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mikev
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Post by mikev » Thu Jul 13, 2006 7:10 pm

You can post a separate thread with a title "Did anyone have bad experience with Levamisole" and see if anyone responds (I doubt many people are reading this thread). The nature of the drug is such that I don't believe it is something that happens often.
(Some of my fish went through 5-6 rounds of levamisole, including *higher* dosing than in the FAQ --- no problems. And this includes hillstreams, who are more fragile than barbs.)

----

My recollection is that Meth Blue indeed loses the potency within 24 hours; it is a common component in anti-ich meds. Not sure it is true for formalin.

....

Good luck.

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mikev
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Post by mikev » Mon Jul 17, 2006 12:45 pm

How is it going?

One more thing probably worth mentioning: take a look at the drug called "General Care" at your store.

pedzola
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Post by pedzola » Mon Jul 17, 2006 2:39 pm

Alllllllllright... an update. (Thanks for checking in.)


So yesterday, Sunday 7/16 I did a large water change (50%) to remove the fourth 24-hour full-dose of Rid-Ich.

RESULTS FROM RID-ICH: Nothing. The scratching might have even gotten worse, and I even saw one of my clowns flash once, which I had not seen yet.



Obviously frustrated, I headed down to my local reputable fish shop. I told the guy all my parameters and the history of my problem. I told him the meds I've been using and everything I've tried so far.

He said "Everything you've done is what I would have told you to try. The only other thing I can suggest is to try using a different water source."

Unfortunately using water from somewhere else doesn't seem to be very feasible.

What I did buy is potassium permanganate, and a phosphate test. After testing, despite minor phosphate levels, I ended up purchasing a phosphate removing pad for my filter as well. (Leaving no stone unturned here).

As for the potassium permanganate, I was warned that it is an extremely strong med that is ruthlessly effective against any form of external parasite. I have not yet used this, as I can't be 100% certain that this whole issue is even parasitical in nature. It is recommended online though as an alternative when formalin/malachite green are not doing the trick.


SO... I had the cleaned out tank, and itchy fish, and I had very few options. I decided to do another round of PraziPro, since it seemed to clean out so many critters the first time.

So the tank will sit w/the Prazi for 5 days before I do another water change.

*shrug*

The other thing is that I ordered a UV sterilizer. I will add this to my tank once the Prazi is removed from the water. I think it should arrive by the end of the week.

The last item I was looking into was an RO unit. If it is something in my water, RO + UV should get rid of anything really bad I'd think. But RO looks to be somewhat expensive. Maybe I will make a decision on that in another week if things haven't changed or have gotten worse.

I will certainly be reluctant to add any more meds if this latest round of PraziPro shows no results.

The fish are still eating and acting normal so hopefully I have done no damage to them so far!


The only bad thing thats happened is that last night my shark got something stuck on his mouth. At first it looked like he tried to eat somethin stringy and it got wrapped around his whisker. He was shakin his head tryin to get it off. Later it looked like a lot of it came off but there was some fuzzy white stuff around his mouth. I freaked out at first thinking it was mouth fungus, but after 4 days of a fungus-fighting med in the water + knowing he got somethin stuck on his face a little earlier, I'm pretty sure it was just a remnant of whatever got stuck previously.

I'll check him again when I get home tonight just to make sure.

These fish are stressin me out lately!!!! O_O!!!

pedzola
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update

Post by pedzola » Mon Jul 24, 2006 8:39 am

Update... Added UV Sterilizer Friday 7/21.

Water is amazingly now clean.

As of yesterday (Sunday 7/23), all fish seem to be more active and I saw very little flashing.



Perhaps the UV sterilizer has cured my problem?

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mikev
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Post by mikev » Mon Jul 24, 2006 11:00 am

Good news! So it was some kind of bug in the water. UV does take 2-3 days to do its job.

Now, be careful: UV is a nice toy and it helped me in the past (greenwater and ich); but it also *may* uncycle a tank which has not been running for long OR (applies to you) where you did a lot of treatment. Watch for Ammonia and -- even more so -- for Nitrites now.

I myself have UV on a couple of tanks but do not run it all the time.....the time it uncycled a tank it took me more than two weeks to restore the bacteria.

pedzola
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Post by pedzola » Mon Jul 24, 2006 11:23 am

Thanks for the warning. I will keep an eye on ammonia and nitrite.

I figured it would be safe if you have an established tank (ie: beneficial bacteria already stuck to filter media and not free-floating).

Didn't realize medications would complicate the situation any more than just the meds killing the bacteria. All the meds should be out of the tank by now. A few water changes and carbon in the filter should have erased the traces before I added the turbotwist.


But yeah, I thought my tank was clean before... after running the sterilizer for a couple days the water is 100% transparent.

Do you think it's best to run the sterilizer 24/7 or have it only on for half the day? I could attach to my timer to only run it at night.

?=o

Thanks again for the tip, I will make sure to test the tank tonight.

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