T. kweichowensis thread continued....

here is some updated data on my kweis, of the 4 i had from last year i started those on panacure and chose to give them reptomin in the form of a paste so that their fecals would be easier to spot worms in. of the 4, one male has died, so now im down to 2.1, i am wondering if its due to stress from the treatments-i have him here with me and plan to dissect him later today to see if i can find any clue.

hello Paris,
I think that you may be better off using levamisole or ivermectin instead of the panacur.
I think that these cause less stress and are more effective.

Panacur can be given to a (non-anorectic!) caudate after injection into a worm. This is a very good and effective method. I have a report of levamisole being highly toxic in caudates if overdosed, which is much less likely to happen with fenbendazole.

one advantage of levamisole is that it can be given as a bath, which makes an overdose unlikely so long as the bath concentration is calculated correctly. A bath doesn't really stress the animal at all. I agree with you that the safe margin for levamisole is quite narrow but this is true for all kinds of animals treated with levamisole and not just salamanders.
I think the reputation of fenbendazole for being safe is overrated. I don't think its pharmocokinetics or side effects are fully understood even now. It was originally developed I believe so as to not be absorbed from the gut, yet it is widely used for tissue infestations as well as gut ones.
With any tissue anthelmintic there is of course the problem of adverse tissue reactions to the dead parasites, but this is true whichever anthelmintic you use.

Hi Andrew,
In working with a large variety of amphibians at work under the direction of experienced herp and amphibian vets (including Dr. Kevin Wright (author, coeditor Amphibian Medicine and Captive Husbandry), I have seen multiple issues with sensitivity with levamisol (including increased sensitivity) at the recommended doses and no discernable issues with fenbendazole to the point where levamisol is in my opinion not a preferred treatment option.
Ivermectin is also more a risk if the dosage is not correct (and some herps such as Bogertophis appear to be very sensitive to it) and it is difficult to correctly dilute when working with smaller animals as it is not very miscible in water (although at work we have used it to treat anurans as small as 0.19 grams).

Ed