Jump to content

Praziquantel side effects.


Floater

Recommended Posts

Are there any side effects to dosing a tank with 2mg/L of praziquantel? I've read that discus keepers regularly deworm their fish. I'm assuming this is what they use? Is there reason to worry about biological filtration after dosing? Anything else worth mentioning?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Other than the rare allergic or anaphalactic reactions, there are no significant side effects for praziquantel, even at several times the dose rate although the action of the drug is dependent on it being metabolized by the liver so if this organ system is already compromised, the drug could exacerbate the condition. There is no risk to your tank.

I think the biggest risk is with developing drug resistance so careful use and dosing is important. Theoretically, you should not need to keep redosing once you have treated an animal unless the animal is repeatedly exposed to new populations of the parasitic organism.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Other than the rare allergic or anaphalactic reactions, there are no significant side effects for praziquantel, even at several times the dose rate although the action of the drug is dependent on it being metabolized by the liver so if this organ system is already compromised, the drug could exacerbate the condition. There is no risk to your tank.

I think the biggest risk is with developing drug resistance so careful use and dosing is important. Theoretically, you should not need to keep redosing once you have treated an animal unless the animal is repeatedly exposed to new populations of the parasitic organism.

Thanks for that Jennifer. I have a feeling the first time I dosed my blue rams with praziquantel a few months ago it wasn't actually prazi (bought from pet shop fish keepers "private stash") because I bought some more the other day and it looks completely different. As well as being individually blister packed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Praziquantel is marketed under a few different trade names so I would not be surprised if it looked different...however, mysteriously packaged secret drugs sound somewhat questionable! ;)

Keep in mind, praziquantel will not kill the most common worms, like roundworms. It will kill cestodes and trematodes (flukes and tapeworms) though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...