Levamisole In-Tank Treatment for AEFW

[cjtice]

Thanks! I will be ordering soon.

 

[Fish4Me2]

In case it will help anyone, I thought I'd add my experience. I currently have a 60 gallon tank, with about 12 gallons in the sump. I noticed bite marks on my acros around 3 months ago, and confirmed AEFW by dipping a few loose corals in TMPCC.

The livestock in the tank includes: a cleaner shrimp, 6-8 snails, xenia, a frogspawn, blue clove polyps, a few zoas, many small feather dusters, and a variety of SPS.

Here are a few things I've noticed:
The night before the first treatment, I noticed a clutch of AEFW eggs in the branches of a millie.

Treatment #1: I treated early in the morning before lights on. I could see red planaria in the water column, but not much else. I used 1.1 grams for the first treatment, and basted the corals with a maxi jet once an hour for 6 hours. Restarted skimmer and carbon, and did a 15% water change after 6 hours. No ill effects on inhabitants.

2 days later: new AEFW eggs appear next to previously found eggs.

Treatment #2: 6 days after treatment #1, 1.5 grams, basted corals hourly, restarted skimmer and carbon after 6 hours, water change after about 8 hours. Cleaner shrimp looked drunk until the next day.

5 days later, first eggs appeared to hatch.

Treatment #3: 6 days after treatment #2, with lights on, 1.1 grams, basted corals for 3 hours, started skimmer and carbon after 7 hours, no water change. Bite marks have continued to appear since this treatment, and red planaria are visible again.

Treatment #4 (today): 6 days after treatment #3, lights on, 1.6 grams, basting corals once per hour for 4 hours. Will restart carbon and skimmer after 7 hours, 20% water change two days from now. Cleaner shrimp looks drunk again.

Overall, it hasn't seemed to help much, which may be due to the lack of fish to eat any floating worms. Then again, I haven't seen any floating worms. I'll try dipping some corals in TMPCC this weekend to see what washes up.

 

[flamron]

So are you fighting both red planaria and AEFW?

Just curious since you say you see red planaria floating around.

Also, are you using prohibit?

 

[Fish4Me2]

Yep, it seems I have both. In a first, during tonight's treatment, when basting after 4 hours, quite a few large AEFWs came free. I siphoned them out, and they proceeded to happily cruise around a Tupperware for hours. I'll see if they're still alive in the am. The red planaria I can see on the glass still look fine. I am using levamisole, in the form of prohibit drench powder. I added an eighth teaspoon to some tank water in a solo cup with a AEFW and it convulsed and seemed to die, so I know it does work.

 

[acroj]

do you have any smaller ones in there wondering if it kills the smaller ones first because i have had larger ones survive 24 hours in a bucket. whats the life cylce 2- 3 weeks? thinking if it kills the smaller ones every 6 days eventually there will be no bigger ones once they get to old.

 

[Bax]

did you guys say this will kill red bugs too or does anybody know?

I have seen posts saying it does. I've not experienced it doing so. It seems to impact inverts. This is evident when the large shrimp, hermits, snails all go into hiding or ,"look drunk" as many have observed. And pod polulations get knocked way back. If you are a crustacean the size of a pin head, none of this can be in your favor.

INTERCEPTOR has proven to work best for a whole tank treatment. As a reminder, it took quite some time before INTERCEPTOR was readily accepted as a systemic treatment for RBs. Many of the same issues are present in that treatment. You need to treat for the life cycle of the adults, eggs and hatchlings and your dosing needs to suit your system.

I don't know how the two treatments would interact, so I'd stay away from treating both at the same time. At least not in a main system.

 

[Fish4Me2]

Update: 1.6 grams of Levamisole in approximately 60 gallons of water allowed me to remove AEFW by basting my corals several hours after dosing, but the flatworms were still alive approximately 12 hours later in the observation Tupperware. I wonder if Bax's success was partly due to the initial overdose? Clearly Levamisole does kill AEFW, but I seem to be only stunning them at this concentration.

 

[Fish4Me2]

Also, I tried to order a second packet of Levamisole from American Livestock, and was told, "The prohibit soluble powder is on backorder with no date at this time when due in to us. Your order was cancelled and nothing was billed to your credit card. Sorry for the problem." So that route might no longer be an option for those trying to order.

 

[rc1626]

I tried as well and got the same response. Anyone know where else prohibit could be purchased from? Can we use any straight levamisole hydrochloride as long as we dose the correct amount? Not noticing any AEFW in my tank but want to be prepared in case they show up one day. Stupidly I've never dipped or quarentined any acros or any corals for that matter. Will certainly do from this point out. Hope I'm one of the lucky ones.
Any help appreciated.
Rob

 

[shookbrad]

Dosing is still 5g of levimasole for 300 gallons.

Prohibit is 90% pure, so just use that in the calculations.

I have treated my tank 4 times now at this concentrate with no results of Aefw loss. My star fish always look stunned but come back. The Aefw I see on my corals don't look effected. I plan on upping the dose strength on my next treatment. I have left the treatment in the tank for about 24 hours then turn on the carbon and skimmer.

 

[scoly]

Maybe you should try to increase your dosage? When I did my first dosage using 2.5g not much happened. I increased the dosage to 3.0g on second dose, and actually seen some AEFW's lift off a coral by themselves. Just a thought? I'll b increasing my 3rd dose to 3.5g tomorrow morning

 

[Bax]

Update: 1.6 grams of Levamisole in approximately 60 gallons of water allowed me to remove AEFW by basting my corals several hours after dosing, but the flatworms were still alive approximately 12 hours later in the observation Tupperware. I wonder if Bax's success was partly due to the initial overdose? Clearly Levamisole does kill AEFW, but I seem to be only stunning them at this concentration.

