Wanted to put this out there because I had a heck of a time finding dosage info.
About a month ago I was researching a fish I was considering purchasing and stumbled on info about a parasite I had never encountered or QT'd for. So in major freak out mode I started watching my community tank like a hawk because I had added fish to it over the past few months. And sure enough I had a cherry barb with an inflamed vent and eventually saw worms when she was stationary. Lucky me I stumbled on this before my fish had stopped eating, unlucky me I had 4 tanks that I'd possibly cross contaminated. Overall we are good about not cross contaminating but I had not made any stock changes in 3 months and figured I was safe to get a little lax. After all I QT all new stock and plants for 4 weeks. Little did I know the evil devil worm takes 6-12 weeks to make its presence known. As I researched meds and continued to watch I started to see more signs and lost a young black phantom to the worms.
So I have just finished up one three day dose of fenbendazole and so far so good. I have levimosal on order JIC. My fish have been pooping dead worms like crazy, including healthy fish I had no idea were infected. I will be following up laxative and with Kanaplex in food to address internal infections. I also have two more treatments to go before I can begin to hope I am worm free.
A lot of conflicting info out there, and I am no expect. But after a week of extensive reading across the internet I came up with this treatment. Will be a while until I know for sure it works, I will update, but I think I nailed the buggers.
Half a 1 gram packet of Safeguard Dog De-Wormer OTC at 22% fenbenazole. This is about 1/8 teaspoon. Grind the granular into a fine powder (I used spoons). Add 25-30 ml garlic guard, cap tightly and shake vigorously to combine. Add 2 cubes frozen blood worms, 1 teaspoon focus, and a few drops Vita-Chem (optional). Allow to soak 30 min to an hour. Turn off chemical filter (make sure you have fresh carbon to remove extra meds after feeding) and feed only worms, do not dump solution into tank. Feed slowly as much as your fish will eat and discard remaining. Turn chemical ftration back on and observe fish for negative reactions to meds. Do this once a day for 3 days performing a large water change and heavy gravel vac day before and day after treatment course. Repeat in 2-3 weeks and again in another 2-3 weeks to break the life cycle.
I treated Cherry Barbs, Phantom Tetras, Three Stripe Coryadoras, Kissing Gourami, Angelfish, and Harlequin Rasboras. My only area of concern was Angelfish as there was some info out there about bad reactions but they did ok. With in 5 hours most my fish started to pass dead worms and all of them after 12 hours. After second dose poo started to return to normal. My plants were fine and no shifts to bio cycle. The only reaction I saw to meds in fish was heavy poo-ing, no one showed stress.
About a month ago I was researching a fish I was considering purchasing and stumbled on info about a parasite I had never encountered or QT'd for. So in major freak out mode I started watching my community tank like a hawk because I had added fish to it over the past few months. And sure enough I had a cherry barb with an inflamed vent and eventually saw worms when she was stationary. Lucky me I stumbled on this before my fish had stopped eating, unlucky me I had 4 tanks that I'd possibly cross contaminated. Overall we are good about not cross contaminating but I had not made any stock changes in 3 months and figured I was safe to get a little lax. After all I QT all new stock and plants for 4 weeks. Little did I know the evil devil worm takes 6-12 weeks to make its presence known. As I researched meds and continued to watch I started to see more signs and lost a young black phantom to the worms.
So I have just finished up one three day dose of fenbendazole and so far so good. I have levimosal on order JIC. My fish have been pooping dead worms like crazy, including healthy fish I had no idea were infected. I will be following up laxative and with Kanaplex in food to address internal infections. I also have two more treatments to go before I can begin to hope I am worm free.
A lot of conflicting info out there, and I am no expect. But after a week of extensive reading across the internet I came up with this treatment. Will be a while until I know for sure it works, I will update, but I think I nailed the buggers.
Half a 1 gram packet of Safeguard Dog De-Wormer OTC at 22% fenbenazole. This is about 1/8 teaspoon. Grind the granular into a fine powder (I used spoons). Add 25-30 ml garlic guard, cap tightly and shake vigorously to combine. Add 2 cubes frozen blood worms, 1 teaspoon focus, and a few drops Vita-Chem (optional). Allow to soak 30 min to an hour. Turn off chemical filter (make sure you have fresh carbon to remove extra meds after feeding) and feed only worms, do not dump solution into tank. Feed slowly as much as your fish will eat and discard remaining. Turn chemical ftration back on and observe fish for negative reactions to meds. Do this once a day for 3 days performing a large water change and heavy gravel vac day before and day after treatment course. Repeat in 2-3 weeks and again in another 2-3 weeks to break the life cycle.
I treated Cherry Barbs, Phantom Tetras, Three Stripe Coryadoras, Kissing Gourami, Angelfish, and Harlequin Rasboras. My only area of concern was Angelfish as there was some info out there about bad reactions but they did ok. With in 5 hours most my fish started to pass dead worms and all of them after 12 hours. After second dose poo started to return to normal. My plants were fine and no shifts to bio cycle. The only reaction I saw to meds in fish was heavy poo-ing, no one showed stress.
Great job!
