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Levamisol is used by farmers to deworm their animals (i.e., pigs, sheep, etc.,). It is not intended for use in aquariums. I have not seen it for sale in pet stores. Flubendazole is used to treat humans. However, both work well in the aquarium. Flubendazole did not hurt my plants when I tried it. The tank I treated with Levamisol did not have plants. You can buy Flubendazole from JEHMCO and Levamisol is avalaible from agricultural products distributers. I bought mine on line.
If you are treating fish with a drug to cure a medical problem, you should do that in a separate tank to avoid any unwanted side affects on other tank inhabitants.
You might have to treat all of your fish, but in the process you might be harming the plants, invertebrates, and bacteria. It is also possible that the medication might leave a chemical residue in the tank that will cause trouble later.
It is safer and easier to treat the fish in a separate container.
BTW, I'm sure that your fish store advisor in very knowledgeable, but that would put him or her in the minority of fish store advisors.
Aquatronics sells it under the name Discomed. I have used it. Powerfull stuff. It has never had problems with it affecting plants. It will kill all invertebrates!! snails, shrimp etc..
The part of the worm that you can see hanging out of the fish's vent is its reproductive organ. It probably has already littered you tank with little nematodes. You need to assume that your entire tank is infected. Treat everything. I wouldn't remove anything from the tank. I would also treat any nets that you may have used in the infected tank. As between Flubendazole and Levamisole, Flubendazole has the advantage of being available from JEHMCO. The correct dosage is on the container. With Levamisole you have to figure out the right dosage. Its not hard but you need to know the concentration of active ingredient in the form you buy from the distributor in order to determine the correct dosage. This information is usually marked on the container. Best luck.
ok some people say fenbendazole should be given oraly in thier food and others say put it in the water...i am so confused :? To me if i want to treat the tank it seems i should put it in the water right? and maybe mix some with the food so it gets to thier stomach...what would you do?????
fenbendazole (panacur) should never be used in the water as a bath, it can be quite harmful to the fish as reported by many others.
Flubendazole may be used as a bath, but i have heard that water hardness should be up a bit.
i would use a product that could be used as a bath, and do the whole tank. a product like discomed would be my first choice, but this may not get rid of the ones that are internal. if it doesn't used panacur in their food.
i have fenbendazole in a powder form...how would i mix it in food...and in what? i was thinking chicken ot bloodworms and then freezing it to make some sort of food cube...i heard thats what people do with discus.(They use beefheart, but i need to use what i got...)
i use panacur in a mixture of tetra bits and gelatin. try and get the right mix of tetra bits and gelatin first. get the fish all eating the food without the med, then when (if) you need it, i'll try and see exactly how much you need for tiny fish. i have directions to use it for beefheart and for large fish (discus). i don't believe that you can over-dose on panacur, by all accounts in the literature. anyway it is impossible to get an even dose for all of the fish.
***UPDATE*** my fish are cured. I had to take one a manualy remove some of them, not sure if it was a good idea, but it is fine and healthy now. i treated with an antibiotic and i have seen no signs of them yet.
just to answer your intial concerns
levamisol will not harm your plants , i have used it several times
for callamanus and other nematode probs in tank medication is needed to ensure all laraval and adult stages are cleared
encysted tissue stages of nematodes are generally resistant to treatments and repeat dosing will be required
levamisole dosage's are widely available on the internet if searching , off the top of my head i think it was a 1.5% solution you want in the tank(or perhaps 1.5mgs per litre which is 0.15% solution)
flubendazol is different to fenbendazol available in panacur wormer , again niether of the active chemicals are harmful to plants as they work on neuromuscular blockade principles , any damge seen by aquarists could be attributed to other agents used to produce the powder/liquid etc that the drugs comes as ... none of these medications are ever solid pure