Loaches Online Forum

Hello All, looks like three of my clown loaches are developing skinny disease right now, and two of them are pretty bad. I did some research here and found that people recommend levamisole plus antibiotics to treat the fish. However, I couldn't find levamisole in my local fish store or online. Would anybody share some information about how or where to get levamisole to treat my fish? I currently treat the three clown loaches in a separate tank with Metronidazole but not sure if that will help them or not. I also have Jungle parasite-clear and clout which I used to treat the internal parasite of my African cichlids. Will these be better than metronidazole? Also I have the Jungle anti-bacteria food and anti-parasite food. Should I feed them exclusively these medicine food? Any input would be appreciated! thanks!

Check with your local veterinarian offices, particularly those that deal with large animals. If I'm not mistaken, levimisole hydrochloride is used as a de-wormer for pigs and other farm animals. Obviously, dosing instructions for fish will be different...

I read additionally that skinny disease is caused by a parasite similar to hexamita and it's been treated successfully on clown loaches with JBL spirohexol. So it's worth having a look for it too if you like. I used this med on guppies once and it didn't affect the filter bacteria, but made the water yellow. It's easy though, as you just dose once and wait a week before doing a water change from what I remember as it was a good while ago.

Levamisole hasn't been on the market for years. I think it was discontinued by many pharmaceutical companies due to that it was being used in cocaine drug trafficking industry.

Most fishkeepers from what I've read are using a Fenbendazole (panacur) instead. I've never tried using it, so you'll need to Google the treatment.

Well that explains why I was unable to get some when I went looking for it last year. Thanks for the info, Chefkeith.

Fortunately for my loaches I was able to acquire a bottle of Jungle Anti-Parasite Medicated Fish Food, which had been discontinued some time before then. The active ingredients are:

Metronidazole 1.0%
Praziquantel 0.5%
Levimisole 0.4%

I know that Praziquantel is available, and I think Metronidazole is also. The Jungle medicated food is no longer available anywhere that I am aware of, which is unfortunate because it is quite effective, but you may be able to achieve the same effect using the medications on their own (minus the Levimisole, obviously).

Levamisole is still available as AgriLabs Prohibit. I ordered mine from QC Supply back in December.

http://www.qcsupply.com/540287-prohibit-agrilabs.html