The Puffer Forum

Sorry I know there's a sticky, but I still don't hae a clue how to dose a 2 inch long puffer.

I know I have to soak the food in it, but I don't have a clure how to figure out how much.


So...if anyone can shed light on that, then thanks.

Ok, what type of levamisole did you get? The pig dewormer?

I'm not getting it until I feel somewhat confident i nwhat I'm about to do....

does it matter what kind? there rea different kinds?
oh help.

Discomed is primarily levamisole, and it has nice directions on the packet. The other forms of levamisole are caplet/pill or injectable which is easier to use with no gel coat. There's also a powedered form.

As for amounts, I'd have to go do the math again using the stickied thread to figure it out.

The main thing to do is locate a source and then post back here and we can figure it out.

Eric

discomed is ok, but is pre-dosed.

I bought a water soluble pig dewormer and Farm and Fleet that was pure levamisole.

it was about 18 grams in a 500ml container. I filled it with 240 ml of water and then applied .75ml per gallon for a complete tank bath. I arrived at this dosage through suggestions/research and experimentation. Don't take it as gospel.

Feeding medicated food is by far the preferred option, as it will get the medication to the affected area much better than a bath, where the medication is absorbed through the gills and works its way through the puffers system.
I would even take force feeding medicated food over a bath, however, I was dealing with dwarf puffers and that simply wasn't an option IMHO.

SG - I would imagine puffers to be one of the easiest fish to force feed, but DPs would be near impossible.

I've only used discomed when soaking food, and injectible levamisole for tank dosing. I think what Sari is asking is how you would mix up some levamisole to soak food in. My assumption would be to take your .75ml per gallon amount, maybe cut it in thirds (.25 ml per 1/3rd gallon), and soak the food in a dilution that strong, feed only soaked food once or twice per day for 3-5 days. However, I'm purely guessing on that.

Praziquantel is also an option (I mentioned on one of the last posts on the .org site). I think Prazi-Pro is one medication using it. On a Koi site they recommend 1/4 teaspoon of praziquantel per 100 grams of food, but it's obviously a powdered version. Not being at a LFS right now, I can't recall if Prazi-Pro gives directions on the bottle for mixing with food.

Eric

Jayhawk wrote:I can't recall if Prazi-Pro gives directions on the bottle for mixing with food.

No. It doesn't. It just lists the dosage for baths.

but I don't get how to dose it if I'm soaking the food... as much as it will absorb? A diluted version to soak the food in?

As you can guess, I'm apprehensive about this whole thing. I don't trust my judgement on the dosing, lol.

Personally, and I'm making this up as I go, but I'd make up a batch at tank dosing strength and that's what I'd soak the food in. Obviously, you'd need to divide the amounts down to a gallon or so, fill a small tupperware container with liquid and throw away the rest. But I am guessing, because I've only used discomed when feeding and it has instructions (but I'm not sure how that translates to using powdered or liquid levamisole with regard to amounts).

Eric

Has anyone tried this treatment on F8s yet? I have two that have been living with parasites for a couple of years because they won't eat medicated food. They get thin very quickly.

I used Prazi-Pro on DPs by dosing the tank, so I imagine it should work for figure 8s. Unlike Levamisole, it doesn't have any pH issues that I'm aware of.

Eric

Okay. I could not get a livestock dewormer with Levamisole. Am going to try again though.

However, I had these Tank Buddies Parasite Clear (by Jungle) tabs leftover from about a year ago... (praziquantel; N-[[(4-Chlorophenyl)amino]carbon 1]-2,6-diflourobenzamide; metronidazole; acriflavine. Not that I know what any of that stuff in the brackets is, but I understand praziquantel, metronidazole and acriflavine!) Anyway, I dosed my guppy tank a full dose, and the camallanus has cleared up substantially. Not completely, but I've only done one 'full' dose (2 tabs, 48 hours apart) and my snails are still all doing well. No harm there....

Now, should I get more of these and do a course of them with my heavily brackish GSP? they might work, I figure.

Also, I DId manage to find *something* with Levamisole: fish food.

Now, I know what you're thinking: Charlotte will never eat that, lol. Well, she tried, but spat most of it out. So I crushed up a snail, powdered some pellets and tried to sneak it into her, via food.

The instructions say to feed the fish this medicated food for 3 consecutive days, feeding no other foods during that time. So, will sneaking small bits of medicine in the food, dilute it too much to be effective?

Sorry for all the questions - I just want to make sure I do what's right by my GSP.

Oh, and the food has metronidazole 1.0%, praziquantel 0.5%, levamisole 0.4%

I've used those fizzing tablet before, and they worked for me (I didn't use them on puffers, but I can't see why they wouldn't work).

As for your puffer, mixing the pellets may or may not work - it's worth a shot. Otherwise, why not try the tablets in the tank? Or, you cold break a tablet in 1/4th or 1/8th, put that in a 16 ounce measuring cup, and soak some food in that for an hour and feed that. A more scientific way would be to send an email to the maker of the med and they may have advice on dosing in food.

It sounds like you're making headway. Camallanus are tough little worms so I'm not surprised it might take more than one full dose.

Eric

Well...as I said to my oh-so-significant other, "I've been medicating cats and dogs for years! I'm not going to be defeated by a little fish."

Hm.

I've tried pputting the pellets in crunchy in her food, and today, I made a paste. which promptly fell apart, which meant she could pick and choose to eat the krill and NOT the pieces of medicated food.

I think I shall email Jungle, as per your suggestion, and see what they say about soaking food. Although I don't see why soaking 1/8th or so wouldn't do it...I'll email 'em anyway.

Thanks for your help everyone. I'll let you know how this comes out.

Okay. I emailed Jungle, but in the meantime....


The dose for a bath of praziquantel, or so I have found, is 100 mg to 10 gallons.

So. Do you suppose, that each fizzing tab, has the full 100 mg of prazi in it? Seems optomistic, and I wish I could find out for sure.

Because if so, then I can easier figure out a soaking food dose - I *read* that it's 500 grams of food to 400 mg of prazi.

So if anyone wants to correct this, or shed more light on it, that would be cool.