FAQ

One of the unique properties of Halamid is that it is stable in solution and nevertheless a very efficacious disinfectant. A 1-10 % solution can be stored for several weeks but needs protection against light and heat. Ideally a black container is used. Above 8 % concentration the temperature of the solution should not get below 20 C as otherwise some reversible crystallisation will take place.

We agree with our distributors on annual marketing plans and promotional activities on trade shows can be part of this.

General rule is that disinfectants should not be blended. Their different modes of action may mean dangerous gases may evolve and moreover the activity of the ingredients may react away.

You can buy dipslides online at for example at Dimanco or Oxoid.

A simple test on presence of micro organisms can be done before and after disinfection. Axcentive suggest the use of dipslides for this. The main advantage is that you measure exclusively microbiological activity. By selecting the right dips, you can measure even specific bacteria (e.g. Salmonella, E-coli). The disadvantages of this system are that it takes 24 hours for the result and that you need an incubator. The latter is not a big investment but makes that you do not have a totally handheld system. Other systems, but less suitable are based on measuring ATP (general hygiene) or DNA (expensive).

To neutralize a solution containing 1000 milligram of Halamid per litre solution, you need 70 mg of thiosulfate.

Halamid has not been registered for this application. The European Biocide Regulation will harmonize all European biocide registrations. In view of this harmonisation, Axcentive is no longer applying for new national registrations within Europe but is putting its resources in the European registration. Halamid is notified for product types 2, 3, 4 and 5 resp. industrial and institutional, veterinary, food and feed and drinking water.

Halamid used to be approved for organic farming in a.o. France based on safety and ecotoxicity data. The introduction of European criteria for organic farming changed the set up and consequently currently only natural or inorganic products are listed. This criteria of being ‘natural’ is in our view false as it approves toxic products such as formaldehyde or agressive products such as hydrogen peroxide, peracetic acid and hypochlorite, whereas environmental friendly but synthetic alternatives such as Halamid(r) are available.

The shelf life of Halamid is two years from production and is indicated on the packaging. Storage should be away from heat or sun light and in a dry place in the original and closed packing.

Typically chlorine is added to swimmingpools in tablet form, in which the tablet slowly and constantly releases chlorine. Shock treatments (addition as powder or liquid) can be done as well but requires (bi)daily checking. To get to 1.5 ppm Chlorine, you need to maintain the level at: 0.3 kg of Halamid into 50,000 liter pool. To determine the residual Halamid® concentration in water one can do Halamid ion testing in which you measure the chlorine content:Chlorine can be easily measured using strips, like you can find here. Or use electronic devices: See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSlR8VnVkDs for a simple tester from Hanna Or http://www.testequipmentdepot.com/extech/pdf/cl200.pdf which presents a 1 step process Multiply the chlorine level by 4. This will give you the residual Halamid® concentration expressed as its initial form (the tri-hydrate compound). It must be said however Halamid is not very efficient to algae especially once grown, normally quats are used to control algea.

Under the specific conditions like catastrophes as floodings, earthquakes or volcano eruptions, HALAMID may be used to control the microbial growth in potable water. The amount applied should not excess 20ppm or 20 mg/l.

Water systems can be disinfected just like any other piece of equipment. disinfect with a 0.5% solution of HALAMID in water and rinse afterwards with fresh water.

Halamid has no surfactant activity and does not produce foam. If you prefer that surfaces treated with Halamid are more visible, a foam booster such as SLS (sodium lauryl sulfate), SLES (sodium laureth sulfate) can be added to Halamid in a concentration of 1:2000 (calculated on the Halamid solution used). Instead a pH-neutral cleaner containing SLES can be used.

HALAMID is not approved for human intake and thus may not stay on the vegetable. Vegetables and crops’ normally suffer from fungi and mildew mostly for which specific pesticides are offered in the market.

Water hardness is built up from two main groups: calcium hardness + magnesium hardness.

The Halamid efficacy gradually increases from lowering the pH from 10 to 7. Below PH 7 a Halamid solution becomes insoluble and ineffective.

Yes you should be able to keep a solution of Halamid (1-10%) for weeks under the condition it is kept away from direct sunlight. Stability is also dependent on pH, pH should remain above 7 to guarantee stability. A 1% solution of Halamid in demineralised water normally has a pH of 9.

pH measured in a solution at 22 °C :

Halamid can be used with any fish type, including Koi. The dosages may vary per fish types as sensitivity for Halamid may be different. A small test is always advised, before general use on larger numbers of fish. Also dosages need to be adapted to the pH of the water. For Koi, we refer to (Jill Spangenberg article).

Yes, Halamid can be used in seawater, brackish water and fresh water under the same conditions.

Yes, Halamid has the unique feature that it can be used as disinfectant in presence of fish.

Aldehyde products are posing health risks to the operators using them for disinfection by spraying, fogging, etc. Halamid replaces formaldehydes or glutaraldehydes without any problem. Follow the standard guidelines in our documentation to obtain excellent disinfection results. After proper cleaning one disinfection step with Halamid suffice. Should you prefer to keep an additional fogging step in place, then Halamid in combination with an aerosol can be applied here as well.

