Question to fellow ray keepers. Have you used Levamisole on Freshwater Stingrays? Was it well tolerated?
Thank you
Thank you
Levamisole
- Thread starter Dieselhybrid
- Start date
Hi
Have heard of it being Ray safe online - but the one person I know that has used it that I know of first hand (another keeper in the city I live in) used it with devastating effects. Killed all of his rays, his description was a melting of their pattern, happened very quickly too.
This product in Australia is found in pig wormers - our aquarium medications are very limited. I have used these pig wormers on Malawi cichlids in the past with no ill effects.
Have heard of it being Ray safe online - but the one person I know that has used it that I know of first hand (another keeper in the city I live in) used it with devastating effects. Killed all of his rays, his description was a melting of their pattern, happened very quickly too.
This product in Australia is found in pig wormers - our aquarium medications are very limited. I have used these pig wormers on Malawi cichlids in the past with no ill effects.
Thank you for sharing. I've read all positive things, heard all negative things.
Any input is welcomed
Any input is welcomed
Dieselhybrid
with prazipro being proven to be safe for rays and fully capable of handling worms and flukes, why levamisole? Pretty much targets the same parasites doesn't it? I'm sure you have something in mind...just curious why your interested in levamisole! Lol
Broadening of my general knowledge base. In discussion with a veterinarian friend, we were discussing a theory that praziquantel is widely misused. With it only targeting certain stages of some parasites, the usual one to two week treatment durations may not always be enough to fully eradicate some parasites. The egg stage in most parasites is not treated. Treatment for 3-4 weeks (sometimes temperature dependent) is what she says would be necessary to fully guarantee complete elimination. She also said that ingestion is the best way to use it to treat an individual organism, treating the water column would ideally be to prevent transmission, treatment should be more direct. She was surprised we don't feed it to the rays. I opened up Dr. Ross's book and sure enough he says the same thing, use praziquantel internally. Inject it into earthworms he recommends. So she knows her stuff, and doesn't even fully specialize in fish. It's a good theory.
It would explain why nearly every ray keeper advocates using a treatment for parasites at least once annually. Whether you've added new fish or not many swear by this. If parasites were fully eliminated with treatments this wouldn't be necessary if not adding new stock. This could possibly be because we aren't fully wiping out the parasites, just knocking their populations back annually, and the fish (hosts) can keep them in check with their immune systems until they stress or begin to age. This could explain a speculative number of the random unexplained deaths that happen in the hobby.
Levamisole came up in discussion as she said it is often used with praziquantel in livestock to speed up effects. It is effective against a slightly wider range of parasites than praziquantel, certain nematodes in particular. She mentioned it also targets more stages of some parasites lifecycle. She asked if we used it and if it was safe for rays, later leading to this post. It was suggested that two weeks of both simultaneously would be much better than just two weeks of praziquantel in the water column.
The overall impression was that treating internally was a better method to clear the host, she was very surprised this wasn't used. This was confirmed by Dr. Ross. Treating the water column seemed to be viewed as complimentary in action, and mainly to prevent the spread. Using the water to treat the host much less effective as fish don't drink. When treating the water column only, longer durations could be necessary to completely treat the parasites entire lifecycle. Some treatments in the water column alone might not fully treat the internal parasites in the host without the medicine being fed internally even with longer treatment periods.
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Ideas. Hunches. It was a fun conversation over some nice red wine, and now it's time for red wine to sleep. There might be something to this. Maybe not. Worth the thought.
When you think about it, it only makes sense to administer praziquantel internally. That's how we treat cats, dogs, and horses for worms...praziquantel internally...or a similar dewormer. Now you gotta wonder about a whole lot of meds in this hobby. Could be safer and more effective used internally.
Hi Carlos! The Freshwater Stingray book by Dr. Ross says "...7mg/kg of body weight, three doses given as one dose every other day" My friend said to use 5mg-10mg/kg but said 7 doses, one every 3rd day. She's never read his book. So similar recommendations. She did say to treat the water column to prevent the spread and more easily treat anything external or in the gills. The difficulty is that most people use prazi-pro brand, which is dissolved in a solvent, as pure praziquantel HCL isn't water soluble. I don't know the solvent used in prazipro and if it is safe to use internally at concentration. I also would have difficulty breaking the correct units down per ml/cc for injection. So for this application pure praziquantel powder would be most desirable. It's readily available online, for less per unit than prazi-pro brand. I use the pure powder, I haven't used the brand name liquid stuff in years. So this application wouldn't be difficult for me to try next time I need to treat.
Perhaps treating the water column could be sufficient for light parasite loads, but for severe situations the combination may have faster and more complete results. For me, 100% kill rate is desirable for any pathogen. I don't like the idea of non-symptomatic infections/infestations lurking, reminds me of a ticking time-bomb. So I'm thinking maybe a combination of internal and external praziquantel treatments in the future.
I'm still skeptical about levamisole. I keep reading it's okay, but I've heard a few first and second hand reports of problems. I have to remember, many of the rays treated with it were obviously already ill, so the fact they perished could be related to the severity of the infection not necessarily the harshness of the treatment. Still looking for more experiences if anybody has them with levamisole?
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following thread 
I've only used it on arowanas and clown loaches .
if I'm not mistaken , i think it targets different type of parasite from Praziquantel?
I've only used it on arowanas and clown loaches .
if I'm not mistaken , i think it targets different type of parasite from Praziquantel?