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as i have talked about many times, my blue gourami has seemingly incurable worms. these little red nightmares are in his intestines and hang out his...hole. they increase rapidly and spread. i have seen these worms eat a fish away from the inside until the become so skinny they die. and while this doesnt seem to happen to the gourami, the worms have spread to three other fish (that i know of.)

i have tried fish medications many times, but now i must resort to larger weapons. (haha... metaphor)

i have moved the gourami to his own 5 gallon and, using Croy Addict's advice, i plan to use horse dewormer. it comes in some sort of syringe and is in a lotion-like form. but i dont even know how to apply this to a horse, let alone a fish. i thought maybe i should apply some of the paste with a toothpick to a few flakes, then feed.

please dont reply with post like "OMG! dont use horse dewormer! stick to fish meds! OMG! are you insane!?..." i am beyong caring for the fate of the gourami and im using him as a lab rat to see in i can use this method for the fish that have a better chance of living.

so, anyone have any idea of how i should use this?

I no you can use cat worming tablets, have you tried them.

no, ive only used fish meds up until now

In the UK we can't get worming medicines, so I have heard about using cat worming tablets.

Horses usully get their dewormers injected, but the needle I've seen used for horses would probabally kill the fish. And horse de-wormers are VERY stong, I'm fairly sure you'll give the fish a gaping hole in his side... In addition to that, fish worms and horse worms are very diffirent.

im only using Cory Addicts advice since nothing else works. im not using a needle, and i will only place a very small amount on the food

Internal parasites --- have you tried adding antiparasite meds to their food? How about http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524441806678&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302030134&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=2534374302023693&bmUID=1092526301872 . Wow, long link...sorry about that

I would say the best bet is indeed put this on the food.
I used Dog Wormer to treat the worms my guppies had. Worked like a charm.
I think the horse wormer would work as well.
Mix about 1 part wormer to 5 parts flake, dry well. Avoid feeding the Gourami for a whole day, then feed this medicine 2 times a day for a whole week. Repeat after a 1 week break if needed. Should do the trick.
If the horse wormer doesnt work, you can also try Bird Wormer, Cattle Wormer, or Dog/Cat wormer medicine.
The key ingredient in each will either be the same or a different med. Try different ones each time. Eventually you will get one that works. For me the ingredient was Piperazine Adipate.


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good luck with whatever u use

Look for any med with LEVAMISOLE as the ingredient. It's the only stuff that I know of that will work. Be sure to do a super gravel vac afterwards to ge all the eggs.

Good luck,
Tim

Get hold of some Levamilsole or Levacide (Levamisole Hydrochloride). This is a common ingredient in Cattle, sheep, pig and possibly horse dewormers. If you can get Levacide it’s better as it is a 7.5% solution of Levamisole and makes working out the dosage easier. 1gram for every 20 gals of water. Pre dilute and treat the entire tank. No need to inject . The fish can absorb the med thru the gills.

There is also a medicated fish food called Discomed which has Levamisole as an active ingredient which can also be used (although not always successful as the amount of Levamisole might be too small).

Levamisole is safe for you bacteria colony and plants and is very difficult to overdose. It will also improve the immunity system of the fish. It’s actually a very good drug for aquatic use but there’s a heck of a lot more money in agricultural meds then aquarium meds so it’s never been marketed as such. But my own opinion is that Camallanus is starting to become almost as common as Ich so it’s only a matter of time before somebody realizes they can stick small quantities of this in a container with a pic of fish and sell it with a much higher profit margin. Everybody has heard of Ich, velet etc but not many know of Camallanus, yet one look at the forum here and you can see how common it is now becoming.

Other de-wormers such as those in the dog and bird meds may work but it’s hit and miss, Levamisole is pretty much proven to be successful.

Do not try to inject, do not try to apply lotion and never ever try to physically remove the worm. Make sure to treat the entire tank, if you have more then one tank treat those also. These worms can spread from tank to tank easily and syptoms often don’t show for months, so because the other fish may look healthy it’s not guaranteed that they are infected.

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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, i applied the horse dewormer to his flake food but he doesnt seem to eat it. now i believe either the meds or stress have caused him to contract something else (damn..)

his scales seem a bit raised, he wont eat, his color has faded, he doest move, and his pectoral fin has turned red at the tip and is beggining to rot away. i looked it up in a book, sounds like "fish TB"

what do you guys think?

PS: the worms are still bad

[span class="edited"][Edited by Coelacanth 2004-08-18 12:42][/span]

I would say it's probably a syptom of the worms rather then anything else. The damage these worms can do to a fish insides are immense. They attach themselves to the fishes gut(that's why it's not a good idea to try to pull them out), the red color of the worm is actually from the fishes blood. They can cause severe constipation and bloating which can be why the scales are raised, and generally make the fish feel miserable.Usually fish keepers see syptoms such as these long before they see the worms.

Do try to get hold of the Levamisole (agicultral and farmyard suppliers should have tons of the stuff), this can literally kill the worms in a very short time. The worms should be dead within an hour.Be aware though that this in itself may not save the fish, it depends on how much internal damage they have done, there is a chance the fish can succumb to the side effects of the worms destruction.

If you absolutely cannot get hold of the Levamisole I have tons of the stuff. I had to pay about $10 for 5kg but I only needed a couple of grams (well cows are a lot bigger then fish). I would be happy to post you some but I'm in Indonesia and it may take 10-14days to get to you.

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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.

thank you but unfortunatly last night, his condidtion became so bad i decided to euthanize him. he developed large dark patches on his body and fins and all his fins started to rot away. he was also very lethargic.

now im concerned about my other fish, three of which are definitely infected.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.