Yes Halamid is the perfect disinfectant for:

• Tanks and equipment
• Net disinfection
• Vehicle disinfection
• Well boat disinfection
• Footbath
• Processing plants
• Artemia
• Fish eggs

On EMS or also mentioned acute hepatopancreatic degenerative necrosis syndrome (AHDNS) the cause has been found, just recently. In fact a bacteriophage (= virus that only infect bacteria) infects the bacterium Vibrio parahaemolyticus and in the body of the shrimp the Vibrio starts to produce toxins (toxic excretions) which causes the animal to die. This cause would indicate that shrimp can be protected, either by destroying the bacteriophage or by killing the host bacterium (the Vibrio). Probably it is more practical to keep Vibrio under control as bacteriophages are smaller and more difficult to control to a level where they do no longer harm and they are generally present in all kinds of waters (oceans/lakes, etc). Vibrio parahaemolyticus is efficiently killed by Halamid®.

Halamid is a disinfectant with the sole purpose to kill micro organisms. Probiotics do not kill micro organisms but try to create an overall better water quality. In this sense probiotics and Halamid are complementary.

There is not much practical experience on this. A Halamid residue may not have much effect on probiotics. This means Probiotics can safely be added a few days after Halamid was added. However we advise at this stage against dosing Halamid to a pond where probiotics have been added.

In a shrimp pond, two days after Halamid was added to the pond, about 50 % of the dosed Halamid is still available. By then the concentration has gone back to a level where activity is limited, unless initial concentration was relatively high ( > 3 ppm).

Yes, for example ciliates and Ichthyobodo necator are effectively killed.

The European medicinal agency has reviewed Halamid for fin fish use and concluded no MRL was necessary (Annex II); in the United States the FDA is reviewing Halamid and given it the so-called MUMS status in 2006. This status allows use of products with pending registration on species that are not a major food source. In the United States Halamid has a full NADA status as an aquaculture drug by the FDA since May 2014.

For fish, extensive trials in the USA on salmonids have shown that Halamid, or its break down residue, para toluene sulfonamide do not accumulate in fish tissues and leave the body completely.

In Europe, biocides used in aquaculture  are not considered drugs, even when used in the presence of fish. In this case no claim for treatment against a disease or curing of the fish can be made. The function is to reduce pathogen levels in the water. It has been shown that this is preventing diseases and is improving welfare of healthy and diseased animals.

In order to achieve a complete killing of Vibrio (from a high level e.g. > 1000000) you need at least 5 ppm Halamid (and probably even more when in dirty water). In the lab, without fish at 25 oC, 17 degrees DH (water hardness) and 25 ppt salinity, 2.5 ppm (> 24 hr contact time) or 5 ppm (less than 24 hr) Halamid were required or a complete kill (log 6 reduction) of Vibrio parahaemolyticus.

Zooplankton is a broad collection of small aquatic organisms, in terms of cell number, larger than bacteria, viruses or fungi. These more complex organisms are less susceptible to the effect of oxidative disinfectants than bacteria, but higher concentrations over an extended time period will have a killing effect. This means that raceways treated with (10 – 20 ppm) Halamid should not be released without dilution into surface waters in order to protect natural zooplankton. Stagnant pond systems treated with 1 – 3 ppm with zooplankton present should not show significant negative effect on the proliferation of this zooplankton. This advice has not been lab-tested but is based on practical experience.

To determine the residual Halamid® concentration in water one can do Halamid ion testing in which you measure the chlorine content: Chlorine can be easily measured using strips, like you can find here.This gives you a rough indication if chlorine is still present at ppm level. You could also use a titration test like:

• https://www.merckmillipore.com/INTL/en/product/Chlorine-Test,MDA_CHEM-114801

This gives you an exact figure. There are also electronic devices available in the market:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSlR8VnVkDs for a simple tester from Hanna.
• http://www.testequipmentdepot.com/extech/pdf/cl200.pdf which presents a 1 step process.

Halamid is able to disinfect any surface and hence also these cooling pads. With the fans on hold, these pads can be sprayed with a 1% Halamid solution. Let it dry to the air and restart the fans. If visually dirty, then spray with a detergent beforehand. If dirt still comes off after spraying the Halamid solution (e.g. dead algae) then spray with water afterwards. The pads should be perfectly clean after this treatment.

Coccidial oocysts are the vegetative life stage of the parasite causing coccidiosis . Outside the body they are very hard to kill with disinfectants. This is why typically farmers mix coccidiostats in with the feed to kill the parasite inside the animal when it is more susceptible. We advise not to treat drinking water with Halamid or any other disinfectant, while dosing medication, including coccidiostats.

Yes HALAMID can be fogged. It a typical procedure you mix 10% HALAMID in a water + fogging agent mixture. Thermofoggers can be used to disinfect barns or for general airdisinfection

HALAMID® is registered under BPR, Group 1, product types (PT) 2, 3, 4 and 5. PT 3 concerns all veterinary hygiene including poultry barns and all equipment used.

