# Calling all Flubendazole Users



## msjinkzd (May 12, 2007)

I had the same issue. I used flubendazole flake in a 55g, moved teh snails, and have been unable (for a year, so far) to move the snails back without them dying. I tried as recently as a month ago to house nerites in the tank. WIthin a day, they were totally inactive so I had to move them back out. Keep in mind, my tanks get 3x/week 50% water changes and do not have substrate so surface residuals should not be an issue this long afterwards. I did run purigen, but have not tried longterm solutions like poly filter 24/7 to try and neutralize the chemicals.


----------



## gryffin (Sep 18, 2009)

I'm the same person that responded to you on AC's forum. It was msjinkzd that confirmed to me that my snail problem was the flubendazole treatment that I had done months earlier. 

As I said, it's been a year now- I was going to try briggs again, but seeing msjinkzd's response here, I'm thinking it may not be a good idea.

I _hate_ not being able to keep briggs, nerites and mts in my invert tank. I've thought about taking it down completely, doing something to "sterilize" it, and starting over- I'm just not sure whether or not that will work.


----------



## mscichlid (Jul 14, 2008)

Will running charcoal or carbon (whatever it is) remove it from the water?


----------



## msjinkzd (May 12, 2007)

I tried purigen (which should work as well as charcoal to remove meds).

To be clear, I have never had problems with "common" snails, just ornamentals like brigs and nerites.

I was not trying to treat planaria or hydra when I did my treatment, but was treating parasites with medications intended for use with fish. I am not sure how the dosage compares to that of the dose used for planaria/hydra.


----------



## shrimpnmoss (Apr 8, 2011)

I've dosed Flubendazole a few times in my tank with no issues with snails afterwards. However, I always have Purigen in my canisters and an additional bag in tank. I took the Purigen out during medication and put it back after a monster WC 48 hours later.


----------



## msjinkzd (May 12, 2007)

i did not leave constant chemical filtration in for the year post, just for a week following treatment. 

Generally, in my tanks, I don't use any filter media beyond the sponges and just add corner filters to use chemical media as needed.

Its possible you would have no issues if you ran chemical media long term.


----------



## james0816 (Jun 26, 2008)

I don't normally run AC, Purigen or anything else for that matter. Just standard media pads or poly-fil. I'm running AC now in the two tanks that I used it in.

These are planted tanks as well which is another reason not to run AC or Purigen due to fert dosing.


----------



## james0816 (Jun 26, 2008)

This has got me really, really bummed now.


----------



## gryffin (Sep 18, 2009)

I only run chemical filtration occasionally- so I don't know how well it would work if I ran it all the time. I thought I remembered reading that someone tried to remove it chemically, but still had problems. However, I think that they only ran it for 48 hours.

I have no problems with ramshorns, they breed and multiply in my tanks, but my mts died off- which I consider atypical.

I'm experimenting with assasins at the moment.

I was treating fish parasites and had to give multiple doses.


----------



## james0816 (Jun 26, 2008)

Mine was one small dose of 5% Flub (< 1/8tsp). Ran in the tank for 1 week as directed. Followed by large water change and AC in the filter.


----------



## gryffin (Sep 18, 2009)

What size tank?

I used 10% Flubendazole powder, and quite a bit more than you- the treatment protocol I followed was 1/4 teaspoon per 5 gallons of water per dosing. I dosed 2-3 times, with 3 days between dosings and a 50% water change before each dosing.

Affected snails become sluggish and stop moving before they die. Once they stop moving, they can't be saved. The lower dose may not cause your briggs any problems, but if they become sluggish, I'd pull them immediately.


----------



## james0816 (Jun 26, 2008)

Both tanks I ran it in are 10g's.


----------



## DarkCobra (Jun 22, 2004)

Sewingalot had a similar problem, in which she was unable to keep shrimp in a tank previously treated with Algaefix. She believes it bonded with the substrate.


----------



## msjinkzd (May 12, 2007)

I don't use substrate, nor much decor in my tanks as they are import tanks. Which is why I was especially confuzzled (yes, i am saying that IS a word). My only thoughts were it must have bonded with the silicon.


----------



## DarkCobra (Jun 22, 2004)

msjinkzd said:


> I don't use substrate, nor much decor in my tanks as they are import tanks. Which is why I was especially confuzzled (yes, i am saying that IS a word). My only thoughts were it must have bonded with the silicon.


Hmm, that is confuzzling. (I use that word too, ever since seeing the movie "Mary and Max". )


----------



## gryffin (Sep 18, 2009)

If it bonds with the silicon, I guess taking taking down the tank, cleaning and restarting won't do me any good. I think you might have told me this and maybe that is why I didn't go this route. Sigh.

After reading this thread, I'm thinking that I might try running Purigen round-the-clock as an experiment.

On another forum, I read that in addition to ramshorns, tadpole snails also survived, but they lost their mts just like I did.


----------



## Sokonomi (Oct 25, 2019)

I realize this is digging up a corpse of a topic, but im kinda on the same boat..

About a year ago I used some flubendazole 5% to get rid of some pests during startup,
the planaria/hydra are long gone, but pest snails are still there in small sizes/numbers.

From what I understand, flubendazole stops snails from ingesting food.
The pest snails have been carrying on for a year already so I figured the flubendazole had gone inert.
I thus thought it was ok to introduce some nerite snails, but sadly all three died pretty quick.
However; the nerites all showed an odd behavior that doesn't suggest dying of starvation.
They kept falling off the glass and onto their backs, making little effort to right themselves.
They then shut their hatch and were goners within a week, even with me putting them upright.
So i'm not sure their deaths could have been attributed to a lingering flubendazole effect.

Can something that seems to be harmless to pest snails still be lethal to other snails?
Or was it just bad luck with the nerites not liking something else in my tank?
I kinda want to try my luck with some apple snails, but i'm not sure if I even should..


----------



## Sarpijk (Aug 17, 2015)

Unless you used a lot of the substance and you do not perform weekly water changes I cannot believe you could have problems after a whole year.

Personally I have used Panacur in small doses ( I get it in pills which I pulverise). After about six months I added horned nerites without a problem.

Note that for 50 litres I add about 1/4 of a pill and try to perform 50% water changes weekly.


----------



## Sokonomi (Oct 25, 2019)

I have used Flubenol 5% as instructed for 4 weeks back in march last year.
I introduced the nerites 7 months after the treatment, they all died simultaneously in a week.
If it wasn't the flubendazole doing them in, I wonder what else it could have been.
The pest snails didn't seem to be phased by the treatment much at all..

I have a 70L tank and do a 50% water change every 2 weeks (NO3 at 17ppm, PO4 at 4ppm).


----------

