PDA

View Full Version : Bit the bullet - levamisole flatworm treatment


Alberta-newb
02-04-2009, 05:05 AM
I've had flatworms since day one with my first purchase of live rock..being a newb I thought "great, life already!" Despite following advice like increasing flow (one vortech and a PH later), decreasing feeding (hungry fish), and reducing nutrients (weekly 15% WCs), to my disgust they didn't go away but rather continued to multiply. Well after finally getting sick and tired of flatworms in my tank and decided to do something about it. I've read mixed reviews on the effectiveness of Flatworm Exit and the expense put me off a little so tonight I crossed my fingers and tried a new treatment: levamisole HCl.

I found the post on RC: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1379099&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

How I did it:

I mixed 1/2 tsp. of levamisole HCl in 250 ml of RO water (easier number than 240 ml described in thread)

I shut off my return pump as I did not want to be treating my sump/fuge at this time.

Cranked my Vortech to full flow to keep everything moving

Dosage was reduced to 0.5 ml per gal from the 1 to 1.5ml/gal recomended...yes I'm chicken!:mrgreen: so 60 ml of solution used in my 120.

Immediate results:

PANIC!

Within 5 minutes, there was a virtual snowstorm of flatworms floating around the tank, low flow areas in the corners developed a deep yellow film on the sand. I quickly grabbed my turkey baster and started sucking up this toxic soup off the bottom. I also used it to blast the flatworms that were now crawling all over the rock dieing.

After 10 minutes, I felt quite confident that the majority of the flatworms were either dead or soon would be. At that point, I restarted my return pump, dropped in 1 lb worth of fresh carbon and started the first of three 10% water changes.

Effect on livestock:

Fish: didn't seem to be bothered at all, but I was (am) concerned with my clownfish pair, as soon as the flatworms began losing their gripo and floating in the water column they thought it was feeding time and started chowing down on dead worms. They seem fine now (3 hours later) but I'm hoping they didn't injest too much.

Corals: (softies, shrooms, and zoanthids) all immediately closed up/ retracted. There was also some mucus buildup so they were definitely irritated. They are now starting to reopen.

Inverts: feather dusters closed up right away, but have since reopened and look ok, I did see several isopods floating around, not sure if the treatment killed them or if these were just molts disturbed by all the water movement and me stirring up the sand? Not sure on the effect on my peppermint shrimp as I rarely see them anyway..will keep an eye out.

So so far I am happy with this treatment technique, time will tell and I promise to report any permanent negative effects. I can say that I had grossly underestimated how bad my flatworm problem was and I am glad I had reduced my dosage below the recomended level. I'm also certain that I will need to redo the treatment again in a day or two to eliminate the last remaining flatworms, I think that if I had gone full dose for a 100% kill, the toxicity of the levamisole and dead worms would have been too much for my system to handle. I am amazed at how much cleaner my sand looks now.:biggrin:

untamed
02-04-2009, 05:13 AM
Get some soft and rigid airline tubing and make yourself a flatworm siphon tool. Stick about 5" of rigid airline tubing on the end of the flexible tubing so you can work the end like a siphon. (oops..meant to say "like a pencil")

Siphon as many of those bugga's out a there as possible both before and after treatment, but especially before. They are reputed to give off a toxin when they die, so you want to remove every one that you can see before you kill off what you can't see....then siphon off the bodies.

They siphon really easily.

Alberta-newb
02-04-2009, 05:21 AM
Get some soft and rigid airline tubing and make yourself a flatworm siphon tool. Stick about 5" of rigid airline tubing on the end of the flexible tubing so you can work the end like a siphon.

Siphon as many of those bugga's out a there as possible both before and after treatment, but especially before. They are reputed to give off a toxin when they die, so you want to remove every one that you can see before you kill off what you can't see....then siphon off the bodies.

They siphon really easily.

You bet, still at it....going to be a long night! What surprised me was the sheer numbers of worms that I couldn't see before the treatment, having a lot of rockwork looks nice but sure presents some problems. It's times like this I wish I had gone BB.:lol:

Bryan
02-04-2009, 06:02 AM
Where did you purchase the Levasole?

Pan
02-04-2009, 06:45 AM
Good luck killing them all off...

