Loaches Online Forum

I see the recomended treatment is 2ppm of Levamisole Pig Wormer and found ChefKeith's calculator very useful but I can not find the recomended time for treatment. Also does the Levisol stay active and only removed by carbon or does it fade away over days or weeks????
I have started a treatment for two of my new hires that did not put on weight and two that are skinny for sure.

In answer to your question, the dosage rate for levamisole in a bath is 2 mg/L (2 ppm) for 24 hours (followed by 70-100% water change, and siphon the bottoms of the tanks), with repeat treatments necessary--retreat in 2-3 weeks, and probably one more time after that. This is regardless of size of fish.

Dr. Roy Yanong, V.M.D.

The water change and vacuum is to remove any egg/larval stages that may be in the water and remove any paralyzed worms that may have been expelled by the fish.

Absorption is systemic within 3 - 4 hours. Within three days 70% of the medication will be gone from the fish via its excretory system. The vast majority of the compound will have been metabolized by your fish. The remainder can be removed by water changes and/or adding activated charcoal to your filtration system.

hth

just a note of caution.

If your tank won't tolerate water changes that large (messes with the chemistry/balance) you don't need to do such a massive change...

and you may want to read this link. "Skinny" or Chronic Wasting Syndrome while often said to be caused by parasites alone is actually a more complex problem unless you have definitively diagnosed your fish with parasites. You may want to have a read here:

http://aquaweb.pair.com/forums/archives ... read=80416

If you don't see a marked improvement in your fish's vitality after the second treatment, a round of antibiotics may be called for. It is your call, but over the past years there have been a number of accounts of 'curing' skinny via antibiotics. If it were only caused by parasites this would be highly unlikely...

somebody really should write an article on this...

I set up a 55 for a QT and placed these 4 in and treated last night. I did a 75% water change tonight after a 24 hour "bath" with water from my system sump as I just drained it down then added back with no difference in water quality except the medication so no stress. I generally avoid huge changes unless as a last resort but on a little QT tank it is easy with a big system sump and tempered /used water.I actually plumbed the QT to my sump for water changes but I drain into a bucket to keep meds contained.

I did read this link before and will do so more vigilantly now again. I will power feed them for two weeks(That is why 4 are in a 55 US gal) and if they don't get fat we will do another round of Levamisole and go from there. Two are wasting and two may be,3 being Clowns and one a Queen that is skinny for sure. I pulled my 150 down and got anybody that MIGHT be sick out as capture is impossible unless all is removed from the tank. I did this and cleaned all my rocks,under any that touch the bottom and cleaned the sand too. That tank is awesome tonight .These 4 sick one's are a little lonely or flustered from the move but eating well so we will see how this goes.

We will feed for two weeks and then look then at them right?

actually, it is better to run both..

When i got my 11 inch wild caught clown loach, i dewormed it and found many parasites(tapeworms and many weird things). I thought it was solved, but no..the clown got thinner and eats very little for it's size.After a few days, it did not get any better, did a deworm process again, but there arent any more worms..but only transparent stringy poo which i posted here awhile ago.

Did an antibiotic treatment and he is a pig now.

I have two weeks here waiting for the next round but forced feeding and dead filters is a bad combo,
Shall I med or feed? I saw no signs of parasite's other than wasting. I run a 36 watt UV protection on my system but not on this QT

Honestly, when i did the antibiotics, i dosed it as mentioned and keep on feeding the fish.

No problem whatsoever..the problem arises when people dont make daily water changes. That is when the ammonia may spike.I dosed my tank(full dose) with antibiotics, no water changes for 3 days and 2 feedings per day and the no such problem.

internal bacteria with force feeding=useless.tried that...if it wasnt for the clown having just enough mass, i think it would have been long gone.

When I treat for skinny I combo levamisole and kanamycin. One round with the antibiotic, then two more levamisole. I feed the fish lightly the whole time, do water changes in between treatments (and replace meds in the new water).