How to get Flubendazole? (United States)

[PineSong]

I am having a problem with fish wasting away that has not resolved yet with multiple treatments of Expel-P, and despite every fish I've brought in being QT'd for 30+ days and being treated with both Expel-P and Paracleanse (not at the same time) when they are in there. The impacted fish were all born in my tanks and I have stopped selling fish from those tanks because I am not sure what is going on.

Having read other threads, I am considering flubendazole. But I'm not clear on how to access it--what is the brand/product name if there is one, or where do you order it?

Thanks!

 

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Your local pet supply my friend....

Good luck with your fish!

[PineSong]

On 9/9/2022 at 2:14 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

Your local pet supply my friend....

Good luck with your fish!

Oh! Are flubendazole and fenbendazole the same thing? That explains the search results I kept getting!

 

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

There may be a difference but they both treat internal parasites. @Odd Duck could probably explain if there are any major differences.

They are both anthelmintic (treatment for parasites)

[quikv6]

That picture is incorrect for Flubendazole. They are different. Fenbendazole will not work in the water column, and really needs to be added to the food. If the fish isn't eating (or spitting), this is not really a viable option.

Flubendazole works extremely well in the water column. It has saved quite a few fish of mine. Let me see if I can find the info for the source I purchased it from. Standby.

EDIT: I purchased it here, below:

http://www.inkmkr.com/Fish/ItemsForSale.html

Hopefully I am allowed to add that, as Flubendazole is not able to be purchased at the Coop.

It has probably been the best money I have ever spent on a med. With that being said, it is not the easiest to work with, but does work very well.

Edited September 9, 2022 by quikv6

[Odd Duck]

Fenbendazole and flubendazole are different drugs but in the same family of antiparasitic drugs.  I don’t have a reliable dose for flubendazole but I’m finding it on Amazon as a product from Cloverleaf called Absolute + Wormer.  I have never used it and can’t attest to efficacy, quality, or consistency.  I would follow label directions very carefully and consider testing on a single fish of the affected species first.

Fenbendazole is definitely better in food.  I can’t find info on the flubendazole without doing a deep dive which my brain is just not up for today.  It’s been a very long week for me.

[rockfisher]

flubendazole Can be found on google as chicken wormer. Or on Amazon under many names. I like the fine powders to mix with food. I have not used the product but I did find a powder. since I have not used this and the % of the flubendazole in each product, so  you would have to do your own dosage research. 
Fenben 25g Powder, Purity >99%, by Fenben LAB, Certified Third-Party Laboratory Tested, Analysis Report Included, 3.5oz https://a.co/d/0aKuP39

Discusdotcom has it as well and directions on used and rates. 

 

Edited September 10, 2022 by rockfisher

[laritheloud]

I haven't purchased or used flubendazole, but I'm really sorry you're struggling with a wasting disease. Which fish are struggling? Is it confined to one tank, or has it crossed tanks/species? There's always the possibility that it's not a parasite or a contagion at all and it's just in their bloodlines, depending on the sources of your fish and how much you've mixed your stock.

[PineSong]

On 9/10/2022 at 8:48 PM, laritheloud said:

I haven't purchased or used flubendazole, but I'm really sorry you're struggling with a wasting disease. Which fish are struggling? Is it confined to one tank, or has it crossed tanks/species? There's always the possibility that it's not a parasite or a contagion at all and it's just in their bloodlines, depending on the sources of your fish and how much you've mixed your stock.

Thanks, Lari. At first I thought it was a bloodline issue and I haven't ruled that out entirely, but....

It started in my female guppies/male platies tank and then I saw it in the male guppies/female platies tank, too. Every affected fish was the offspring of my "whale guppies". So I thought it was genetic or at least a genetic vulnerability to an environmental factor.

