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Well I dont know what else to do.
I followed suggestions on here, treated
the 10g tank with liquid Prazi-Pro for 3 doses,
5 days apart with water change between,
coupled with garlic soaked medicated Jungle Labs
Anti-Parisitic Food (ingredients prazinquental, metrinidazole, levamisole)
Feed this for 4 days a week for 3 weeks.
This has done absolutely squat.
I contacted my vet, he said there are really only
3 things that kill this type of worm
1 cannot be used safely with fish
1 is not available in Canada (Ivermectin)
The other is trichlorfon, however, which only really
works if ingested or injected.
Currently I am testing a General Cure for parasites
which contains trichlorfon, metrinidazole, and something
else, i think malachite green. I am testing this on my paradise fish in my 1g bowl.
So far 2 days nothing.
Im losing my mind!! argh!!!
Any one else have any ideas?
I plan to euthanize all infested fish in 1 weeks time if nothing works or can be found that i could at least try.
I have 4 cory hasbrosus and 1 rubbernose pleco all of whom show no signs of infestation. I plan to leave them in their tank which I am going to clean thoroughly, and watch them for a couple months to see if then develop the worms.
I do not want to lose these fish, they are almost all impossible to replace.
Thanks for at least listening to my rant, and any ideas of any kind, no matter how crazy, i am willing to hear and try at this time.
Thanks.


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I hate Camallanus so much.]:|

When I was treating my fish a couple years ago, nothing worked either. I even injected heavy-duty horse wormer directly into the fishes' anus, and it didn't do a single thing.

You've tried all you can, pretty much all you can do now is just see who can tolerate the meds longer - the worms or the fish.

Actually though... When one of my female gouramis had a worm sticking out of her (just one), I scooped her out of the tank, pulled the worm out of her, and popped her back in. She was fine and that was the last sign of infestation I had in any of my tanks. However, it seems that the worms usually pull themselves back into the fish when it is taken out of water...

You may want to try putting the infected fish in a very thin layer of water, just enough so they can lay on their sides and still breathe, and hold it still. If you hold the fish so that it cannot flop around, the worms should come out a bit and you can try to grab them and pull them out. I've heard that trying to pull the worms can damage the fishes' anus, but the fish is going to die for sure if nothing is done so it is probably worth a try.





Last edited by Cory Addict at 21-Nov-2005 19:23

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

Actually Ivomec has been approved for use in Canada since 1999 when a lice epidemic that carried a lethal uncurable virus threatened to kill pigs in massive numbers and no other tested chemical would cure the infection,they used ivomec to kill all the mites fleas worms and anything else that could cause the virus transmission, its also used in trout farms. I just looked on a few web sites that will ship to canada too. Ivomec is the widest distributor of ivermectin worldwide, look for the tradename on the net if it helps.Canadian livestock association and deer farmers use the pour -on type.If you go to an agricultural retailer you might actually be able to buy it over the shelf, the tricky bit might be finding ivomec compounds suitable for fish.... and it will certainly kill any invertabrates in the tank.

Its usage for animals that are not generally intended as foods is approved in most cases, but using it to treat edible livestock generally requires a license.

Vets tend to recommend certain drugs because they have to arrange drug contracts for maximum profit margin and many get kickbacks anyway, so they are usually loathe to stock any drug they cant make 1000% profit on, or one that would require them to change the contract with their drug supplier.Sometimes vets arent actually the best source for drugs oddly enough. Ask a wholesaler and you might have more luck.

Your average farmer only has to ask for it by name, go where they go. We used to buy it in bulk from agricultural supplies when I worked in animal rescue. Youd have to work out the active dosages VERY carefully if you administer it yourself though, even small overdoses are lethal to fish. Get the pure form, not the paste.



Last edited by longhairedgit at 21-Nov-2005 21:37

Hey long,
thanks! I will go to see if I can hunt it
down this weekend. Cant hurt to try.
At this point, I am now down to 2 guppies, both infested,
and 6 young platies all seem infested as well.
Its mostly the Corys and Pleco Im concerned with.
I dont want to lose them.
I have more baby platies on the way, and I was planning
on getting rid of the guppies anyway.
The poor paradise fish is suffering the worst.
If I can find the ivermectin this weekend, I will
try it on the paradise fish first.
Would it be possible to medicate food with it?
Would that be more effective?
Thanks!


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Technically ivomec can be orally administered, but I doubt fish would eat food impregnated with it, since it tastes and smells a bit like gasoline,you could give it a go though.If you get the clear liquid its skin absorbable, so it could be added directly into the water and either injected into or dropletted onto a netted fish. Again dosages are very important, so choose the method you feel is most accurate. If there are callamnus sticking out of the fish's anus you could drop it on them directly, they should start to fall apart in hours, thus ending any urgent cases of constipation . (its vindictive and I like it ! ) You may have to dilute ivomec a bit, a raw droplet is probably enough to kill most fish. Use saline fluid or very ,very clean , preferably distilled water to dilute it.

DON'T forget how powerful ivomec is, a single dose of 0.25 -0.5ml repeated in 14 days is enough to treat a fox ( or coyote for american friends !) with 75% skin coverage of sarcoptic mange, and it kills the fleas, mites, ticks, and even tapeworm all at the same time. Overdose and the fish will be off to fishy heaven in about an hour.Pastes are less powerful, but I doubt the fish will eat them.


Im a bit unsure of the correct dosage for fish myself, if you look up how trout farmers use it, you might be able to approximate a decent dosage. Having used it on other animals though, im pretty sure you wanna underdose. You could ask the vet, but they can get a bit funny about advising you on drugs that you didnt purchase from them (no surprise there!)

Make sure any dosages you work out are based on the average active content of the drug in the suspension that you have bought, versus the fish's weight or tank capacity depending on the method of administration you choose.

Last edited by longhairedgit at 23-Nov-2005 12:38