Source flubendazole in the United States?

[Proteus]

I'm starting to get frustrated as the source I thought I could buy some flubendazole from the server seems to be down by charles... inkmaker?


Is there some store that sells them at this point some valid store?


I am at my wit's end dealing with some tiny snails that wont go away in one of my tanks. I don't know what kind they are as they always stay tiny as adults I guess. I just want them out of the tank so I can start doing rescaping/moving stuff around and the tanks into different rooms throughout the house.


THanks!

[MatsP]

Flubendazole doesn't kill snails (very much, at least).

--
Mats

[Viktor Jarikov]

The one I buy from does not have it. They do have FENBENDAZOLE, which may or may not work: 1. close to flubendazole, or 2. for your purposes.

Usually drugs from the same family have similar action.

http://www.fishchemical.com/

would you please educate us why you think flubendazole will kill snails... or your snails?

[geminiluna]

Sorry, I don't know about a source in the US. Pest snails are an aggravation for sure. I finally got some Assassin snails and they've got the population significantly under control.

If you're wanting to rescape using stuff from the snail infested tank into other tanks, can you do a potassium permanganate dip on anything you move?

[Proteus]

Flubendazole doesn't kill snails (very much, at least).

--
Mats

Alot of hobbyists/breeders swear by them that have actually used it.

[Proteus]

The one I buy from does not have it. They do have FENBENDAZOLE, which may or may not work: 1. close to flubendazole, or 2. for your purposes.

Usually drugs from the same family have similar action.

http://www.fishchemical.com/

would you please educate us why you think flubendazole will kill snails... or your snails?

It's a dewormer that discus breeders used that effect the snails like I said before alot of hobbyists do swear by them and used to get them all of the time now I just cannot find it
and not going to even bother with fenbendazole when its effect/method is very different.

[Proteus]

Sorry, I don't know about a source in the US. Pest snails are an aggravation for sure. I finally got some Assassin snails and they've got the population significantly under control.

If you're wanting to rescape using stuff from the snail infested tank into other tanks, can you do a potassium permanganate dip on anything you move?

That's not a bad idea but I have driftwood n its a leeching effect and I have had used assassin snails in the past, they don't live that long in my tank especially in warmer water and they didn't even touch those snails I got right now.

[geminiluna]

I had no idea about the warmer water with Assassins. I've got them in temps about 81* F and no issues. ..Yet. I guess I should keep a watch on them, though.

Anyway - to your original point. The fluben is in a product called Wormer Plus (the ones the Discus breeders use) -- I haven't the slightest clue if it can be sent from the UK to the USA or not. Maybe post in the UK WTB section and see if someone will try to send you a packet? It's also on EBay with UK sellers. Wonder if it's shipable.

I'll keep my eyes out - we use fenben all the time in paste wormers for our horses. Was looking through the vet supply listings and just don't see the fluben.

Kendra

[MatsP]

I have used Flubendazole (Kusuri Wormer+) in my tanks, and it hasn't killed snails to any notable degree. It probably depends on what snail it is, but certainly for the snails I have, with the recommended dose for worming the fish, it wasn't killing snails.

--
Mats

[Proteus]

I have used Flubendazole (Kusuri Wormer+) in my tanks, and it hasn't killed snails to any notable degree. It probably depends on what snail it is, but certainly for the snails I have, with the recommended dose for worming the fish, it wasn't killing snails.

--
Mats

That's why. its very low quality low end flubendazole thats why they're allowed to market it out of UK without script from the vets

[MatsP]

I've heard other people say that. I don't really understand why the fish gets better if it's not effective... I still think there are better snail-killers.

--
Mats

[Uncle.Ned]

Raphael Cats, Clown and similar loaches, Chilotilapia Rhodesii, and Lamprologus Tretocephalus
are all said to eat snails.

[Proteus]

I've heard other people say that. I don't really understand why the fish gets better if it's not effective... I still think there are better snail-killers.

