Treating parasites in Aquatic Larvae

[John]

I was wondering if anyone knew of a way of administering anti-parasitic medication to aquatic larvae. Can Ivermectin be added to the water? If so, at what dosage?

 

[Jennewt]

Are you interested in quotes from the Wright & Whitaker book, or do you already have access to that? Are we talking internal or external parasites?

 

[John]

Yes please. Internal parasites.

 

[Ed]

Hi John,

What parasite do you intend to treat?

I would suggest the Levamisole (Ergamisol®, HCl). It is usable as a bath as an antihelmitic (if worms are the problem.)


Ed

 

[John]

Hi Ed,

Yes internal worms is what I'm worried about. Where would I get levamisole and what's the dosage level?

It's good to see you back again .

 

[Ed]

Hi John,

According to Amphibian Medicine and Captive Husbandry (page 324) the dose is 50-100 mg/L as a 1-8 hour bath every 7 days.
You would have to get levamisol from the vet..

If the larva are large enough to take pieces of earthworm you can inject panacure (fenbendazole) into the worm at 100 mg/kg every 14 days (we usually do two treatments and then check the parasite load via a fecal but keep in mind that if you are feeding worms you are going to get false positives)..

Ed

 

[John]

Thanks Ed, sounds good.

 

[John]

Ed do you have a description of the panacur I should get? Is it specifically for injection? I can just see pastes on valleyvet.com. They do have Levamisole for injection - can I use that instead of panacur for the worms? If so what dosage?

 

[John]

Here's the Levamisole I'm talking about : http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?PGGUID=30e079c8-7b6a-11d5-a192-00b0d0204ae5

 

[lims]

what made u think worms might be a problem? What should we look out for?

 

[John]

Studies on this population in the 70s found more than 75% of them had an internal parasite load. I can't remember the specifics - the paper is in a box somewhere.

 

[Ed]

Hi John,

sorry for the late response but we were in Montana for a vacation.

The panacure paste is what we have used, with aquatic animals we have adminstered it to them by injecting it into food items and then feeding the newts. If they are large enough to take pieces of worm with the panacur injected into the worm then it is easy to administer a theraputic dose.
Alternatively, you can make it up as part of a gel diet just make sure that the theraputic dose can be reached in the pieces you offer the newts.
With the gel diet, you can at least cut the gel into thin strips and wiggle them like worms.

Hope this helps.

Ed

 

[andrew read]

i think you would be unwise to use 50 parts per million of levamisole in a bath for aquatic larvae. you are better off treating your larvae more like fish, not least because they have gills and a large surface area/volume ratio. they will absorb too much levamisole and are likely to bleed to death. the doseage recommended for long term baths is 5 parts per million, and i would not exceed this.
amphibians carrying a parasite load are likely to show adverse responses to anthelmintics when their parasites are killed, particularly if the load is heavy or if ther parasites are present within the tissues. amphibians without parasites are unlikely to show adverse side effects to levamisole at 5ppm, however this is an adult dose rate and it might be sensible for you to start at 1ppm and add 1ppm every day until you reach 5ppm so long as your larvae show no adverse effects. stop the course as soon as you see any adverse effect.