More on the nematode worms (long)

[Sarah LeGates <slegates@yahoo.com>]

Hey all,

I jumped the gun a bit--I read the archives at the Krib and will try
to find some levamisol when I get home on Monday.  A more appropriate
question then becomes: how do I reliably estimate total water volume
in the tank?  Capacity is 56 gallons dry, but I couldn't even begin
to tell you how many pounds of gravel are in there.  I think a safe
assumption would be to measure the square inches of water above the
gravel surface, add a little more for the interstitial water
(although that water really isn't actively in the water column, so
should I include it?), then subtract a little more for tank
decorations.  Will the levamisol harm the 2 scraggly live plants that
I have in the tank?  Is it safe to assume it won't harm the
nitrifying bacteria?  Also, given that I don't know how the infection
came in, I should probably treat my other tank.  No one is showing
any symptoms, but there has been some net sharing and one fish moved
from the infected tank to the "uninfected" tank just before I noticed
the worms in the H. bimaculatus.  While I'm not too concerned about
"saving" the fish in the infected tank, I am concerned about the fish
in the "uninfected" tank: pygmy cory cats, A. cacatuoides, lemon
tetras, and a couple of oddball catfish.  Has anyone had a negative
experience treating these types of smaller fish with levamisol?

Finally, can anyone suggest guidelines on the total number of doses I
might need to give?  The krib archives seem to suggest that in its
aqueous form the levamisol is effective against every stage of the
nematode lifecycle--is this true, or will I need to re-dose the tanks
in a few weeks?

Thanks,

Sarah LeGates

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