Dosing human praziquantel (Biltricide) if Prazipro not available?

[ConsummatePro]

In Canada we can't get fish meds anymore - ugh. I can get a supply of human Praziquantel 600 mg tabs (I'm a doctor, so trust me!). I realize this med can be hard to dissolve in water but assuming we just crush the pills and dissolve them, has anyone tried just using this?

https://humble.fish/community/index.php?threads/praziquantel.25/ suggests a dose of:

• 2.0 - 2.5 mg/L for at least 24 hours (Quarantine Tank dosage)
• 7.5 mg/L in a 6 hour bath (temperature control and heavily aerate the water)
• 10 mg/L in a 3 hour bath (temperature control and heavily aerate the water)

Any experience or suggestions using the pharmaceutical prescription human pills for this?

 

[threebuoys]

In Canada we can't get fish meds anymore - ugh. I can get a supply of human Praziquantel 600 mg tabs (I'm a doctor, so trust me!). I realize this med can be hard to dissolve in water but assuming we just crush the pills and dissolve them, has anyone tried just using this?

https://humble.fish/community/index.php?threads/praziquantel.25/ suggests a dose of:

• 2.0 - 2.5 mg/L for at least 24 hours (Quarantine Tank dosage)
• 7.5 mg/L in a 6 hour bath (temperature control and heavily aerate the water)
• 10 mg/L in a 3 hour bath (temperature control and heavily aerate the water)

Any experience or suggestions using the pharmaceutical prescription human pills for this?

This is a previous response from Jay. Should work fine for you.

That product seems to be repackaged praziquantel. They say to dose one time, but that is an error, it needs to be dosed twice, about 8 days apart.

It is difficult to get powdered prazi to dissolve (that's why prazipro uses a solvent). What i do is use either a baby brine shrimp net (hard to find now days) or some nylon stockings and wearing gloves and a mask, put the powder inside and then rinse/massage it through the net material out into the main tank.

Jay

 

[vetteguy53081]

In Canada we can't get fish meds anymore - ugh. I can get a supply of human Praziquantel 600 mg tabs (I'm a doctor, so trust me!). I realize this med can be hard to dissolve in water but assuming we just crush the pills and dissolve them, has anyone tried just using this?

https://humble.fish/community/index.php?threads/praziquantel.25/ suggests a dose of:

• 2.0 - 2.5 mg/L for at least 24 hours (Quarantine Tank dosage)
• 7.5 mg/L in a 6 hour bath (temperature control and heavily aerate the water)
• 10 mg/L in a 3 hour bath (temperature control and heavily aerate the water)

Any experience or suggestions using the pharmaceutical prescription human pills for this?

I’m not familiar with the pill version
@Jay Hemdal

 

[Jay Hemdal]

In Canada we can't get fish meds anymore - ugh. I can get a supply of human Praziquantel 600 mg tabs (I'm a doctor, so trust me!). I realize this med can be hard to dissolve in water but assuming we just crush the pills and dissolve them, has anyone tried just using this?

https://humble.fish/community/index.php?threads/praziquantel.25/ suggests a dose of:

• 2.0 - 2.5 mg/L for at least 24 hours (Quarantine Tank dosage)
• 7.5 mg/L in a 6 hour bath (temperature control and heavily aerate the water)
• 10 mg/L in a 3 hour bath (temperature control and heavily aerate the water)

Any experience or suggestions using the pharmaceutical prescription human pills for this?

I dose it at 2.2 mg/l for a in-tank bath.

Do you have any idea what the excipients in this pill are? Most are generally safe (since people swallow them) but I always wonder....

It may have a film coating. I've used Erythromycin with film tabs in aquariums with no issues.

The trick will be gri9nding it it up into a fine powder and then making a suspension from that and passing it through a fine mesh net to even further reduce the particle size.

Jay

 

[MnFish1]

I dose it at 2.2 mg/l for a in-tank bath.

Do you have any idea what the excipients in this pill are? Most are generally safe (since people swallow them) but I always wonder....

It may have a film coating. I've used Erythromycin with film tabs in aquariums with no issues.

The trick will be gri9nding it it up into a fine powder and then making a suspension from that and passing it through a fine mesh net to even further reduce the particle size.

Jay

I had to do this fenbendazole once for my discus tank. It was also a 'human product'. Which means - (as I'm sure the OP knows) - You can't divide the 600 mg tablet in 2 to get 300 mg, etc - you have to mortle and pestle it and then dissolve in whatever solution you want to. I do not know that particular version - but you can look on the Canadian government website - and they will (normally) - tell you any fillers. SO - If I were you - I would take some vodka (which will dissolve the praziquantel) - - after grinding it up so you have a 600mg/(pick your volume)ml solution. Once the praziquantel is dissolved - you may see some gunk - I would add water until the excipients are dissolved (without doing that - you cannot tell how much of the gunk is praziquantel - vs how much is the excipient. In the US - I believe an MD can ask a compounding pharmacy to use pure powder - which would avoid this whole process. Ie. they would give you a gelatin capsule with xxx mg of praziquantel - which you can then pour out into vodka until dissolved - and then use it mg/mg. Hope this helps

 

[ConsummatePro]

Thanks for the replies! This is such a pain. I'll probably just end up ordering it from Amazon US and see if it will ship to Canada (if it get stopped at the border I'd imagine Amazon would just refund it).

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I had to do this fenbendazole once for my discus tank. It was also a 'human product'. Which means - (as I'm sure the OP knows) - You can't divide the 600 mg tablet in 2 to get 300 mg, etc - you have to mortle and pestle it and then dissolve in whatever solution you want to. I do not know that particular version - but you can look on the Canadian government website - and they will (normally) - tell you any fillers. SO - If I were you - I would take some vodka (which will dissolve the praziquantel) - - after grinding it up so you have a 600mg/(pick your volume)ml solution. Once the praziquantel is dissolved - you may see some gunk - I would add water until the excipients are dissolved (without doing that - you cannot tell how much of the gunk is praziquantel - vs how much is the excipient. In the US - I believe an MD can ask a compounding pharmacy to use pure powder - which would avoid this whole process. Ie. they would give you a gelatin capsule with xxx mg of praziquantel - which you can then pour out into vodka until dissolved - and then use it mg/mg. Hope this helps

Remember though - using ethanol as a solvent will cause a bacterial backlash, even worse than the glycol in Prazipro causes. You need to use the absolute least amount of Etoh and then aerate the heck out of the tank.
Jay

 

[MnFish1]

Remember though - using ethanol as a solvent will cause a bacterial backlash, even worse than the glycol in Prazipro causes. You need to use the absolute least amount of Etoh and then aerate the heck out of the tank.
Jay

Correct- this was approximately 2-3 cc in a 200 gallon tank!