--
Mats

The reason why I want this specific "dewormer" due to the fact that it won't harm my babies in the long run. Other snail killers will I believe cause some type of harm to the plants and will be leeched into the driftwood. I am guessing the lower percentage of this is just enough to knock out the parasites you needed them for but for the more serious parasites it would not have worked. 10% formula vs kasuri I believe kasuri is at 3% at the low end. This 10% going to be a better tool to knock everything out. Including hydras elimination which is so cool. Snails in long term will be eliminated.


This is the best overall route of method for long term in my opinion and Inkmaker's site is back up and running! Whoo!

Yes this is pricy per gallonage treatment but its the best in my opinion for everything I might have. I might as well deworm all of my Jaguar catfish that came in from the pond over the summer as one keeps pounding food but is super thin. So that tank is going to be treated as well.


Note to Uncle.Ned. I already have clown loaches in another tank, I put some in this affected tank and they simply ignored them. I pulled them out due to the fact that I have breeding L134s.

Thank all of you now that I have found the source back up and running I placed a order.

[MatsP]

The 3%/5%/10%/15% "formulation" is something I see all the time - with an implied statement that the lower percentages aren't effective, but the higher ones are. Clearly this is the same as saying "If you drink a pint of beer, you can't get drunk, but drinking a single shot of whiskey does get you drunk". It's the alcohol that gets you drunk, whether it is 3% (weak-ish beer) or 45% (whiskey) - of course, you need to drink a lot more beer than whiskey to get the same "drunk effect".

Yes, you obviously need more of the powder to have the same effect if you use a weaker formula. But if you calculate the actual mg/l to the correct values, then it doesn't matter if it's 3%, 5%, 10%, 15% or 100%. It only makes a difference if you use the same measure (e.g. a pint of whiskey vs. a pint of beer) for the different dilutions.

--
Mats

[TwoTankAmin]

I have no problem getting the inkmaker site to load.

http://www.inkmkr.com/Fish/

In the past 4-6 weeks I bought both Flubendazole and levamisole from Charles site.

Copper kills snails.

[apistomaster]

I have always bought my flubendazole from Charles Harrison, a fellow American killiefish Association member and friend.
His prices are very reasonable. Twotankamin gave the correct URL to reach his fish site.

He sells refurbished printer ink cartridges at bargain prices too. I buy all my cartridges from Charles and they have always worked as well as OEM cartridges

I use it for Hydra and some parasitic worms but new evidence is accumulating that it is also effective for treating Ich and Velvet although I have not tried this yet.
It is so safe.
It takes very high doses for it to bother snails and at normal therapeutic doses it doesn't even harm most ornamental shrimp. I do not consider flubendazole to be a very good snail eradicator. My snails have never suffered at fish treatment doses but just a small pinch can wipe out a hydra infestation and the results are almost immediately noticeable.

[Proteus]

I have always bought my flubendazole from Charles Harrison, a fellow American killiefish Association member and friend.
His prices are very reasonable. Twotankamin gave the correct URL to reach his fish site.

He sells refurbished printer ink cartridges at bargain prices too. I buy all my cartridges from Charles and they have always worked as well as OEM cartridges

I use it for Hydra and some parasitic worms but new evidence is accumulating that it is also effective for treating Ich and Velvet although I have not tried this yet.
It is so safe.
It takes very high doses for it to bother snails and at normal therapeutic doses it doesn't even harm most ornamental shrimp. I do not consider flubendazole to be a very good snail eradicator. My snails have never suffered at fish treatment doses but just a small pinch can wipe out a hydra infestation and the results are almost immediately noticeable.

Charles site was not working over the weekend when I was trying to locate it. Now it was working so I placed a order back on Monday. It will work on snails long term.

