Parasite treastment
- Thread starter Spence
- Start date
you can combine levamisole with prazipro if you want to. You can add general cure to the water, without the prazipro, as you wait for the levamisole. You should do at least an 80% water change and temporarily add carbon for a day in the filter. Then the next day remove the carbon and dose with levamisole. Make sure the tank light is not on since levamisole is light sensitive.
Prazipro can be active in a tank for 3 weeks after dosing and should not be mixed with other meds.
Prazi treats flat worms and some parasites.
Api general cure treats hexamita and flat worms.
Levamisole treats round worms.
They should not be dosed together.
Any ammonia spike is counteractive to treatment and recovery.
If the fish is responding to prazi, why treat with other meds as well? Also, keep the prazi in the water for 2 weeks. Do water changes and re-doze if needs be. Prazi is not a one off doze treatment....It is its long term effect that treats the fish fully.
Prazi treats flat worms and some parasites.
Api general cure treats hexamita and flat worms.
Levamisole treats round worms.
They should not be dosed together.
Any ammonia spike is counteractive to treatment and recovery.
If the fish is responding to prazi, why treat with other meds as well? Also, keep the prazi in the water for 2 weeks. Do water changes and re-doze if needs be. Prazi is not a one off doze treatment....It is its long term effect that treats the fish fully.
I’m not sure the fish is responding to anything at this point. I’ve kept ammonia and nitrates at 0 since first detected, but in order to do that I have to make huge water changes (roughly 90%). Because of the huge water changes I need to redose with each water change. I don’t have anyway to test the feces to see which parasite is causing the issue, so I’ve been using praziquantel since Wednesday (prazipro for 3 days, then switched to general cure yesterday since that has the added metro). Got some hex shield but he won’t touch it, and I haven’t seen him eat any more than the one pellet a few days ago. So at this point it’s been at least a week since he really ate. I’m thinking time is getting short here.
At this point I’m wondering what to look for as far as improvement goes. Is the solid white feces an improvement over clear, because that is really the only change so far? I’ll stay the course with the General Cure if that is a positive, but I’ve never treated for parasites before and have no idea what signals improvement other than eating and no more white waste.
At this point I’m wondering what to look for as far as improvement goes. Is the solid white feces an improvement over clear, because that is really the only change so far? I’ll stay the course with the General Cure if that is a positive, but I’ve never treated for parasites before and have no idea what signals improvement other than eating and no more white waste.
The faeces should become solid colour, not clear, not white.
Do the water changes. Sick fish will get sicker in ammonia/nitrite water. Ammonia/nitrite are triggers for diseases. Many fish harbour parasites but it only becomes evident when water conditions are out of whack.
If prazi/General Cure don't work you need to try round worm treatment as suggested.
My favourite is flubendazole because it is harmless to fish and broader spectrum, but levamisole can also work. Flubendazole is effective against both round and flat worms, and some parasites like hexamita if the treatment period is extended. It's like 3 in one, and also easy on fish and even fry, but will kill snails and shrimp.
Do the water changes. Sick fish will get sicker in ammonia/nitrite water. Ammonia/nitrite are triggers for diseases. Many fish harbour parasites but it only becomes evident when water conditions are out of whack.
If prazi/General Cure don't work you need to try round worm treatment as suggested.
My favourite is flubendazole because it is harmless to fish and broader spectrum, but levamisole can also work. Flubendazole is effective against both round and flat worms, and some parasites like hexamita if the treatment period is extended. It's like 3 in one, and also easy on fish and even fry, but will kill snails and shrimp.
So I've almost completed the full course of API general cure and I may be seeing a bit of improvement. He has begun digging around in the gravel rather than just hovering in place. Still no interest in food and passing white feces. I cannot find any documentation on using the API longer than the 2 48 hours courses. Is it ok to continue the treatment? I'd like to go at least one more round of the API since he does seem a bit more active. Or should I assume failure and move on to Levamisole?
Follow the directions given by the manufacturer for API General Gure for this treatment period. I would move on to levamisole HCL. Make sure you use the 2ppm dosing stated in this link:
https://www.loaches.com/Members/shari2/levamisole-hydrochloride-1
About 1/4 teaspoon of 100% Levamisole HCL per 100 gallons will get you 2ppm. If you get over the dosing like 3ppm, that won't be an issue. The issues start to occur getting close to 13ppm, which is over dosing.
OK...I added the levamisole. Once that runs for 24 hours I completely remove it? Or am I completely misunderstanding that? Plan is for a 90% water change and adding carbon to get any remaining traces. Then I guess I just keep watch and hope he begins eating again? From what I read the treatment calls for another round in one week, so I hope this guy is comfy in his quarantine tank. Would you consider adding epsom salt to his tank? Or just give a break from all treatments to see how things go? I have to say that dispite not eating he looks pretty good. He keeps moving the gravel around to his liking and no longer is sitting in one place.
I ordered a microscope to see if maybe I can identify some sort parasite in the feces. No idea if I'll be able to do that, but figured I might as well try to learn something since I already dropped a bunch of cash on medications. If this happens again in the future maybe I'll be better suited to treat from the beginning.
I ordered a microscope to see if maybe I can identify some sort parasite in the feces. No idea if I'll be able to do that, but figured I might as well try to learn something since I already dropped a bunch of cash on medications. If this happens again in the future maybe I'll be better suited to treat from the beginning.
Fish may not eat while treated with medication and that's not a cause for concern. Once you've stopped treating, he may start eating within week or so. If its worms, you've pretty much covered a wide range with those treatments so there is hope 
