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panacur c to get rid of planaria

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48K views 74 replies 28 participants last post by  SupaTank  
#1 ·
How soon should I change the water after I dose my tank? How much should I change out also? This is my first time dosing to get rid of planaria and I'm a bit worried of losing baby shrimp and berried ones.
 
#5 ·
I used the dosing directions I think its from Mordalphus, 1/10th of a gram packet for every 10 gallons. Mix 50ml of tank water and 1 gram packet of panacur and use 5 ml for every 10 gallons or 1 ml for every 2 gallons of water. I just have trouble mixing the stuff as I still have some small specks in it. I was wondering how long do I have to use it all up as I still have some left over. Can I use it a few days later? Or the next day on a different tank? I just dosed two of my tanks. Lets hope everything goes well.
 
#12 ·
Need a touch of advice. I have a tank that had a major hydra breakout. I mean major. Looked like all the plants were covered in slime, but it was actually hydra all packed in.

I had some pH issues in the tank and tried the whole peat moss thing. And admittedly have had trouble getting that tank to look clean since it was set up. I don't know why. I have vacumed it several times. Its a fine sand so its hard to vac it without making a mess.

I dosed with about .1g / 10 gallons yesterday afternoon. This morning they were still there. I think a few died off. but that could just be wishful thinking. So I added another dose in with out doing a water change. I came home from work and did a major water change trimming plants, and manually removing a ton of the hydra while also running the UV (in case it might have an effect). I then dosed with .2g/ 10 gallons, using a syringe and shooting it straight on the hydra.

If this does not work.... what next?
 
#14 ·
OK. good to know. Killed the UV as well as the hood light. I know this batch of panacur is expired by a month or so. I don't know if that's the problem or not. Was thinking of getting the liquid one if this does not work.

I have two shrimp tanks and had hydra in one of them. I am sure it tagged its way in with one of my plant batches. I treated the shrimp tanks with hot water and KMNO2. The fish tank that is now affected (all had plants from the same sources), got hot water and salt for the plants, and nearly boiling water and KMNO2 for the tank. It was done last and I had already seen what the KMNO2 was capable of doing to plants (though this was not much better). I don't know if I should do the shrimp tanks as a preventative measure or just keep a close eye. What do you think?

I have been soaking all common equipment in hot water (practically boiling) and KMNO2.
 
#19 ·
If it was expired by a month or two I would say it didnt work because of that. If the active ingrediants degraded, it isnt potent enough to kill them. Of course I have no real exp. in this matter, just using logic. So take my comment with a grain of salt.
 
#20 ·
In my experience with drugs (I work in biomedical research so I actually have more legitimate experience with them than most), the manufacturers usually calculate what they consider and acceptable loss of purity. The expiration date is when it would have degraded past that threshold under recommended storage conditions. In cases like this that threshold is set to the lowest effective dose for the recommended usage. In the In most cases the drug is still useful, its just not as strong.

I think this is not most cases. I think its lost most if not all effectiveness; I am not sure the merchant stored it properly.

I have read a few posts on people using the liquid with as little overall toxicity as the powder.... it just skips the step where you have to get this stuff to dissolve. It also is easier for me to measure the dosage in a liquid form, as I am reluctant to take it into the lab to measure out. I think I will give it a shot. First with the fish, then a few cherry shrimp.

Once I get the dose right I plan to treat everything with two doses to avoid just passing it back and forth through my systems. I am chicken about dosing my OEBT or CRS colonies without a few trial runs.
 
#21 ·
It doesn't take a whole lot of this stuff to kill off hydra. I used about half of the recommended dose and waited 4 days, and my hydra were completely gone.

Unfortunately when I tried the same on a second tank, it got the hydra but also took out my nerite snails. The other snails were fine, but all 4 nerites were dead within 4 days, in spite of having lived happily in the tank for quite some time prior to that. The shrimp and fish ate the stuff with no ill effects.
 
#23 ·
Only place I can find it around here is a vet. Going there to get it this afternoon. I figure on vacuming the tank again and manually removing as many as possible and re-treating the tank. I don't think it can hurt anything. It's a pretty bad outbreak. The tank looks gross it's covered in them. Might take a few pics and post them.
 
#24 ·
Can the powdered form raise ph? Or make a ph test read high? A preliminary google search suggests that panacur should lower ph if anything, but when my student (I'm a teacher) tested the tank water today, he got the highest ph reading in the test kit. I wasn't watching him very carefully, and it's the first time he has ever done these tests, so it's possible he made a mistake.

The fish and shrimp seem perfectly normal and happy, so I had him go ahead with the water change. They also looked normal and happy afterwards.

I didn't have time to check again myself, but I am just wondering for future reference.
 
#31 · (Edited)
On the vet thing, they only charged me $10 fir 50ml. They did not give me a hard time or anything, even gave ms an oral dosing syringe to measure it with.

I put 5 ml into the 30 gallon about 4 hrs ago. Can already see an effect. The fish are fine so far, so are the assassins, shrimp and loaches.

Edit: For those who are looking to see if specific species will do ok, I have threadfins rainbows, glass catfish, a snowball pleco, and a couple kuli loaches. The threadfins ate quote a bit the first time I put powder in. All are well and at 48 hrs past introduction of the liquid all the hydra are dead. Yaaaaaaaay.