[Proteus]

The 3%/5%/10%/15% "formulation" is something I see all the time - with an implied statement that the lower percentages aren't effective, but the higher ones are. Clearly this is the same as saying "If you drink a pint of beer, you can't get drunk, but drinking a single shot of whiskey does get you drunk". It's the alcohol that gets you drunk, whether it is 3% (weak-ish beer) or 45% (whiskey) - of course, you need to drink a lot more beer than whiskey to get the same "drunk effect".

Yes, you obviously need more of the powder to have the same effect if you use a weaker formula. But if you calculate the actual mg/l to the correct values, then it doesn't matter if it's 3%, 5%, 10%, 15% or 100%. It only makes a difference if you use the same measure (e.g. a pint of whiskey vs. a pint of beer) for the different dilutions.

--
Mats

Yep. Agreed. Why should I spend so much money when I can get the better formula for less money and not pay for "marketing" and fancy packaging and overhead cost?

Less headache.

I will let you know the results.

Salt, coppersafe, high temp, did not kill this specific pinhead sized snails but i will be letting you know my results. When I start treatment.

[Proteus]

2 weeks later, I do not see a single snail. Nothing else worked this actually has the best results for this pin sized snails that would not go away. Only time will tell if they're coming out of the sand or the driftwood.


Cheers

[apistomaster]

Proteus,
What dose of the 10% powder seemed to wipe out your snail problem?

I have heard that misinformation about the different percentages of the active ingredient, flubendazole that only the stronger formulations work or are better. Only the absolute concentration dissolved matters. Flubendazole is barely soluble in water but enough still manages to go into solution to treat diseases and Hydra at the recommended doses. I may have read this or heard it from Charles but it is possible to mix a stock solution in vodka and get a bit more to go into solution. That might matter more if it was very expensive. But the effective dose range of an aqueous solution is wide and so it is hard to quantify an exact dose to work on parasitic worms and therefore not very important.
You guys are completely correct. There was a distributor who was contesting this strongly and this contention sent ripples which persist to this day because of that. It is the concentration dissolved in the water that matters and not how strong the strength of the product. If a weaker strength is what you have then you just use more.

The sufficient dose also depends on why you are using flubendazole.
Minute amounts are sufficient to eradicate Hydra infestations compared to what is necessary for treating parasitic worms and a higher dose yet is usually needed to have any effect on snails. I have never tried it as a snail eliminator so I don't know how many mg/liter of the 10% powder is required to kill most species of snails. By the time I start wishing I could eliminate all my snails there are usually so many and they are mainly MTS, that I really wouldn't want that much high protein bio-mass dying and spoiling at once.
Using the 10% powder form it only takes about 1/8 tsp/20 US gal to kill Hydra within a week. I use about 1/4 tsp/20 US gal for parasitic worms for 3 to 4 weeks. It doesn't take that long to kill most of the worms but a longer treatment period will catch latent hatching eggs or cysts. It must take a high dose to kill snails because mine have always survived the doses I used on fish.
I still had a little of the 5% powder which is old medication. I just used it this week at 1/4 tsp/20 US gallons to take care of a Hydra outbreak. It had been many years since I last had any Hydra but I have introduced many new plants from different sources to my tanks since the previous Hydra outbreak almost six years ago and they always under go a population explosion when they get live bbs everyday. I used this dosage rate on all my tanks so I got rid of them all at once everywhere. If you don't treat all your tanks when Hydra show up, recurring infestations will go on forever. My worst Hydra infestation occurred in a tank containing my Zebra Shrimp colony and I was conditioning a pair of Aphyosemion australe orange on bbs. I was a bit concerned about whether or not the Hydra dose would harm my shrimp. I did find a couple dead shrimp after 5 days but they could have easily been coincidental natural deaths. There are at least 80 breeding size shrimp and an unknown number of young. I treat Hydra for seven days then do a 60% water change. Just finished that an hour ago. I love the way Hydra immediately begin to shrink and wither away when they are exposed to flubendazole. Reminds me of the melting witch scene in the Wizard of Oz.