Deworming Corydoras drug choice

[Axelrodi202]

What drug is best for prophylactically deworming Corydoras of internal parasites? I'm getting in a school of 20 C. similis soon and want to make sure they're clean so they thrive and maybe even breed well for me. Some preliminary research of the usual drugs has come up with the following:

Avoid:
Praziquantel - causes listlessness in cories and discus.
Metronidazole - potentially causes reproductive harm

Candidates (no adverse side effects I could find):
Flubendazole
Levamisole

I'd like to hear your thoughts on these drugs, and from those who prophylactically deworm their fish.

[Axelrodi202]

No one?

[TwoTankAmin]

I have all of those meds. I use the Metro. and Flubendazole most often in terms of those four meds. What I read re them being a problems for discuss was the opposite of what you report.

Before going further, I want to say that I almost never medicate proactively. I need a very good reason for doing so. I also quarantine religiously (I use bare bottom tanks for this). For wild caught imports its three months. I will say I am most prepared/expectant, in terms of meds on hand and symptoms I am most alert about, with fish recently in the wild.

Metro is most effective fed although I have killed some tank pest worms with it in the water. It normally needs to be fed for internal parasites. You can buy metro infused foods. Metro is an antibiotic as well as and anti-parasitic. Look for the research on Metro and sterility and you find it is used to produce sterile males, but in a way not possible in a tank where it is fed as a medication. Metro is the go to mead for HITH.

The Levamisole HCL is, apparently, heat sensitive in that, when the water temp. rises above 75F the effects are stronger. Therefore if one's fish react badly to this med the first thing to do is a 25% water change. Since you have warmer water, I would under dose some if using this. Leva. is very effective med. for Camallanus worms and works well for other other nematodes. It works in the water so is good for fish not eating.

I consider all 3 of the meds pretty benign when used properly. Which one you should chooses depends upon what you are treating for and if the fish are eating. With Leva., turning down the tank to 75F helps when the fish will tolerate this temp. well.

I am not sure I have used the Prazi more than once or twice over the years. It is pretty good for treating flukes, tapeworms, monogeneans and trematodes. But I cannot say with a reasonable degree of certainty it is fairly benign. But I also cannot say that it is not.

[Axelrodi202]

Thanks for the information. I'm considering prophylactic deworming because in the past I've had issues where fish would slowly waste away over half a year or so despite good feeding and clean water. For example I recently had some Otocinclus that came from a vendor who feeds them medicated food that were languishing (hiding, skinny condition, for months) that started doing much better after they sat in a tank with some fenbendazole (this was for planaria treatment originally). Only recently have I found out fenbendazole in the water can cause neurological damage, but they have improved significantly after this treatment, becoming much more active, outgoing, and growing quite a bit in size.

It would give me much more peace of mind to know my tank is clean of internal parasites. I'm the type who likes to hold onto fish for their lifetime, rather than trading them a few months later for something new.

You mention warm water - is this better for C. similis? Their final display tank is around 75 F, though the qt tank can be whatever temperature. They're subadults now I may run it a bit hotter.

Sounds like I'd heard some bunk information about metronidazole. If I do end up running their qt tank warmer I may use this. What is your experience with flubendazole?

[AntonioAG]

The only thing that can happen if you abuse the use of Metronidazole is kidney failure and subsequent death. I have never heard of it causing reproductive harm tho.
As for Praziquantel. I used it once on a group of Corydoras Pygmaeus and I did saw a reduced activity level but it was because of oxygen levels in the water. Praziquantel reduces oxygen level in the water. I simply added an airstone and the corydoras went back to normal.

Im not a big fan of meds, but I have used them on some corydoras. Appart from my pigmy corys no other fish has been dewormed and they do just fine, you wouldnt be able to tell they have worms (I am asumming they have) unless you took poop samples under the microscope. The corydoras pygmaeus were dewormed because I had some Praziquantel hanging around and I want to sell the fish without having to worry about poor husbandry practices by my buyers causing heavy parasitosis and death (which would give me a bad reputation - even if it wasnt techincally my fault).

Metronidazole treats for protozoas and anaerobic negative gram bacteria which may be found inside the fish. It does nothing for worms. Praziquantel kills almost all worms by giving them spasms. The other two meds you mentioned, Levimasole and Febendazole are usually considered way stronger and I have onyl seen them being used for callamanus worms.

If you want you can find all sorts of nasty side effects for all meds because think about it, they are made to kill stuff. Practically, the story is different, Praziquantel and Metronidazole are considered very "soft" meds in the fish world. Honestly I think the Otocinclus story is not detailed enough to really blame the behavioral change on worms. I firmly believe that a proper environment and high quality food are all a fish needs to be healthy and "thrive".

Anyways, if you want to nuke the fish with meds I would do a round with medicated metronidazole food (you dont need any binding agents, just suck the food in the solution and then throw the whole thing in - the solutio and the food), 2 rounds of Praziquantel so you kill flukes too and if you really want to be sure nothing is alive then a round of Levimasole. I would not do the last med.

[TwoTankAmin]

A couple of quick notes here. If you do not want to make your own medicated foods, here are some good resources for those in the states:

http://angelsplus.com/FlakeMedWorm.htm and for their metro flake http://angelsplus.com/FlakeMedProto.htm

If you want Metro w/garlic or Oxytetracycline sinking sticks, go here http://www.kensfish.com/aquarium-suppli ... -food.html

The second note is that I am currently taking Metro 3 times a day having had several intravenous treatments of this drug this past week. I am taking it for its anti-biotic properties not its anti-parasitic ones. I hope I do not begin developing scales and gills.......

[bekateen]

I am currently taking Metro 3 times a day having had several intravenous treatments of this drug this past week. I am taking it for its anti-biotic properties not its anti-parasitic ones. I hope I do not begin developing scales and gills.......

Get well soon. In the meantime, we'll watch for you at the movies.

Cheers, Eric

[Axelrodi202]

Thanks all for the information. I actually received the fish a few days ago. Shipping was pretty tough on them; the water was foul and they had some bacterial and fungal issues. I've been getting them back into shape with IAL, frozen bloodworms, and clean water. Once they're in better shape I'll observe for a while to judge if I should deworm or not.

Using a microscope to know for sure sounds pretty neat actually. Is there anywhere I can learn more about this?

[bekateen]

What's IAL?

[MChambers]

Indian almond leaves (catappa).

[bekateen]

Thank you.

[pleco_breeder]

Years ago, there were a few books which dealt with using a microscope for disease identification, but they seem to have fallen to the wayside. A good overview, and I just checked Amazon to make sure it's still in circulation, can be found in the "Aquariology" series published by Tetra Press. This isn't an authoritative text by any means, but gives enough information for someone interested to be able to start.

Larry Vires

[AZCatfish]

Thanks all for the information. I actually received the fish a few days ago. Shipping was pretty tough on them; the water was foul and they had some bacterial and fungal issues. I've been getting them back into shape with IAL, frozen bloodworms, and clean water. Once they're in better shape I'll observe for a while to judge if I should deworm or not.

Using a microscope to know for sure sounds pretty neat actually. Is there anywhere I can learn more about this?

I have a bachelors degree in Microbiology and took human parasitology courses in college. I don't want to discourage you, but it is no easy thing to positively ID internal parasites. But it is a very interesting subject matter and if you take a course in human parasitology you may never eat fish or meat again!

[Pardal]

Praziquantel is not harmful to Discus, all the contrary is recommended as profilatic for tape worms and flukes while quarantine. and metronidazole an antibiotic is the medicine of choice for Hexamite and flagella protozoan like parasite,
I am a Discus Breeder since 2000.