It is not widespread. 2-3 out of about 50 fish total were wasting at any one time. Meanwhile, the other strain of guppies, all of the platies and the molly are chubby and happy. Shrimp are also fine.  In the other tank, same thing. Platies and other strains of guppies are all fine. Neon tetras are fine. BUT some of my blue star endlers are now skinny. They don't have the slab-sided gaunt look of the guppies, but they are extemely slender. 

Of course, it is possible that the whale guppies have some kind of genetic problem and these male endlers have something else. I have isolated all the currently gaunt fish in a hospital tank, treating with Paracleanse and will do Expel-P again after, and I'm watching closely to see if any other fish show signs.

In the hospital tank, I have fed BBS and various flake foods and closely observed to see if they are spitting back out what they eat, and I have seen no signs of that. They have good appetites and they do eat. 

All of the affected fish were born here in my tanks. I have 2 tanks with affected fish so those are now dead end tanks--nobody goes in or out except to the hospital tank. I have three tanks completely unaffected and luckily those are the tanks I sell/give fish away out of. My goal right now is to sell or rehome all of the fish the 10gallons and use those tanks to decrease the ovestocking in my other tanks in case part of what is impacting these fish is crowd stress. My water parameters are fine but there are a lot of fish per tank.

I'm also going to order the flubendazole and try it in the hospital tank if what's going on in there now does not work. So far, I have not been able to save any of the wasting fish. If flubendazole works in the hospital tank, then I will cross the bridge of deciding what to do next to treat the rest.

Any advice is welcome.

 

 

 

 

[tolstoy21]

You can get medicated flake food from the Angels Plus online store. They have a decent selection of medicated flake food that target a number of different fish ailments. I've found this to be more effective than dosing the water column or trying to mix meds with my own flake food. They don't have flubendazole specifically, but they have fendendazole, lavemisol, praziquantel, etc.

Edited September 11, 2022 by tolstoy21

[laritheloud]

You're doing everything you can @PineSong ! You're going about this really smartly. I still heavily suspect that this is just a problem with the strain, but for the sake of your customers, it's great and highly ethical that you're covering all your bases.

If Flubendazole (or any other combination you try) doesn't work, I think you might have to consider the strain culls. Regarding the Endlers, I started with a 10 gallon tank of 14 endlers and I'm down to about 10 at about a year and a half later. I don't know how old they were when I got them. I've noticed that as Endlers age they will waste OR bloat with no discernible cause. I figure they are just old and more vulnerable to anything non-sterile in their environment. I never noticed contagion passing through the tank and I have treated for parasites. Wasting or illness seems to occur at random.

I don't know if that information helps you but there's a chance the two are unrelated. Good luck, I hope you are able to root out what's happening to your guppies!

[PineSong]

On 9/11/2022 at 9:19 AM, laritheloud said:

You're doing everything you can @PineSong ! You're going about this really smartly. I still heavily suspect that this is just a problem with the strain, but for the sake of your customers, it's great and highly ethical that you're covering all your bases.

If Flubendazole (or any other combination you try) doesn't work, I think you might have to consider the strain culls. Regarding the Endlers, I started with a 10 gallon tank of 14 endlers and I'm down to about 10 at about a year and a half later. I don't know how old they were when I got them. I've noticed that as Endlers age they will waste OR bloat with no discernible cause. I figure they are just old and more vulnerable to anything non-sterile in their environment. I never noticed contagion passing through the tank and I have treated for parasites. Wasting or illness seems to occur at random.

I don't know if that information helps you but there's a chance the two are unrelated. Good luck, I hope you are able to root out what's happening to your guppies!

Thank you. At this rate, I won't have to cull the strain because there are not many left--even though they were stunners and sold like hotcakes, I stopped breeding them before this problem was apparent because I was overstocked and tired of sorting fry. All remaining fish (maybe 15) are in single-sex tanks and there is Kevin the emergency backup angel fish in with the girl guppies to make sure their numbers do not grow. The fact that I'm using a predator fish pretty much sums up my desperation here.