You needs a coris wrasse :)

Borderjumper
02-04-2009, 07:33 AM
A pair of mandarin's took care of mine.. havent had a one in ages!

mseepman
02-04-2009, 03:13 PM
Mandarins eat flatworms? I've never heard this before. Has anyone else had this experience?

Alberta-newb
02-05-2009, 03:37 AM
Well it's been over 24 hours and my treatment may end up with one casualty:sad: This morning my streamlined rabbit "the brown trout" was looking pale and very listless, I also observed the foxface "Fluffy" capitalizing on the situation and harrasing him endlessly. Following some good advice I put a mirror in the tank to distract the foxface, this worked but by this afternnon the streamlined was looking worse, spending most of his time just laying on his side. I believe I stressed him out to much with all the mucking around last night, the 30% WC, and the toxicity of dead flatworms may have been to much for him. I moved him to a hospital tank after work today and I have seen some improvement but he's far from out of the woods. Fingers crossed I didn't kill him:cry:

Other than this problem, everything else is looking good. All corals are opened up, rest of the fish look fine, and even the snails pulled through (often a casualty with levamisole treatment). I can also confirm my pistol shrimp is alive and well and even engaged in a tug of war with me over a piece of krill today.

Bryan: I bought my levamisole from a killifish keeper in the states (used in FW tanks against parasitic worms at much higher dosages?) It now appears that it is getting near imposible to locate as it has been pulled from the shelves as a pig/sheep dewormer. Had my local vet try and get some without luck. It turns out it is going through human trials as some type of immuno modifier. Guess the drug companies figure they can earn a lot more from a few pills, then bottles full to farmers.

Pan & Borderjumper: Indeed I would like to have gone "natural" but I think my flatworm problem was too big and a single fish couldn't have kept up with the population explosion that was going on. I was looking into a coris wrasse at one time but had decided against any wrasses as they would be pod competitors for the mandarin I was hoping to get in the future. I hadn't gotten a mandarin yet as all advice says to wait untill your tank is well established and my reef has only been up 9-10 months...sigh..real bad timing.

On a positive note I was looking in my fuge today and can still see lots of pods so they came through ok as well. I should also note that I cannot see any flatworms anywhere so far.

Will keep you posted on long term results.

Pan
02-05-2009, 04:23 AM
Sorry to hear fluffy is being bad, he only ever harassed my Atlantic blue tang defensively, he never initiated anything, but he was the only rabbitfish in my tank. Good to hear the flatworms are going/gone though :)

Alberta-newb
02-05-2009, 05:29 AM
Sorry to hear fluffy is being bad, he only ever harassed my Atlantic blue tang defensively, he never initiated anything, but he was the only rabbitfish in my tank. Good to hear the flatworms are going/gone though :)


Can't blame Fluffy, he's just doing what fish do! I've heard this many times that once a fish comes down ill, tankmates will be quick to finish it off. Natures own defence mechanism, "if it's got a disease..kill it quick before we get it too!" Not looking good now, will be surprised if he makes it through the night..and I though he was the toughest in the tank, certainly was the biggest.

Indeed, at least the flatworm horror is over.....I think:wink:

Pan
02-05-2009, 06:06 AM
So next time someone sneezes on the bus I know what to do :)

Chin_Lee
03-23-2009, 08:37 PM
Hey guys/gals
Found a source for Levamisole
http://www.inkmkr.com/Fish/ItemsForSale.html (http://www.inkmkr.com/Fish/ItemsForSale.html)
The prices are as follows:
$10.00 for 5 grams of the 100% powder,
2x 5 grams @ $15.00
3x 5 grams @ $18.00
4x 5 grams @ $22,
5x 5 grams @ $27.50

In Bulk, not packaged to treat:
100 grams is $110.00,
200 grams @ $190.00
300 grams @ $ 280.00,
500 grams @ $450.00.

He ships to Canada too but at higher shipping costs.
Enjoy killing your flatworms. I know I will be!!!!!!

Chin_Lee
04-02-2009, 11:22 PM
Well I'm glad I got wind of this thread and a couple of weeks ago I bought my Levamisole from http://www.inkmkr.com/Fish/ItemsForSale.html (http://www.inkmkr.com/Fish/ItemsForSale.html)
Prices are very reasonable and I purchased a bulk amount that will be a lifetime supply for me.

