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Ok, here i go, i've never actually had to deal with this in person before. I've read enough, but well, anyone can write stuff (I am testament to that!)

What i need are personal experiences, AND FAST, cause i really dont want this parasite to get into my main breeding stock.

I am considering a preventative worming for all of them anyway, as well, it seems kinda silly not to.

I have 2 options for treatment, Levimasole/praziquantel or straight praziquantel (which smells remarkably like sweet vomit)

Avoiding ivermec/ivermectin as saw some unfavourable toxicity studies involving trout, and well, with the volumes i'm working with, OD isnt out of the question.

Pictures attached:
His ventrals are deformed slightly and do have red through them, but you can clearly see the 2 worms protruding from the anus (hanging to the left hand side of the fish).

EDIT: i assume that physically removing them is kinda advised against/pointless?



[span class="edited"][Edited by Callatya 2004-08-21 07:57][/span]
Callatya attached this image:
[img]http://www.fishprofiles.net/attachments/419279.jpg"]

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

And from the side
Callatya attached this image:
[img]http://www.fishprofiles.net/attachments/419280.jpg"]

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Well first off, I would be careful in preventative worming. If you O.D. then you will lose everything. I haven't used either of the products that you suggested, but when I had this problem once before I picked up something at the lfs (can't remember then name) and it fixed him up. How do u think that it got in there? Maybe from the food?

There's really no mystery to Camallanus worms...

Trying to remove them is an impossible task since they cling to the intestinal wall with tough pinchers. Attempts at removal will tear the intestional wall of the fish allowing all sorts of bacterial invasion.

The treatments are simple: Internal Parasite Guard, Disco-Worm or Fluke Tabs.

Since Camallanus is contageous, all fish must be treated and as soon as possible to prevent serious internal damage from the worms. Slow action to remedy will kill the fish.

A medicated food to prevent a bacterial infection caused by worm damage is required.

--garyroland.



[span class="edited"][Edited by garyroland 2004-08-21 10:16][/span]

I have experience with this pest before.

I would use Levamisole, that's what I used and it worked very quickly. Just need to be careful what form of Levamisole you are using. While Levamisole is very gentle and very specific,some de-worming mixtures where Levamisole is the active ingrediant have other meds mixed in and these may disrupt bio-filtration.

You will have to treat all fish, if you share equipment (nets etc) this can pass from tank to tank very quickly.

As Gary said do NOT try to remove physically the worm is attached to the fishes gut and trying to remove will cause severe internal damage.

Keep an eye for secondary infection/digestion problems later due to possible damage to internal organs caused by the worms.

Dose again after one week. The worm sticking out is the re-productive phase(they are live bearers) and they have possibly dropped larvae into the water. The second dose is a mopping up job to prevent re-infection.

I'm going to dis-agree with Gary (gulp,

feeling brave) while I have not tried them, from what I've heard Internal Parasite Guard and Fluke Tabs would be ineffective. Camallanus is a little tougher then the avaerage internal nematode.

Hope it works out. While ridding the worms is relatively simple, the chances are the fish has been infected for some time and survival will depend on how much damage has been done internally. In my own experience most of the fish pulled through and still going strong today. 2 others (both Rainbows) did develop problems a bit later and died "mysteriously" I'm pretty sure due to internal damage as there were no outward symptoms of illness.

---

Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Sorry forgot to mention. With regard to how the infection entered. The fish could have been already infected. It takes along time for this pest to show itself and won't neccessarily be caught in a normal quarantine period.
If you have had the fish longer then four months it's quite possible the infection was introduced, possibly thru live food.
To trace the infection would need to look at what fish were introduced in the last 4 months as possible suspects. If no new fish were introduced in that period would need to look at feeding.

---

Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

WEll, on the plus side, your disagreeing with gary has no bearing... i can't get those meds over here anyway.

my levimasole is 2 years past its date, so its dropped in strength some. I will get a new bottle this week.

It is in a bowl, but yeah, worm eggs arent very nice when it comes to staying in the one sort of place.

Am going to treat the entire betta setup with a standard fish wormer (the praziquantel) in the hope that if they are there, they are young enough to be affected by it.
(will look up the meds you mentioned Gary and see whats in them and if i can get them.)


I am seriously thinking that the fish did already have them... They couldnt have grown to that size in 2 months with no other fish showing signs.

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Hi Calla,
I hope that you worm problem is under control. I had camallanus worms in my guppies not too long ago and after researching them on the web this is what i did...
I found out that the best treatment was levamisole (as you mentioned)and as I live in a small county town, and wanted to commence treatment asap, the only type of levamisole I could find was Elliot's bird wormer. It has 12g/l of levamisole. (it was 2 months out of date so I got it for free too!). The next thing was to work out the dose. I cant remember where I got the info from now but I put 20ml of bird wormer into my 4 foot tank (which is about 200l). I turned of the filter (cause it has carbon in it). After about 24 hours I turned the filter back on. After another 24 hours I repeated the treatment. Then did a major water change and cleaned out the filter over a couple of days(careful not to do too much at once so as to not upset my bacteria). This worked very well I did not loose any of my guppies and have not seen any more worms since (touch wood).
This is where I got the infomation from

http://www.inkmkr.com/Fish/CamellanusTreatment.pdf

I dont know if this was a smart thing to do... use bird wormer on fish... but it worked even the one that was the worst affected (had lost a lot of weight and was not looking very well) is still alive!

Good luck

DASHMAN:88)

Its better to be hated for who you are...
Than loved for who you are not

Pipzine, Disco Worm and Trichlorfon can also be dosed if available...

The other meds I mentioned do work for that certain worm as evidenced by other hobbyists who have tried them. It seems Camallanus worms can be killed rather easily with commercial products made to kill parasites.

There have been cases where the "wormer" not only killed the worms but the fish also. Precautions should be taken about chemicals made for birds and other creatures. They may be too strong for the Betta's metabolism.

--garyroland.

[span class="edited"][Edited by garyroland 2004-08-22 13:13][/span]

well, i *think* i've got it licked.

very hard to find levimasole in a fish preparation, it was all praziquantel and that piperzine (?) one.

I read that PDF too, and a few other pages.

I researched the carrier for the wormer that i chose (a bird wormer too, the Avitrol Plus) and found that it was suitable.
I used the dose rate from that PDF (3 drops/L) and gave it a go.

And well, on day 2, when the worms were still visible, it occurred to me that the 2 year use by issue would have dropped the potency somewhat, so i doubled the dosage.

No worms this morning

And the water looks clean very odd side effect!

Anyway, i'm going to dose the other fish with the praziquantel tablet (involves much crushing and measuring *grumble*) just in case there is an issue with the bird thing that hasnt shown up yet.



For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett