had a similar experience?


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## pesothegreat (Feb 3, 2015)

I forgot to mention, about the study on cellular swelling, does anybody think that this will help with any pineconing associated with dropsy? It would be interesting if shoreline had a betta with dropsy and used ginger to help with swelling.


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