Does my juv Kubotai have internal parasites?

[fusQer]

I have to say that in the past we have had no success whatsoever when using Sterazin for Chronic Wasting Syndrome in loaches. The wording on the treatment bottle is rather ambiguous: "aid the control of internal parasites" being the operative words, and not "eradicate internal parasites". The manufacturers are covering themselves well, and I do not believe that this product will ever work as effectively as an anthelmintic product from the vet, such as Levamisole.

Emma

ok, so how to acquire levamisole? i have to goto my cats' vet? ask for liquid levamisole for cattle? how much quantity? how much does it cost? what is the dosage instructions? thanks. i guess i will be the test dummy to use it on high ph water, 8.0-8.3

[Erik]

If treating maracide athe same time I did small 20% water changes every three days.
I do a 10 days with maracides as the Mardel doseing is very general.
No stress ever observed from meds.
erik

It may be a parasite, I have never witnessed an event like that.
Personally I treat all new loaches with maracyn 1 and 2 for 10days . At the same time I treat with maracide. Mind you this is the original formula which works amazingly well on ich.
After treatment and some water changes I now also treat with either Prazi or
Levamisole.
I know this sounds extreme but these are wild caught fish and I have so many skinny and or ich infested loaches that I started doing that.
It has worked so well for me that in the past I have bought both ich and skinny kubotais (when they were still rare) and histrionicas , treated them and still have them nice and healthy.
I always use a qt tank btw. My one downfall for disease management is that all my tanks are planted and it is difficult to disinffect plants.
Erik

hey erik, so i began my maracyn 1/2 & maracide treatment. none of my fish have symptoms. they are all juveniles. the box says 5 day course, but you did 10 day, im wondering if ithe fish showed any signs of stress due to the heavy medication dose. also when exactly did you do water changes? what about the maracide, did you do that for 10 days as well on odd days?

[mikev]

ok, so how to acquire levamisole? i have to goto my cats' vet?

I went to my dog's vet.

The guy said that levamisole is outdated, replaced by newer/better meds, and he will not be able to get it. Obviously, I'm not interested in trying his newer/better meds on my fish.

[shari]

Here's a site that sells the soluable powder. You mix it with water and dose the tank directly. Most likely you won't need to dissolve the entire amount. Split it in half, save the extra half of powder and store it in the fridge. Mix the remainder with half the amount of recommended water, and use that (also store in fridge out of light). Remove carbon, keep the lights off as much as possible. Water change between doses. I'll look up the specifics later, but this has been used by several people here without ill effects on the biofilter or fish.

http://petsupplies4less.com/sbsite.php? ... C+20.17+gm

[Pete Setchell]

I've found a vet near me who is helping me get hold of some Levamisole and come up with an appropriate dose. My quarantine tank is set up and ready.

For reference, 500ml of 3% aqueous solution Levamisole costs about £20.

Has anyone here got tips on dosage?

[fusQer]

i just got the jungle labs parasite medicated food that has levamisole in it, along with metronidazol and praziquantioioitoliloiololrofl.

i got seachem's garlic guard to dip the food in so the fish eat it. its become an art to soak it just enough to smush it to the exact size the fish will eat, but, they are eating it off hte ground. but it says to treat 3 days consecutively, 3 or 4 times, once a week. so it will take a month to see if i have results. i definently have one kubotai that has CWS, the other two are fat and growing while this one is skinny and dark and long. all are 1.5-2.0" and were purchased at same store and were the same size. ill post pix soon, do you have pics of yours? anyone?

[Pete Setchell]

Well, he's a little bigger now, but this is my Kubotai.



I was under the impression most people treated by adding a solution of the Levamisole to a quarantine/hospital tank. Have I got the wrong end of the stick somehow?

[Graeme Robson]

Hi Peter. I found this in the Loach Forum Archives from Emma.

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I believe this product is available in both a powdered and liquid form - we have the liquid form. It is quite nasty stuff and is primarily used for the worming of sheep and cattle, and dosing instructions on the bottle talk about livestock weights etc. We have therefore estimated based on literature we have read, to dose at a rate of 400mg per 10 gallons of water. 1000mg = 1ml of water, so we used an insulin syringe (from the chemists) to dose 0.4ml per 10 gallons of water. You will need to dose in a separate tank from your main tank, but make sure the tank is well aerated. We use a 12 hour bath, followed by a large water change, then re-dose again after 48 hours. We have been told that you can dose up to 5 times in a row with this product. So far, we have only done 3 doses, and due to the fact we have not had any fish losses, we think that we have the dose rate about right. Obviously it is going to take time for the fish to put on weight that they have lost.
Emma
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[Pete Setchell]

Thanks Graeme!

[fusQer]

no you are right about the quarantine tank. mine are in quarantine since i bougth them from the store... been almost a month now but its all good i can feed them this food with levamisole