I did my first application by
a) mixing 5 grams with 500 ml of RODI water.
b) siphoned out as much of the flatworms that I could see first.
c) shut off my sump return pump ( i didn't have any flatworms in my sump with inline skimmer and filter bags)
d) poured in 250 ml into a 165 gallon tank (1.5 ml of medication per gallon of tank water)
e) I turned on a canister of carbon in a phosphate reactor
f) within about 2-3 minutes the flatworms are hanging by a thread to the substrate. With the powerheads on, they released the thread about a minute later and start floating.
g) I put a Mag12 into the tank with a hose on the output. The I placed the other end of the hose into a filter bag on the side of the tank and turned on the the mag 12. Basically the Mag12 sucked out 90% of the floating flatworms into the filterbag and the water returns into the tank without the worms. This process doesn't stop the toxins but takes out the flatworms.

Best of all, no fish casualties! Its only day 5 after the treatment. I plan to add multiple supplemental doses at the same rate of 1.5 ml/gallon on day 10, day 20 and day 30.

<FONT class=sf>

Myka
04-03-2009, 01:17 AM
I wonder if they have to start decomposing before they release toxins or whether they actually do start releasing toxins immediately upon death...?

Alberta-newb
04-03-2009, 06:29 PM
Chin_Lee:Happy to hear it worked out for you....it's good stuff eh?:biggrin: I haven't done a re-treatment on my tank yet, but so far no flatworms to be seen.


Myka: I believe the toxin release is almost immediate, when I dosed my tank I noticed a yellow colored liquid in the vicinity of dead/dying flatworms right away..it's almost like they disolve as soon as they die. (My personal observation and not scientific fact).

Francis

JDigital
04-03-2009, 06:58 PM
I am just mixing up and big batch of WC water... got my 1lb of carbon yesterday... I will be dosing either today or this weekend.. Glad to see 2 local reports using this product!

Chin_Lee
04-04-2009, 05:41 AM
Definitely beats paying $$$$$$$$$ for Flatworm Exit. When I had 600 gallon in my system, I had to buy 2 bottles of FE to treat. When they reappeared, I couldn't afford another 2 bottles. I think they were about 25 a pop back then.

JDigital
04-05-2009, 04:19 AM
Dosed my tank tonight... what a load of work that is... LOTS of worms died, but I also siphoned for the past 3 days. 20G water change, Carbon, and sump is back up and going with a filter sock to catch the worms I missed with the siphon/WC.

We'll see how the tank looks for the next few days.

EDIT:
1 hour later, my PBT and Foxface are huddling under a rock... SPS has little to no polyp extension, zoas are half out, rest of the fish are swimming around as normal... kinda odd... but prepping another batch of WC water for tomorrow...

Chin_Lee
10-06-2009, 03:22 PM
Hello everyone, just wanted to update on my tank status after my levamisole treatement. Its coming up to seven months and I have not had any flatworms return to my system.
I"M FLATWORM FREE FOR SEVEN MONTHS!!! For those who have this problem, I strongly suggest getting some levamisole. I've tried Flatworm Exit 5 times (probably spent close to $150-200 on Flatworm Exit in the past 6 years when I had up to 800g water volume a few years ago) and the flatworms always returned. I knew this stuff would kill the flatworms but I was skeptical about it on the long term. So far so good.

I do have extra if you are in a pinch and not wanting to get it shipped so PM me if you want some.

Myka
10-07-2009, 01:02 AM
That's great Chin Lee! I'm going to start dipping all my incoming corals in Levamisole.

In the hunt for Levamisole, has anyone come across any liquid Levamisole? If so, please PM me. :)

hillegom
10-07-2009, 02:25 AM
Does anyone know if Levamisole will kill internal parasites as well? I sure does seem to work well for flatworms.

karazy
10-07-2009, 02:34 AM
well crap, wish i would have seen this earlier, i just set my tank to 1.007 SG last night to take care of the buggers.

JPotter
10-07-2009, 03:13 PM
I would also like to know where you got the the levamisole...could you please post the source.

Chin_Lee
10-07-2009, 06:33 PM
I've posted the source in my first couple posts.