Levamisole and red bugs

G

gonzapa

New member
I recently realized that I got red bugs and flatworms.
I started treating the flatworms with levamisole last week.
Before the levamisole you could actually see the redbugs in the acros. , I been looking really hard for 2 days and cant see1 red bug in the tank. Is it possible that levamisole also kills red bugs?
 
I did 5 grams of levamisole powder in a total of 190 gallons.
I left the levamisole in the tank for 6 hours before I turned the skimmer on and did a water change
 
Last edited:
Over a month and the red bugs have not returned

I Went back to the LFS and noticed some frags full of Red bugs. I took It home and and used the levamisole that I had already mixed from when I dosed the tank on it.
Within 30 minutes the many red bugs could be seen in the bottom of the container and the amount on the coral were significantly less.

Given the fact that I had already mixed the levamisole over a month ago and that the Red Bugs clearly were being affected, I now think that it is confirmed that Levamisole powder can treat Red bugs with no visible consequences to the reef inhabitants.

My original treatment included 4 doses to treat the flat worms.

The first one I dosed it for 30 min before reconnecting skimmer and carbon due to the amount of flat worms in the system.
On week 2 I dosed the levamisole and left it in the system for 2 hours before reconnecting skimmer and adding carbon
On week 3 the dose was left for 4 hours.
And on week 4 I left it in there for 8 hours ( I forgot I had dosed).


I would like to hear if anything else has a similar experience as this treatment is a much better option than dosing interceptor.
 
I had red bugs and AEFW at the same time about two years ago. I agree that strong levamisole solutions will kill red bugs and other inverts. You can see this if you dip treat in a white ceramic bowl. However, I think levamisole is too toxic to treat whole tank systems. Many sensitive acro's and Monti's, as well as some as some larger motile inverts won't stand up to the levamisiole treatment. The interceptor seems to not harm these more sensitive corals though and, reportedly, the interceptor has a much lower rate of the red bugs returning.
 
chuckreef said:
I had red bugs and AEFW at the same time about two years ago. I agree that strong levamisole solutions will kill red bugs and other inverts. You can see this if you dip treat in a white ceramic bowl. However, I think levamisole is too toxic to treat whole tank systems. Many sensitive acro's and Monti's, as well as some as some larger motile inverts won't stand up to the levamisiole treatment. The interceptor seems to not harm these more sensitive corals though and, reportedly, the interceptor has a much lower rate of the red bugs returning.
Click to expand...

I dosed my reef at the recomended dose and suffer no casualties except the red bufs and the flat worms. I had no invert loses at all. As I understand it the interceptor treatment is very harsh with crabs and some other inverts
 
That's great for you!!!
I agree on the shrimps and crabs. I was not willing to take the risk.
I can't wait to hear other peoples experiences with this.
 
That's great for you!!!
I agree on the shrimps and crabs/ interceptor.
I was not willing to take the risk (based on what I had read on RC).
I can't wait to hear other peoples experiences with this.
 
So this is basically one of the first whole tank treaments of Levamisole that I have read about... Are the AEFW's gone now?

gonzapa, you should post this in the SPS forum, we need to learn more from your experiences. To date, no one really believes in a safe whole tank treatment for AEFW.
 
Again this is just my experience. I dosed my tank 4 times at the recomended dose and nothing died. I am not sure what would happen if you dose at higher concentrations.

As far as AEFW I am not sure. I had the red flatwom type. It would be cool to try on AEFW.
 
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