Total System Levasole Planaria Kill Recipe

[jadeguppy]

update: weeks after second dosing and no flatworms to be found.

 

[CleveYank]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13311665#post13311665 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rob.holbrook
So I am getting ready to do this....

Who all has done it and been successful. Please let me know as I hope it will make it easier for me

Hey Rob,

RE: our phone conversation last night.
Please thank the gent who owns the fish type store in Columbus, OH for the scare tactic in which he told you, "Oh don't do that, you'll paralyze all of your fish". What a bunch of rubbish.

My bet is he just wanted to sell you 10 more boxes of Flatworm Exit @ $15 a crack.
He's a LFS owner Rob and despite a good reputation they are still out to make money.

Follow the directions to the letter and everything will be fine Rob. Follow the 1 ml per gallon, do your water change on the 1st dosage, run your carbon and you'll have smooth sailing.

Really, I wouldn't post something that would nuke your tank and kill your fish. I'm the guy that has lent folks a bag of salt at 11:30PM at night and dropped what I was doing to help rescue a fellow hobbyist tank because he was out of town and couldn't correct the problem.

Even by accident or to someone I didn't like, I would never give that kind of advice...lol

 

[serpentman]

Just thought I would post my 2 cents. I have used this treatment at slightly higher concentrations (1.25x) with absolutely no side effects on ~20 different species of SPS and a couple lps.

I think there is a lot of confusion out there between the higher concentration levamisole dip for AEFW and the whole tank treatment for regular FW. To give the benefit of doubt, some people not familiar jump to the conclusion that you are referring to the former rather than latter treatment. With that being said, I agree that most LFS will drive you toward an off-the-shelf product for financial reasons as well as to avoid liability.

 

[DNA]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13311697#post13311697 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jadeguppy
update: weeks after second dosing and no flatworms to be found.

I've learned that you can have a "flatworm free" tank for two months and then have them reappear. I've had that twice, but three months without them and your tank is likely cured.

These worms can be hard to spot so make sure to mark the spots were you could allways find them easily before the treatment and make those the reference spots for future sightings.

 

[DNA]

Levamisole is quite forgiving on overdosing, but I don't think higher consentrations do any good since the worms suviving are most likely in small crevaces where little or no waterflow runs through so they will survive anyways. I get the feeling that the medicine loses it's effectiveness very fast so two reccomended dosages a week apart are better than a single double one.

Using as little as possible is the right way of doing this since killing a fly with a sledgehammer is no more effective than with todays newspaper.

 

[Milkdud]

Just wanted to post another successful treatment here using this method after a massive FW problem. Thumbs up to the people who have posted this helpful and much cheaper tx. Thanks fellas.

 

[serpentman]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13312804#post13312804 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DNA
Levamisole is quite forgiving on overdosing, but I don't think higher consentrations do any good since the worms suviving are most likely in small crevaces where little or no waterflow runs through so they will survive anyways. I get the feeling that the medicine loses it's effectiveness very fast so two reccomended dosages a week apart are better than a single double one.

Using as little as possible is the right way of doing this since killing a fly with a sledgehammer is no more effective than with todays newspaper.

Agreed. I think 2 subsequent doses 7 and 14 days later is crucial to the success of this treatment. In fact, I think you should apply a second and 3rd dose before you see FWs reappear to kill low populations of stragglers. If you wait to see them reappear, your populations are already too high and you are prolonging your infestation.

 

[chrisguy]

I've decided to take the plunge. Been subscribed to this thread for a while and have read it multiple times. I have a flat worm population that has been growing rapidly as of late. I'm going to call my local TSC today to see if they have Levasole in stock. If not, where is a good place to order?? Livestock Concepts is out of stock.

 

[rick s]

Just a note to add my experience on flatworms.

It took 4 treatments of Flatworm Exit in December 2005 to get rid of all mine. I hadn't seen another one until a couple weeks ago.

After about 2 1/2 years, they're back, in the exact same spot. I'm wondering if these are another something that never really go away.

 

[rob.holbrook]

Well I did it, I put 1 ml per gallon in my tank 175 ml of the mix in my tank ...

am i to follow up in a day with .3 ml of the solution per gallon ?


thanks

 

[jadeguppy]

I followed up a week later with a full dose. I never did a water change while dosing, but did run carbon starting about 15-20 minutes after each dose.

 

[rob.holbrook]

after about 60 min my corals do not look very happy..... my zoos all are closed up, glaxia is shunk up, but yeah i did see a lot of red bugs die

is this all normal the corals to be closed up for a few after

 

[DNA]

You've altered the chemical balance of the tank so closed corals are nothing to be worried about.

Keep watching your tank very carefully and make water changes if it gets any worse and make sure you siphon out the dead worms and use loads of carbon in a canister with a high flow.

Don't underestimate the toxicity of the dead worms.

 

[rick s]

Hello Everyone,

I’ve read the thread a couple times and have a few questions.

I’ve used Flatworm Exit a few times and know they recommend not running carbon or UV while dosing the treatment. I’ll assume they don’t want me to run carbon initially because it pulls out the Flatworm Exit.(?) So, I have that stuck in my mind.

I know that carbon is mainly run to pull out the dead flatworm toxins.
1. Does carbon also pull out the Levamisole?

2. CleveYank ran carbon from the onset in his Long Story. But in the short version he states to “Have carbon on hand and ready to run. . . just in case.” So should it:
A. Be run from the get go.
B. Be run after a set period of time.
C. Don't need it at all unless you see stress or a lot of flatworms.

3. If carbon does not pull out the Levamisole. What does? Or, if it remains in the tank for an extended period of time, won’t additional doses (2nd, 3rd, and 4th weeks) pose a possible problem?

