Total System Levasole Planaria Kill Recipe

[basssnake]

I have those reddish brown flatworms too. I need to kill them off. I would rather do it naturally(easier) but i really need to kill them. So, has anyone else done this? I haven't read the whole thread yet, but i will soon.

[itZme]

Originally posted by basssnake
So, has anyone else done this? I haven't read the whole thread yet, but i will soon.

This is only a 1 page thread until your post. There are at least 3 others who have done this treatment who posted in the thread. It will do you a lot of good to read more about anything you plan to do with your reef tank in the future before making a decision since there are always opinions on both sides of the fence. Some people will tell you the flatworms will just die off when they run out of their preferred food, others will tell you that a single 6-line wrasse will rid your tank of flatworms in no time. The author of this thread (and almost everyone else in it) has tried all the other methods before resorting to experimenting with a new treatment.
I think it is great that Cleve_Yank took the time and money to do this experiment and now I can see my corals again without the mats of flatworms covering the sand and corals like they were at their worst point.

[basssnake]

Yeah, i need to read it. I have a bad flatworm problem and i hate them. So, this is a last resort thing?

[itZme]

Originally posted by CleveYank
Joe...BTW.

Slight wrinkle emmerged since the initial purchase at Tractor Supply before this all started.
Double check with Tractor Supply 1st.

In order to continue my testing I needed to have another bottle.
When I called the one in Chardon Oh they were out of it and gal said it was no longer in their computer. So I ordered it from livestockconcepts via their online store. The photo was the stuff made in Ireland like I got from TS. Yet what I got was some stuff made here. I was sort of put off with the switch but have not gotten back to giving them the Q and A about purity and strength. It supposed to be the same exact dosage and usage on swine so I suppose it's the right stuff only made elsewhere.


The original stuff was LEVASOLE (levamisole hydrochloride) Soluable Pig Wormer (Anthelmintic) Net Wt 0.0712 oz (20.17g)
bar code on bottle 0061-5023-013 made by or for Schering-Plough Animal Health Corp Union NJ 07083 made in Ireland NADA#112-049, Approved FDA NDC# 0061-5023-01

Stuff I recieved from Livestock Concepts was;
Durvet brand levamisole hydrochloride
same weight and dosage. same usage mfg MO. 64014 USA
& 2nd set of bottles was Aspen Vet Resources LTD levamisole hydrochloride, same wieght and dosage etc but Liberty MO 64068
(Guess Missouri is Bullish on pig dewormer or something)

Anyway, stuff from livestock concepts was about $15 per bottle delivered to my door. And they sent me a nifty catalogue just in case I needed to order tools to help birth my calves or deworm my sheep too.

FYI... I just stopped at the Medina TSC and they had 3 bottles of the Durvet brand "Levamisole Hydrochloride Soluble Pig Wormer" 20.17g (0.712oz)

I only needed one to try again on the strong little SOB's living in my tank after the 3 FWE treatments and the 2 Levamisole treatments.

I will update again with the status after dosing with this bottle of current dated chemical since the only variable in my last treatment was that the "Levasole" brand was past the Exp. date on the labe.

-- Kevin

[DNA]

I learned here that some have been successful using Levamisole to treat their tanks for red planaria flatworms.
Flatworm Exit can't be imported to Iceland and is very hard to aquire so I had to give Levamisole a chance.
It turned out to be very expesive in it's powder form.
A wholesaler asked for around 100$ for each gram and a special permit had to pass through some burocracy institution before it could be ordered and imported.
Next step was going to try to find a vet that could possibly help me out so I spoke about this to the guys at the local pet shop and they said they had been using this stuff to treat worm infested freshwater fish.
They didn't have a clue it could treat their own saltwater tank 1 feet away, where they stored this drug.

The stuff they gave me is called [Levacide injection], it's yellow and looks like somebodys urine and is to rid cattle and sheep of worms and costs around 100$ for ~250ml.
It includes 7.5% Leavamisole Hydrocloride, but it didn't say what the rest is.
At first I added 15 ml to 1000 litres of water and soon enaugh the flatworms start to move around showing some unease, but none died so I added another 15 ml 45 minutes later.
This did the trick and the flatworms start dieing in large numbers. The following day I found 5 small flatworm alive so I dose the tank again seven days later in order to kill the remaining flatworms using 40ml/1000litres.

