levamisole- another question?

[sammigold]

sorry I posted this question on the levamisole sticky but I suppose no one is going to look at it unless they think they have a worm prob... so I will ask it here...

I noticed on the sticky thread that it was mentioned that Big L will not harm your bacteria in your tank.... I referred this thread to someone in the guppy forum and they bought BigL to treat their gups for camallanus worms... they came back and said their tank had started to cycle and they had an ammonia spike and lost a few fish..... is it possible that the Big L does affect the bacterias?? what may have caused this?

feeling abit terrible at moment :(

[Lichan]

Hi Sammi,

Ive used it many times on my fish and not once have I had a problem with the filtration/bacteria. I beleive the answer to your question is NO it does not affect the bacteria in the system.

Pete

[sammigold]

thanks pete.... what do you think may have caused their tank to recycle then.... could it be that it wasnt established enough.... if its a relatively new tank (recently cycled) would maybe the bacteria levels not be strong enough... (does that make sense) to cope with the levamisole or could it just be a strange co-incidence :? :wink:

[G-1000]

Hi Sammi,

Can I offer a slightly irregular explanation here:

Is it possible that by administering levamisole that the worms within the fish were eventually exposed to toxic levels of a drug, killing them. In doing so, once the fish passed its stools, there would have been a lot more say, decomposing material (i.e poo and dead worms) than normal - leading to an elevated ammonia level?

Just a thought.

G

[Lichan]

Hi Sammi,

Yes it does make perfect sense - I still dont think it was the Levamisole, as far as I am aware it just does not affect the bacteria that is responsible for the cycling/running of a biological filter.

I doubt you would really be able to tell what caused the problems that this person was/is having without knowing a few more specifics about the tank/water changes/water params/feeding habits...I think its a case of who knows why it happened ?? and a case of correcting the problem ASAP without losing any more fish.

I would suggest water changes to reduce ammonia, maybe some ammo-lock or something to bind the ammonia. Keep the water changes up until the ammonia readings come down somewhat - could even add some cycle or similar to speed up the re-cycle of the tank.

How long has the tank been cycled for ?
What were the water params before the med was added ?

HTH - Thats what id do anyway.

Pete

[sammigold]

they said that they had bought ammolock and I have posted a question asking them about how long the tank had been established and what dose etc... trying to help them sort it out.... thank you for your advice... having myself never used levamisole I didnt feel able to advise them on its effect other than referring them to the thread that I found here and another that was on the ausfish forum... again I thank you for your sound advice I will feel confident that when I do need to worm my fish that I can do it safely.