I have a very small Flatworm population because I have done Flatworm Exit treatments.
4. Are water changes required after Levamisole treatments? Recommended? Or not necessary at all (in the case of my small population)? Even if doing 4 weeks worth of treatments?

5. Does a UV Sterilizer have any effect on it? Should it be unplugged? If so, how long?

6. Do I understand correctly that Levamisole is just as safe and effective, and to be dosed and used in the exact same way as Levasole?

Sorry for the nitty-gritty questions guys. I just want to make sure I understand the process correctly.

Thanks,

 

[jhildebrand]

Bump on Rick's questions and I have some of my own:

Exactly how bad of infestations have you guys had that have tried this? I know it's not the treatment chemical, but the worm toxins that we have to worry about in regards to poisoning the tank for the most part.

The levasole causes stress to invertebrates. Any losses of stars or urchins from the chemical?

Thanks to all those who have posted their experiences and cleveyank for doing the research.

Curse the LFS who knowingly sold me frags from an infected tank...

 

[CleveYank]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13363111#post13363111 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rick s



1. Does carbon also pull out the Levamisole?

2. CleveYank ran carbon from the onset in his Long Story. But in the short version he states to “Have carbon on hand and ready to run. . . just in case.” So should it:
A. Be run from the get go.
B. Be run after a set period of time.
C. Don't need it at all unless you see stress or a lot of flatworms.

3. If carbon does not pull out the Levamisole. What does? Or, if it remains in the tank for an extended period of time, won’t additional doses (2nd, 3rd, and 4th weeks) pose a possible problem?

I have a very small Flatworm population because I have done Flatworm Exit treatments.
4. Are water changes required after Levamisole treatments? Recommended? Or not necessary at all (in the case of my small population)? Even if doing 4 weeks worth of treatments?

5. Does a UV Sterilizer have any effect on it? Should it be unplugged? If so, how long?

6. Do I understand correctly that Levamisole is just as safe and effective, and to be dosed and used in the exact same way as Levasole?

Sorry for the nitty-gritty questions guys. I just want to make sure I understand the process correctly.

Thanks,

Nitty Gritty is fine.

Q1, I do not know. I would assume so. A test would be to dose 2 small samples of water. Run Carbon on one and not on the other for 24 hours. Dump flatworms in and see what happens.

Q2, Run it after a couple hours, I would not wait until you see stress. Delicate fish like powder blues tangs or regal angels might buy the farm due to the toxin release from flatworm demise.

Q3 As you read in my war and peace thread, I dosed it over a long period and had no losses. Did it accumulate? I think the carbon does remove it and or it loses it's efficacy.

Q4, to stress the safety and to test things I purposely did not do water changes and my losses were -0-. But it does stress the snails and the starfish and such so basically if it's in there it is leaning on the system a tad. But with no losses in even the 1.5 ml per gallon test tank I can imagine that the 1ml per gallon which was just as effective proves that tank inhabitant subtle stresses are minimal at best. So water changes on low population may not be needed. If you have a carpet of them all over everything I would think that the levasole is not your concern and the toxin result of the flatworm demise would add the requirement of water changes to the scenario. Would it be stupid to do a water change on a low flatworm population tank? I think not. Would it impact the overall effectiveness to do a water change on a low flatworm population tank the next day? I also think not.

Q5, I would not know since I did not run one in my test. On the onset of the dosage I would recommend shutting it off for it may or may not impact the efficacy.

Q6, Yes you understand correctly.

 

[rick s]

Thanks for the response and I also want to add a big Thank You for doing the experimentation!

 

[jhildebrand]

Thanks. I'm gonna give it a whirl shortly and report back with results...

 

[CleveYank]

No problem folks.

(cue anthem or any funny music here)

But I had a dream.....no just kidding.

Seriously,
I had such a terrible battle with these little modda fingas that it was getting to the lets just toss some bleach in it and make it into a cichlid tank. And I got them from vendors and fellow hobbyist. It would be cool to see these things eliminated from the hobby. And not via some capitalist venture either. I even documented a notorized copy of what I did and such and actually sent a copy to my lawyer just in case some enterprising lowlife decides to try to make dough on it. I borrowed my info from others and just took it to a more in depth step. Take it as my little peice of freeware to the hobby. That's it and nothing to it.
Enjoy.


Oh yeah, remember you folks are part of this experiment and the proof of it when you use it. So please post your success. Who knows maybe they will be eliminated from the hobby and that's not so far fetched?

 

[jadeguppy]

I know that carbon is mainly run to pull out the dead flatworm toxins.
1. Does carbon also pull out the Levamisole?
I think so, but I'm not positive

2. Be run after a set period of time. This is what I did.
3. If carbon does not pull out the Levamisole. What does? Or, if it remains in the tank for an extended period of time, won’t additional doses (2nd, 3rd, and 4th weeks) pose a possible problem?
I did not do water changes between doses, but did run carbon after 15-20 minutes+ of the dose.
I have a very small Flatworm population because I have done Flatworm Exit treatments.
4. Are water changes required after Levamisole treatments? Recommended? Or not necessary at all (in the case of my small population)? Even if doing 4 weeks worth of treatments? After 4 weeks it is usually suggested to do a water change for regular maintenance, I stuck with my regular change.
5. Does a UV Sterilizer have any effect on it? Should it be unplugged? If so, how long? No idea, I don’t like regular use of UV sterilizers since I focus on my fuge.
6. Do I understand correctly that Levamisole is just as safe and effective, and to be dosed and used in the exact same way as Levasole? I used Levamisole Hydrochloride by AgriLabs.