It's been two weeks now and I can't find a single flatworm alive, but I'm sure some must have survived and each dosage will only kill 99.9% leaving some to come out an reproduce later.
I didn't see the drug cause any effect on any of the lifestock besides the flatworms. Small tubeworms, shrimp and critters survived and corals stayed open. No loss at all so this stuff is perfect to kill red planaria.

Of course I did the siphoning out part before the treatment and water change and charcoal after.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After 2 years of having this pest in my tank it clear they are a nusance and should be killed as soon as possible.
We know how these flatworms will pollute our tanks when they die killing everything if you don't do things right so it's obvious they are very unwelcomed in a healthy tank.
If you have a lot of these there are bound to be constant daily die off that will deteriorate your tanks water quality and cause various problems.
I had noticed my corals grew very slowly and some not at all, some didn't even open and the feel was deffinately that things were not allright.
Now I see huge changes in my corals in how they open up and growth seems to be back to normal.

[itZme]

Glad to see you got your problem solved even though the methods were a bit different over in Iceland.
I guess I should post the update to my situation. After dosing on 5/21 with a fresh batch of the Durvet brand I have not seen a single flatworm at all! I think I may finally be free of this plague

Thank you once again for doing the research CleveYank.

-- Kevin

[Loachmaniac]

I know this stuff is suggested as an internal parasite remover for freshwater fish.

http://www.loaches.com/Members/shari...ydrochloride-1

It apparently paralyzes various types of invertebrates/worms.

[skriz]

I have an 800g system that has been suffering from a MASSIVE red planaria infestation for about a year. Just the other day I decided I was going to break down my tank and fresh water dip the rock and scrap the sand (selling off the coral, clams and fish); basically starting over.

However, after reading this thread, I believe that it would be worth a shot to at least run an experiment with Levasole just to add another test subject and help validate the results.

Cleve, I take that it would be appropriate to post my results here or would it be better in a seperate thread? I, like you, would like to keep the information clear and consice.

[DNA]

Skirz

You can't sell any of your infected stuff.
You'll need to have your tank free of this pest for at least 2 months before even thinking of it.

If it's as massive as you say it is, don't underestimate the toxicity of the dead worms. Read up and prepare well.

Do massive syphoning before the treatment.
Have massive amounts of saltwater ready.
Have massive amounts of charcoal ready with forced waterflow through it.
Make sure you do this on a weekend so you will have time and can keep a close eye on the tank.

You can do this without any losses, but it's easy to have massive losses if you don't do this properly.

Speaking from experiance.

[CleveYank]

Skriz,

If I were in your shoes I would look at this in the following manner.

Tearing down 800 gallons and starting over would not be in my line of thought at all.
And as DNA warned selling off livestock that you know is/may be tainted is foul play. I guess it gets the problem out of your hair, but warned or not it's not exactly great for the other hobbyist.

Ok so ethic recommendations and such aside.

DNA's speculation of massive water change is an understatment.
Just housing 400 or so gallons of water to do a toxin kick down is rather daunting in and of itself. So DNA's recommend sucking any of them that you see is good advice. I'm also inclined that you may want to mess with your pumps inside so as to create a front corner of the tank that is kinda dead to very low current. They congregate in the low flow areas so this might make this step easier.

Once you get a large number out that way. I would figure out a way to get alot and I mean an aweful lot of carbon in a pressure or at least a gravity flow add on or loop in your system to have as much of the water and at a 2 to 4 times per hour turnover (IE nice contact time) rate for the carbon so you can offset the large water change issue. Then I would shoot for a couple hundred gallon water change and the changing of lots of carbon for a whole tank initial dosing.
Otherwise I would setup a series of 55 gallons garbage cans that you could setup batch dosing. Basically nuke the stuff in heated individual setups and then put back into the tank. You'd be rearranging everything, but you would have more control over the amount of toxin and then when you got everything batch treated 1 time you could them hit the whole system and the numbers would be low enough and the toxin low enough that a final shot of it in the whole system would be fine. Run the carbon do some more water changes and you'd be in the pink.