That's absolutely a possibility.

I still don't recommend it, man it was BAD!

Another very imortant factor in evaluating my treatment, I was dipping like crazy and trimming off the bases and tossing them before I opted to go to the Levi treatment. This put me miles ahead of anyone who is treating the system without these efforts .... No doubt!

Then, as an added "plus" I OD'd the system!

I'm a firm believer that systemic treatment is the only way to really knock these pest back. Dipping was not working for me! And, I've never owned a wrasse. I'm also a firm beliver that rebound is always a possibility. Even for me right now.

Why?

Look at all the little critters that survive!

What is happening in this thread that was started by James, is an effort to develop a protocol that will offer a "highly probable" treatment for systems. Without the scorched earth effort I had already put into play out of despiration.

All systems are different and will react differently. But cleary, used in the proper dose, the LEVI is knocking back the AEFWs in most systems. If you are not seeing that, you're not dosing heavy enough.

I may find I need to begin treatment again tomorrow because two or three of these littel bastages survived and found each other .... That's the wonder of what we are capturing in our reefs! Should that happen, I would dose Levi immediately and follow the guidlines we are developing here. This is still the best possible resolution I've heard of.

Would I start with the super OD dose I accidently began with last time? NO! But I know My system can handle a lot more then the 5 grm/300 gallons dose, so I would dose higher then that if I do need to do it again, and I would do so based upon what I learned in my intitial treatments.

We are learning, here and now, how to develope a dosing for "YOUR SYSTEM".

I still avidly stand on the premis that everyone needs to start at 5 grm/300 gallon and adjust from there. Remember, we have also had reefers report horrible side effects from even that dose. Many have seen few effects from this "starting dose" , good or bad. Every system is diiferent!

"Stay the course!"

If we all keep buying Levi, maybe we'll single handedly improve the economy too!

 

[Fish4Me2]

Thanks Bax, I think that's great advice. As with your observations, my system is clearly capable of a higher dose than 5/300, but I also have no fish to be harmed, and most of my corals are pretty small. Given my fight to date, I'm coming close to considering a "scorched earth" approach, so I'm willing to try higher doses.

 

[scoly]

Just added third dose of prohibit, raised it to 3.5 grams this time. Not sure if I'll raise it any higher for the following doses or not. Guess I'll just have to wait and see how the system takes it.

 

[ehutchby]

I've been seeing signs of aefw on my tricolor colony and a rose milli colony. I've been able to remove both colonies and dip them. I haven't seen a single aefw when I dipped in revive.
Yesterday at 5pm I dosed 3 grams of prohibit for my sps dominated, bare bottom 120g total water volume system. I decided to keep the skimmer running and turn off my other reactors (gfo and carbon).
I completed my water change this morning at 9:30am, put fresh media in both gfo/carbon reactors. Cleaned out the skimmer. So far all is well with my corals.
I've blasted most of my sps colonies and have not seen any aefw.
Most of my fish livestock are still hiding and did not come out to eat this morning.
My mated pair of clown fish look great, tricolor wrasse looks good, yellow tang and kole tang look good. Haven't seen my blue hippo or four orange anthias yet.
It's possible that I don't have them and have over reacted, but the symptoms look just like aefw. will see.

 

[scoly]

I would have to say, when I started basting, I found more AEFW'S on my tri-color, than any other coral in my tank. They must like it!

 

[Pauliwalnuts]

Update: 1.6 grams of Levamisole in approximately 60 gallons of water allowed me to remove AEFW by basting my corals several hours after dosing

I've a 150 gallon tank and a 50 gallon sump (went with tank and sump dimensions for total water volume). Dosed 5 grams of 100% pure Levamisole to my 200 gallon system and I wouldn't recommend anyone going higher on their dose.

but the flatworms were still alive approximately 12 hours later in the observation Tupperware.

I was also able to catch one after basting and put him in a container with the same water as of the tank. 12 hours later, he was still alive :eek1:.

I wonder if Bax's success was partly due to the initial overdose?

I have been saying this all along.

Clearly Levamisole does kill AEFW's.

Imo, at a dose which is critical to our reefs.

I have a well established reef, good protein skimmer, and use the ROX carbon from BRS. I'm in three dose deep with six day intervals between them. Day after dosing, it's clearly visible that I can't go any higher with this sort of treatment. Inhabitants will slowly recuperate during the days that follow. But when they're starting to look good again, it's time to do another dose. From the looks of it, I'm also one of those who thinks this treatment will not be a successful one. I haven't found any AEFW's after the first treatment with basting the coral during treatments. But as someone had mentioned before, " brittle stars don't actually die off, they're only stunned ", thus giving me the same impresion about the AEFW's. What I've noticed at this dose is that bristle worms do die. Now, I don't know if that's a good thing or not. I will continue with my treatment, if it allows me to, and I'll give you guys the complete results in two months after the last dose. Wish me luck...

 

[acroj]

i have noticed even with coral rx that the smaller ones die first and pretty quick compared to a full grown adult. so if you do this levamisole treatment every week for 2 months wont the full grown ones die of old age? i would think they dont live that long

 

[akaimal]

Added 1 salifert spoon of prohibit in 250 ml of water with a few flatworms in it. They are almost 90% dead after 30 minutes in the solution. Will check again after 15 more minutes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g0sBs3iUQ4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[akaimal]

They are still alive after one hour!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPekYzAE1k4&feature=youtube_gdata_player