Yes.

Halamid is recommended for use in rinsing food preparation equipment and carcases specifically (5 – 20g/l for 5 minutes), however we recommend subsequently rinsing with fresh lean water afterwards, to remove the residues of deactivated Halamid. Although not toxic (LOW acute toxicity and LOW chronic toxicity), it is not a good idea to deliberately consume Halamid or its residue, or let it accumulate in the food chain.

Is it a well-known effect that transition metal ions (TMI) like Ferro/Ferric and Manganese catalyze the decomposition of oxidants such as hydrogen peroxide which happens both in acidic as well as in alkaline solutions. This decomposition is known to occur rapidly, sometimes within minutes.

One of the unique properties of Halamid is that it is stable in solution and nevertheless a very efficacious disinfectant. A 1-10 % solution can be stored for several weeks but needs protection against light and heat. Ideally a black container is used. Above 8 % concentration the temperature of the solution should not get below 20 C as otherwise some reversible crystallisation will take place.

We agree with our distributors on annual marketing plans and promotional activities on trade shows can be part of this.

General rule is that disinfectants should not be blended. Their different modes of action may mean dangerous gases may evolve and moreover the activity of the ingredients may react away.

You can buy dipslides online at for example at Dimanco or Oxoid.

A simple test on presence of micro organisms can be done before and after disinfection. Axcentive suggest the use of dipslides for this. The main advantage is that you measure exclusively microbiological activity. By selecting the right dips, you can measure even specific bacteria (e.g. Salmonella, E-coli). The disadvantages of this system are that it takes 24 hours for the result and that you need an incubator. The latter is not a big investment but makes that you do not have a totally handheld system. Other systems, but less suitable are based on measuring ATP (general hygiene) or DNA (expensive).

To neutralize a solution containing 1000 milligram of Halamid per litre solution, you need 70 mg of thiosulfate.

Halamid has not been registered for this application. The European Biocide Regulation will harmonize all European biocide registrations. In view of this harmonisation, Axcentive is no longer applying for new national registrations within Europe but is putting its resources in the European registration. Halamid is notified for product types 2, 3, 4 and 5 resp. industrial and institutional, veterinary, food and feed and drinking water.

Halamid used to be approved for organic farming in a.o. France based on safety and ecotoxicity data. The introduction of European criteria for organic farming changed the set up and consequently currently only natural or inorganic products are listed. This criteria of being ‘natural’ is in our view false as it approves toxic products such as formaldehyde or agressive products such as hydrogen peroxide, peracetic acid and hypochlorite, whereas environmental friendly but synthetic alternatives such as Halamid(r) are available.

The shelf life of Halamid is two years from production and is indicated on the packaging. Storage should be away from heat or sun light and in a dry place in the original and closed packing.

Typically chlorine is added to swimmingpools in tablet form, in which the tablet slowly and constantly releases chlorine. Shock treatments (addition as powder or liquid) can be done as well but requires (bi)daily checking. To get to 1.5 ppm Chlorine, you need to maintain the level at: 0.3 kg of Halamid into 50,000 liter pool. To determine the residual Halamid® concentration in water one can do Halamid ion testing in which you measure the chlorine content:Chlorine can be easily measured using strips, like you can find here. Or use electronic devices: See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSlR8VnVkDs for a simple tester from Hanna Or http://www.testequipmentdepot.com/extech/pdf/cl200.pdf which presents a 1 step process Multiply the chlorine level by 4. This will give you the residual Halamid® concentration expressed as its initial form (the tri-hydrate compound). It must be said however Halamid is not very efficient to algae especially once grown, normally quats are used to control algea.

Under the specific conditions like catastrophes as floodings, earthquakes or volcano eruptions, HALAMID may be used to control the microbial growth in potable water. The amount applied should not excess 20ppm or 20 mg/l.

Water systems can be disinfected just like any other piece of equipment. disinfect with a 0.5% solution of HALAMID in water and rinse afterwards with fresh water.

Halamid has no surfactant activity and does not produce foam. If you prefer that surfaces treated with Halamid are more visible, a foam booster such as SLS (sodium lauryl sulfate), SLES (sodium laureth sulfate) can be added to Halamid in a concentration of 1:2000 (calculated on the Halamid solution used). Instead a pH-neutral cleaner containing SLES can be used.

HALAMID is not approved for human intake and thus may not stay on the vegetable. Vegetables and crops’ normally suffer from fungi and mildew mostly for which specific pesticides are offered in the market.

Water hardness is built up from two main groups: calcium hardness + magnesium hardness.

The Halamid efficacy gradually increases from lowering the pH from 10 to 7. Below PH 7 a Halamid solution becomes insoluble and ineffective.

Yes you should be able to keep a solution of Halamid (1-10%) for weeks under the condition it is kept away from direct sunlight. Stability is also dependent on pH, pH should remain above 7 to guarantee stability. A 1% solution of Halamid in demineralised water normally has a pH of 9.

pH measured in a solution at 22 °C :