Good Luck either route you go and don't wing it and I'm sure everything will come out fine and you'll have 800 gallons of planaria free reeftank.

[Compguy]

I have also heard that if you put a flashlight in the corner of the tank that will attract all of them, or most of them, to that corner to help out as well, I really hope that you do end up treating your tank with this so we can all see how it went and how well it worked, would really help out with questions and what not about how well it works, good luck skriz and please do not sell your livestock unless you post that you have a flatworm problem and its up to the buyer whether or not to buy it, at there own risk, we need to try our best to keep these from spreading, every little thing helps. Good Luck and let us know how it all turns out

[CleveYank]

From my experience the Flashlight technique is mythology or must only work if you have like 5 flatworms.

[johnike]

Great thread! We know all about de-worming pigs out here in Mayberry. I did the FLE thing six months ago with pretty good success. Wonderful you geniouses out there are so on the ball. Keep it up, John and the Redneck Reefers of Tiskilwa,Illinois.

[Compguy]

CleveYank, I have never tried it, but just heard, I will keep it in mind not to even waste my time and try it if I ever have to treat again. thanks for the info

[DNA]

It's been 6 weeks now and no sign of flatworms anywhere.
I'm getting the fireworks and champagne ready.

If someone thought these are harmless, think again because they have the power to deteriorate your whole reef. They just do it so slowly that unsuspecting reefers don't realise what's really happening.

[CleveYank]

I just checked back to post that since the original levasole dosing my tanks remain planaria flatworm free.



After I complete my next major system change I have planned, I will take some rock and frags and place them in a separate system to see if they re-emerge as has been the case when they have disappeared prior. I am hopeful that this final extra step will prove that they are finally gone. (This in order to double check a possible dormancy issue, which I have noted prior.)

[kaptken]

well,,,,

7 years ago, my multi tank frag system got a nasty case of red planaria. They absolutely prospered and grew into a bright orange matt a quarter inch thick covering the entire plenum sand beds, rock and frag rock. and were climbing all over the glass and corals.

There was no patented formula for ridding them then. Pre-EXIT era, so to say. I experimented with things like melafix, which in pretty good doses, seemed to kill about 75% of them. Making the water bright orange, smellining like iodine and driving the protein skimmer absolutely wild!! Like adding laundry detergent to an automatic dish washer. If you have ever done that. but that didn't quite do the trick.

so i tried what a local store does to rid their tanks of red planaria , when they get them. They usually tap water dip the macro that customers bring in for sale or trade, to rid any flat worms and such. but forgot one time. They got infested, and I bought a frag from their tank system. VOILA! Red Planaira everywhere! enough said.

So they just fresh water flushed their whole wall tank system, and sump to rid them. so i figured , so would I.

I first syphoned out as many as i could. One idea i have seen on RC, to syphon flat worms to a filter sock in the sump works very well to capture most of them. then bleach the sock. then i removed each coral, frag and rock, one at a time, and blew the loose flat worms off them in a bucket of tank water with a power head. then place them in a tray, tub or tank of clean salt water. then I put a bunch of power heads in the vacant tanks to swirl the water around in a circle while filtering any loosened flat worms with the over flow filters and an HOT micron filter. stiring up the sand bed while i was at it to get the dirt out too.

Then i syphoned all the water out of the tanks as deep into the plenum sand beds as i could. refilled the tanks with tap water from a garden hose. and ran the sump pumps to circulate for 5 to 10 minutes. Drained and refilled with new salt water. then i replaced all the corals and rock ONLY AFTER giving each one a 20-30 second swirling dip in RO water to kill any remaning flat worms in their base rock. And that was it.

I never saw them again in that system.

But i got them again recently from some frag. so right now, im doing an EXIT treatment. and if that fails. Thanks to a friend who directed me to this thread, I do think i will experiment with the Lamanisole treatment, as there is a Tractor supply just down the road. sounds like a good idea.

I'm in the process of tearing this sytem down anyway to replace with a larger tank. I want to salvage as much as i can from the tanks, and rid them of pests and algaes. a whole new curing project.

