Vermisol (levamisole) dosage calculation

[Tshethar]

Hello experienced folks and thanks in advance for the help.

When I was prepping for the prospect of receiving new fish months ago, and before I knew about other supply options for 100% levamisole powder, I searched some old threads and ended up purchasing some wormer from Foy's Pigeon Supply.

One of the things that's confusing me a little is that the text in one area of the label says "the powder contains 7.5 grams of Levamisole." Yet in another area, with the batch no. and expiration date, it says "Lev 20%." Given that it's a 100 gram bottle, that might lead me to think it contained 20 grams.

Once I solve that riddle, I will then need to figure out how much to add to my 40 gallon breeder tank. I haven't bought a gram scale at this point; can do, but if I can be reasonably confident in thinking in terms of fractions of teaspoons, that might be ideal.

Also, I get the sense that the other ingredients can cause blooms or cloudiness... if they're anything to do in light of that, let me know. I have good aeration and am keeping temps warm for new fish at present (~85-86).

Here's the product I'm talking about. Thanks for the guidance.

93465
93466

[DJW]

Vermisol is 7.5% Levamisole, so the whole bottle contains 7.5 grams.

To get a dosage of 2.5ppm you need 375mg of pure Leva in 40 gallons. That would be 1/20th of the whole bottle. (.05 x 7500 = 375)

For 1 dose to 40 gallons, see how many teaspoons are in the whole bottle and divide by 20. There should be about 26 teaspoons in the bottle, but you don't know the weight of the inactive ingredients so measuring the bottle is the best way. By the way, 1/2 cup = 24 teaspoons.

For further confusion, here is some reading:

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?93165-Levamisole

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?82475-Dosing-with-Vermiol-check-my-math

[Tshethar]

Thanks a lot for this--very helpful!

I will double check the bottle volume in a general way--e.g., see if it comes close to 1/2 cup which it looks like it will--but what you suggest would seem to equate (give or take a little) with the 1/2 teaspoon/20 gallons concentration some used in these threads. It looks to me that if I am just a tad over that quantity I ought to get above the 2ppm minimum threshold but nowhere near the 4ppm that represents the upper range of recommended treatment.

[nc0gnet0]

Nobody can give you the correct dosage as if I am understanding this correct the bottle is mislabeled. ON one side it says 7.5% and the other side it states 20%. I would choose not to use it for this reason.

[DJW]

That 20% sticker would make me nervous too.

[Tshethar]

Yeah, it made me a bit uncertain as well. Since I have a few days before I would use it anyway as part of QT, I will try contacting the supplier and see if they can provide any clarification. If not, I may have to chuck it and order the 100% powder. :sad:

Hate to waste it, but it's better than overdosing.

[rickztahone]

Yeah, it made me a bit uncertain as well. Since I have a few days before I would use it anyway as part of QT, I will try contacting the supplier and see if they can provide any clarification. If not, I may have to chuck it and order the 100% powder. :sad:

Hate to waste it, but it's better than overdosing.

Are you doing this as a preventative measure? Or are you seeing something in the fish in QT?

[Tshethar]

I would say it is about 85% preventative measure, following Al's QT protocol, but I do have one out of the group that hasn't been eating really since arrival and I have noted a couple of fish looking irritated at times. The fasting fish's gills looked a little inflamed but the 24 hour Prazi treatment has them looking better (with better, lighter color, too--just not eating).

In order to seed the filter I brought over a couple of pre-filter sponges from my pleco tank, which could have been harboring something. So there is part of me that's looking forward to the prophylactic levamisole just in case.

For now I'm doing at least 2 WCs/day, one about 85-90%, so I'm hoping to stick to that as the main strategy; I can see why people struggle a bit to avoid over-medicating their fish.

Meanwhile, I wrote to Foy's Pigeon and they replied right away, saying they emailed the manufacturer but the contact person/company will be unable to respond until after 2/1.

[Tshethar]

Just to update on this, I followed up with Foy's and they didn't get a reply from their supplier. They had previously said they didn't recommend the product for fish--they deal with birds after all--and this time they quite simply said they recommend I return it. (A very nice offer, I thought, as I bought it a few months ago.) Solves my problem, but no real resolution.

I guess the takeaway is that there are now better options for acquiring levamisole than there were in some of the old threads I searched when I was first looking into QT meds. Ended up getting some from Angelsplus.