Levamisole/pH

[Cathy G]

Hey, this is from another forum (Loach). I figured it might be good to report as pH always seems to be an issue with levamisole. I just cut and pasted the following:

"Many thanks to Dr. Hal Sinclair of IVX Animal Health for the following information.

Levamisole base is NOT stable and will break down as pH rises.
Levamisole Hydrochloride, on the other hand, is stable for up to 90 days in water. No specific pH necessary."

So, for all the worm infested fishies in higher pH waters... YEAH!

Cathy

 

[curviceps]

Hi Cathy, this seems to be great if true. There is certainly a lot of confusion regarding this. I have also seen advise to ensure pH is less than 7 even for Levamisole HCL.

What has other's experience been? Have you been able to use Levamisole HCL successfully to treat worms even in ph higher than 7?

Thanks
Tim

 

[Cathy G]

Actually - I have never had a problem with worms, so can't answer you. It just seems that many other's do, so when I heard about this discussion on another forum, I figured I'd post what the conclusions were. I'd be hard pressed to keep my tanks below pH 7 anymore, and I sell fish to the lfs and they don't have low pH's either.
Cathy

 

[dwarfnut]

No real knowledge here, but actually more questions: I tried using Levamisole once to cure some worms and it seemed to work good. My questions is where can you get the HCL version? I searched and searched and only found a farm feed store that had the Levamisole but it was a powered form that I had to hydrate and then guess at what the concentration was and how much to dose. Is there an easier why?

FYI, I didn't have any trouble with PH when I did my treatment, but then again, i have no idea what % the solution was!

Thanks,
Bill C.

 

[Apistogramm-Sam]

No real knowledge here, but actually more questions: I tried using Levamisole once to cure some worms and it seemed to work good. My questions is where can you get the HCL version? I searched and searched and only found a farm feed store that had the Levamisole but it was a powered form that I had to hydrate and then guess at what the concentration was and how much to dose. Is there an easier why?

There is a website called valleyvet.com that sells Levamisole HCL. It is in a powdered form, but what I ended up doing was taking five grams of the powder (which treats about 100 gallons of water) and dissolving it in a known volume of water (say 8 ounces). You can then dose it accordingly to the tank that is to be treated. The bottle they sell contains about 20 grams of Levamisole HCL and it cost me about 14 bucks for it.

Regards,
Sam

 

[Cathy G]

This is cut from another forum.

"The final part of the Levamisole discussion. Here is information from Dr Yanong at the University of Forida re dosing level and frequency.

Tom,
Glad that the EDIS publications are helpful, but I do encourage you and
the other hobbyists to work with fish veterinarians as much as possible,
and ideally, have infections checked pre-and post-treatment (this can
often be done with fecal exams, if you are dealing with an intestinal
infection).

In answer to your question, the dosage rate for levamisole in a bath is
2 mg/L (2 ppm) for 24 hours (followed by 70-100% water change, and
siphon the bottoms of the tanks), with repeat treatments
necessary--retreat in 2-3 weeks, and probably one more time after that.
This is regardless of size of fish. "

So, you can use the powder. When I bought some at the Farm/Fleet, it was 18 grams, I couldn't find any listing of inert ingredients. So, I divided up the 18gs into 3 piles of 6 grams each. Then those were divided in half, so it was down to 3grams per pile. Divide that pile in half and your down to 1.5 grams or 1500 mg's. From there you keep dividing until you have the dose you want for your tank...

If you end up going through all this, be sure to relabel your levimasole bottle so you know EXACTLY how much powder you are putting back!

Cathy