Fully stocked reef tank ICH Treatment!!!! IT WORKS!!!

Hey guys sorry I've been working a lot. I got the levamisole from a friend but I think he got it from an online cattle store or something....maybe cattlesupply.com or cattlestore.com. make sure it is the prohibit soluble drench. I know there is a few other like products that might have different ingredients so watch what you order closely. All my fish are still doing excellent. I don't have any soft coral other than a few lps...chalices...acans...micromussa....not sure if it would affect soft coral or not...it shouldn't if it is dosed properly.
 
There's a rumor that levamisole is banned....but its only banned from human consumption. (Of course no human would consume it unless I hope not but I think they were directing it towards farm animals that produce milk or may be used for meat) so it might be hard to find.
 
I would have STRONG reservations about dosing a reef with levamisole hydrochloride. It is a very potent broad-spectrum poison for worms. Many have tried this and many tanks have crashed. Please do plenty of research before considering this.
 
The ones who have had tank crashes were completely at fault by leaving the meds in tank for way too long or overdosing! If anyone attempts to use the product make sure you follow the instructions in the first couple of post!!........the ratio should be 5grams of levamisole to 300 gal of actual water volume! For no more than 2 hours. Followed by 10 % water change and fresh carbon. Take carbon and skimmer offline while dosing make sure you have plenty of in tank water movement.
 
And the ich won't dissapear over night!....it took about a week or so to notice the actual parasites were gone and then it took a couple of days to notice the spots healing where the ich was ...........its not going to be an overnight magical completely healed fish tank but it did work after dosing only once!
 
Just wanted to give an update on my expiemece w the Levi. So I followed islanders dosing ratios and did 5 g for 300 gal for my 90'gallom reef tank w soft corals and zoos and a few fish. Took my sea stars and cucumbers out and pu an air stone In a bowl for them. Took the carbon and reactors offline for 2 hrs and then did 10% water change. So my biggest fear was of course that everything would die. And so far 4 days later everything has rebounded beautifully. The corals are looking great and the fish seem fine. Like islander said, the shrimp definitely get stunned but are fine the next day. Now unfortunalty, all the fish that really had ich had already died before I was able to do the treatment. So now it's more of a preve titive measure for the new fish I'm going to add. I am however going to do another treatment in a week to really eradicate any eggs that survived the first one. One thing I did want to know from islander or anyone out there, do u recommend using Levi for a dip when adding new fish? What ratio should I use and how long? Thanks again for this info
 
Not sure on dipping the fish.....What i would do is set up a QT and measure out the dosage and leave fish in QT for about a week using the same procedures as your DT. I plan on adding a few more fish and after i am done stocking i will dose the tank again to rid any pest, im assuming that since it is also a dewormer that it should take care of any unforseen flukes or other pests that could cause death to the fish, but that isnt something i have had any experience with just an assumption. It might turn out to be the new miracle tank dosing magic :D
 
What conclusions did you come to thus far Islander?

How long has it been since you started the treatment?

What are the adverse affects on corals, fish, inverts, beneficial bacteria, other inhabitants... if any?

It's been interesting to see where you were and how far you have come. It would be great to hear periodic updates if possible?
 
Everything is looking great, it has been so nice looking at my fish without seeing ich all over them and feeling like a jerk! :D . All of my corals are doing excellent great colors great PE! I havent had any problems with loss of bacteria or any signs of tank stress at all. Snails and crabs are still on the move, fireshrimp is still hanging out, starfish is great. Now as long as i dont find anymore bugs tearing up my coral i will be extremely happy! I wish i had a good camera to post pics for you guys but all i have is my crappy cell phone camera. ill throw a few up here and see how they look......
 
i tried all the old fairytail tricks, garlic, lights out...yadayada and nothing worked, actually i read somewhere that too much garlic can cause liver damage to fish :O
 
Anyone know where to get this? Seems like the manufacturer discontinued it (indefinite backorder). If anyone knows of a good equivalent let me know. :)
 
How long has it been since treatment started/day one?

Could you provide a summary of your treatments regiment up to this point? How frequent, what doses, are you still treating, etc.

How do you know the beneficial bacteria is still doing well and wasn't severely impacted be the meds?

Where did you hear about this, and do you have resources to back up more mini experiments like this. I know I for one would like to read more about it.

For obvious reasons we need so much more info so that others are able to experiment and make informed decisions.

Thanks Island!
 
Last edited:
MiamiZach said:
Just wanted to give an update on my expiemece w the Levi. So I followed islanders dosing ratios and did 5 g for 300 gal for my 90'gallom reef tank w soft corals and zoos and a few fish. Took my sea stars and cucumbers out and pu an air stone In a bowl for them. Took the carbon and reactors offline for 2 hrs and then did 10% water change. So my biggest fear was of course that everything would die. And so far 4 days later everything has rebounded beautifully. The corals are looking great and the fish seem fine. Like islander said, the shrimp definitely get stunned but are fine the next day. Now unfortunalty, all the fish that really had ich had already died before I was able to do the treatment. So now it's more of a preve titive measure for the new fish I'm going to add. I am however going to do another treatment in a week to really eradicate any eggs that survived the first one. One thing I did want to know from islander or anyone out there, do u recommend using Levi for a dip when adding new fish? What ratio should I use and how long? Thanks again for this info
Click to expand...

Thanks MiamiZach,
:thumbsup:
I can say that Levamisole is absorbed through the skin and gills of the fish. In Fresh water it is an excellent treatment for Nematodes since the fish don't have to eat the stuff or the food one may put it in. There is no question of dosage, it's in the water in certain quantities. The Ich could be affected since there is systemic medication in the fish's blood and their skin. The fish actually covers the cyst with its own skin in the effort to kill the irritant.

Over the past couple of years I have found some leave the Levamisole in the water for up to 8 hours at a dosage of 5 grams = 300 gallons. More than that will certainly kill some snails and closely related creatures. Levamisole really does a good job of killing the flat worms although it doesn't kill their eggs. They hatch at varying times and the treatment needs to be repeated a few weeks apart to kill those which hatch before they start reproducing and laying eggs again.

Charles H
 
All i can say is that i used this back when i had a reef tank for flatworms. It was before i QT'd all my fish so there was definitely some ich in the system. 24 hours after i dosed the ich outbreak exploded and there were a lot of losses. So for me it did not kill ich at all but made it a million times worse
 
holdyourlight said:
All i can say is that i used this back when i had a reef tank for flatworms. It was before i QT'd all my fish so there was definitely some ich in the system. 24 hours after i dosed the ich outbreak exploded and there were a lot of losses. So for me it did not kill ich at all but made it a million times worse
Click to expand...

Most likely in this case the fish were stressed by the chemical, and the release of toxins from the flat worms, or the water change. Which weakened them and thus the ich was able to overcome their defenses. I have no experience with using this for ich. I wouldn`t be suprised if there are not many chemicals that can cure ich- in perfect circumstances-but there would ahve to be a lot of testing before I would recommend or try.
 
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