One of these methods should do the trick for me.


Thanks to all for all the good info!

[basssnake]

Ok, well, i am ready to try this. From reading the post, you guys had good success and no losses of any inhabitants other than the flatworms right??

CleveYank, can you please tell me exactly the formula that you decided was correct, and the proper dosing of it(amount, and how often) for my 85 gallon tank? There is quite a few of the flatworms in this tank. I would very much appreciate it. I have the normal corals, softies, leathers, and a couple lps corals. Some crabs, shrimps, feather dusters, snails, etc. thanks

[CleveYank]

basssnake,
RE-read my very 1st post at the very beginning for complete clarity for the exact recipe. (to get down to it for time and reading, I provided the concentration and dosage calculation 1st since I figured this thread would get some twists and turns that would bury the info) ----> It is very important that you follow the concentration as specifed for your mix. Then you administer that at either 1ml to 1.5 ml per gallon of total possible tank volume PLUS actual to possible sump fluid volume. (So if you have a huge skimmer and canister and refugiums you would need to add those to calculation to get to your dosage number) The 1 per gallon really makes this thing bullet proof if you mix the concentration in the recipe exact. I dosed the tank with both 1 and 1.5 ml per gallon dosages in 2 systems under these guidelines which allowed me to test the concentration at 2 possible dosage limits. And I did 1/2 of initial amount added as a maintenance dose the next day. And then I did a repeat full dose every 7 days for 4 weeks just to see if it could be done with no harm. Under this what I believe was overkill dosing, still yeilded no losses.
----> In another trial to treat a different parasite brought me up to a 3ml per gallon dosage WHICH WAS TOXIC! So trying to follow the concentration and the 1 to 1.5ml per gallon amounts as a limit is the best. Also treat this as the same as the flatworm exit instruction concerning the toxic impact of the flatworm dieoff. So don't forget the possible 50% water change need and running carbon. Good Luck, if you find any other issues sing out.

[Reefdiver72]

Well its been almost 5 months since my dosing I have not seen any flatworms I didnt ever add another dose after the initial dose. Its been so nice without those dang ugly little things.

[DNA]

The RC monster ate my reply so here is the short version.

Two months after initial treatment I find for sure a single Red Planaria flatworm. It's around 0.5 mm in size.

I'll try to get more of Levamisole to treat the tank for a few months.

Read my posts above and come to your own conclusion.

[serpentman]

I think one element to this or any treatment is to do a follow up dose about 5-7 days after the initial treatment whether you see any remaining flatworms or not. This knocks out any lurkers or larva that remain. Given the cost, additional treatments are very economical (unless you live in Iceland).

That being said, the only side effects I have seen in my system were zoos and microstars seem to react but recover fine.

[DNA]

I did it twice, 7 days apart.

[Big E]

My schedule is to redose the LEVASOLE for a total of 3 to 4 weeks every 7 days in the EXACT MANNER

Did you ever follow this regime when you were using Flatworm exit?

I may have missed it, but how long did you leave the levamisole treatment in your system before a water change or carbon use?

If I read this comment below correctly you didn't do any water changes during the treatment period?

4th and final dose goes in later today.

Be nice to finally do some water changes again.

Just looking for clarification, thanks

[CleveYank]

Originally posted by Big E
Did you ever follow this regime when you were using Flatworm exit?

I may have missed it, but how long did you leave the levamisole treatment in your system before a water change or carbon use?

If I read this comment below correctly you didn't do any water changes during the treatment period?


Just looking for clarification, thanks

Yes Big E you are reading it correctly.

I did no water changes during my 4 week long dosing.
reason 1.
after the last failed flatworm exit dosage at 4 times the required amount kicked most of the planaria my population was still in the re-building process so the carbon I was running non-stop was surely enough to offset their toxin via their die-off and would gradually pull the Levasole back out in between dosing.
reason 2.
I wanted to see what the longterm impact of the Levasole would be. So I monitored the tanks with -0- water changes to see what would be the result.

Now, had I had a large population of them I would have been doing the water changes to counter the toxin as a result of a massive flatworm kill that would result.