13 ppm Levamisole Dosing?

[jwcarlson]

I bought some apistogrammas (Hongsloi) earlier this week and today now that they have eaten a glut of fresh baby brine and flake for a couple days. They're pooping. One of them had hairlike worm string poop and one is kind of clamped looking.

Has been suggested here levamisole dose is 90mg/10 gallons. Which is what I have always done for my discus. I think this cranks out to like 2.4 ppm (90/37 for mg/l). PPM is mg/l.
Anyway, I was doing some digging to see if it would kill my shrimp in one tank that has them. I stumbled upon this thread:
https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfis...e-tank.356134/
Talking about 13 ppm dose (and also found it discussed elsewhere). Has anyone had experience with that high of dose? I am not using it, but was curious. That would up the dose in my 75 (for example) from 675mg to 3700mg. Is there a reason for so drastic a range? Reading through some info I didn't see anyone saying they did 13 ppm and nuked their tank.

Anyway, here is one apisto picture, on the original you can kind of see the hair-like worm thing. Or maybe he ate a dog hair as there's plenty of that around the house.

20230113_193651.jpg

[seanyuki]

The functional dose I use is 2ppm bath 24 hours based on the University of Florida Aquatic Pathology Dept.

I would say you can safely use 2pmm- 4 ppm as a guideline. Like all things you will see people advocate using more because of course, More is innately better,works better and it doesnt hurt that its better for business. , hopefully no one actually believes that (except that its better for business) ! I personally have never seen anything written by a Aquatic Pathologist that shows that 2 pp-4ppm was not effective. That would take comparative research and experiments. Often I hear... "I dosed the fish at this dose and it didn't work, but when I dosed it at this dose, the fish amazingly turned around and recovered."Which basically means nothing, for all you know the fishes immune system kicked in, but know we have the beginning of the Urban legend.

Levamisol is a medication, dosage needs to be based on Science....not guesses and a few isolated observations. This is a huge problem we have in the Fish Hobby, and The trend I see with levamisol is use is going down the same path Metronidazole has gone where more and more is recommended and used..and nobody has a clue why, but the urban legend has become fact. I seriously caution against that, but thats just the ravings of a concern and cynical Biology Nut.


http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...vamisole/page2

[jwcarlson]

I'm with you, Francis. I was just curious if there was some background info I didn't know. Thanks for your reply!

[seanyuki]

For intestinal nematode infections of ornamental fish, several anthelminthics (dewormers) are available. Two effective and commonly used dewormers are fenbendazole and levamisole. Fenbendazole can only be used as a feed additive at the rate of 1.14 grams per pound of food fed for three days, with a repeat treatment in two to three weeks. Levamisole can be used both in the feed and as a bath treatment. One effective oral dose is 1.8 grams of levamisole per pound of food fed once a week for three weeks. One effective bath treatment dose is 2 ppm (mg/liter) levamisole for 24 hours, with a repeat treatment in two to three weeks. However, be sure to consult with a fish health specialist before commencing any treatment and always follow their recommendations.


https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/FA091

[brewmaster15]

Jacob, I'd stay clear of that 13ppm..at least as far as discus go. 2-4ppm is what I use... I have had discus hobbyists come to me after using the 13ppm dose.. their discus were not happy. I'M sure different species react differently to any number of medications..and water pH and other chemistries come into play as to absorption and side effects . I don't claim to understand why 11-13 ppm is out there..I suspect it started with a particular seller claiming it works for such and such at this dose...thats how alot of this happens....but I think its over kill and can lead to fish kills. I really would not recommend throwing excessive medicine at your fish without even having a diagnosis.
Just an opinion.

I prefer to follow more scientific lines..

If you struggle through this article.. its where I get the 2-4ppm from, as described by aquatic pathologists at University of Florida.

http://www.simplydiscus.com/library/...ematodes.shtml

I do believe that at times we are our own worst enemies with medications.. Just because you can dose more.. doesnt mean you should nor that you need to.

Not much different than meds we take.. take the right amount it works.. take more it hurts.

Al

[brewmaster15]

For intestinal nematode infections of ornamental fish, several anthelminthics (dewormers) are available. Two effective and commonly used dewormers are fenbendazole and levamisole. Fenbendazole can only be used as a feed additive at the rate of 1.14 grams per pound of food fed for three days, with a repeat treatment in two to three weeks. Levamisole can be used both in the feed and as a bath treatment. One effective oral dose is 1.8 grams of levamisole per pound of food fed once a week for three weeks. One effective bath treatment dose is 2 ppm (mg/liter) levamisole for 24 hours, with a repeat treatment in two to three weeks. However, be sure to consult with a fish health specialist before commencing any treatment and always follow their recommendations.


https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/FA091

Whoops..Francis typed faster..lol

[bluelagoon]

here's calculator. http://www.geocities.ws/chefkeithall...DH7AlTCAdTdDMY