Camallanus - roundworms in Guppies

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Kwakatoo

Aquarium Advice Freak
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286
Location
Adelaide, Australia
Hi there, I have a guppie suffering with these evil creatures, has been for days. I started treatment with Protozin from the LFS 2 days ago, and halfway through treatment. But this poor guy has had these for a number of days longer (I thought he was constipated initially)

Does anyone know what the contents of Protozin is? I know I need Anthelminthics to treat, and my book tells me that for internal parasites I should use Levamisole or Praziquantel or Piperazine Citrate (an older known remedy) for these worms. I just don't know where to source it. The medications at the fish store don't seem to explain their contents!!

I'm in Australia, and I also recognised that the terms of reference can be different between countries too.. Please help :(


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Ok, this treatment won't help.. Googled this:

Waterlife Protozin is a 7 Day treatment for whitespot (ich), Oodiniasis (velvet), Costiasis, Trichodiniasis, Neon Tetra Disease and Fungus.
Active Ingredients:
Malachite Green
Copper Sulphate

It's an external parasite remedy. :(


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Found the fix!!

Waterlife Sterazin is a 10 day treatment for gill and body flukes.

Active ingredients:
Acriflavine
Malachite Green
Piperazine Citrate

... Now to find it in the shop...


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Im a little confused, you said your guppies have camallanus, then you mentioned some ick medicines........
Really there is no cure for camallanus, and if your guppies have it, you must take down everything and stearlize it very thouroughly with blecah, scrub every centimeter of your tanks and equipment, re-cycle the tanks and start over.
Sorry, but camallanus is a death sentence.
Some people claim to have sucess with powder levimasole in the water column, however every time i have followed people doing that, it just ends up killing their fish as well.
Once the camallanus worms are Impacted in the fishes gut, they are impossible to pass and the fish ultimately dies, even if the worms are killed/paralysed.
 
Im a little confused, you said your guppies have camallanus, then you mentioned some ick medicines........
Really there is no cure for camallanus, and if your guppies have it, you must take down everything and stearlize it very thouroughly with blecah, scrub every centimeter of your tanks and equipment, re-cycle the tanks and start over.
Sorry, but camallanus is a death sentence.
Some people claim to have sucess with powder levimasole in the water column, however every time i have followed people doing that, it just ends up killing their fish as well.
Once the camallanus worms are Impacted in the fishes gut, they are impossible to pass and the fish ultimately dies, even if the worms are killed/paralysed.


:( I was using the wrong med - I realized and I'm changing meds.

2 fish are now affected and isolated. Luckily I "only" have 4 guppies atm.
 
I was wondering about this parasite the other day.
How long can they live with no host?
If all your fish died or were destroyed due to these. Or lets say you moved them all to a hospital tank and left the main tank sitting with no fish, maybe just invasives like snails and such would the worms be able to survive before they just die out and the tank is safe again?
 
Matt may know more?

I understand dealing with the eggs can be a problem which requires a second course of meds.
 
praziquentel will work for roundworms but not camallanus
The nematode is very contagious, and you would literally have to scrub and bleach everything.
Best treatment is levimasole or fenbendazole in the hospital tanks water column and tons of epsom salt Use soaked bloodworms with the de-wormer
Stearilize tanks and buckets, siphon tubes, everything. Toss the filter pad and recycle the tank
Sorry for the bad news kuakatoo, i really hate camallanus. Its the guppy hobbyist nitmare! Ive had it twice, once on mollies, and then again on guppies.
Ive had to euthanize 3 tankful of guppies 3 diffrent times, and all the mollies, plus some fancy goldfish and blood fin tetras.
I know its rough
Prognosis is very bleak.
hang in there, i promise it gets better. From now on maybe get guppies from private professional breeders in SE Asia of Aus
Chain store fish are very hard to find some that will live
 
Faaark - thanks Matt for the info. I'll follow your advice

I just went to the local fish shop where I bought them.. Lo and behold in that same tank one fish was floating upside down.. Dead.. The guppies were looking sick, a couple at the back of the tank looked like they were in advance stages of camallanus Worms and I told the fish owner who chuckled when I walked in - he's made good money off me and my dying fish. But now I know for sure he's the facker who sells them in poor condition.

He wasn't interested in what I had to tell him about his fish/afflicted tank.

Il never go back there.
 
Can't blame you never going back. Did you find a store for meds?

Just out of curiosity if you have time. Did the sterazin make any difference?
 
Didn't have the time today to get to the Aquarium shop. Didn't try the sterazin, took a punt and got praziquantel instead. The tablets I got didn't absorb into the water very well, even after mashing it up in a cup before hand. As Matt said, the Levamisole would be the better treatment. I'll buy that hopefully tomorrow.

In the meantime I have put the two obviously affected fish out of their misery. Look away now if you don't like photos of dissected fish.. But I had to know for sure. And I was right, classic camallanus .. They were still moving as I took the photos.. Required a strong stomach.

So sad and disappointed. Disappointed that I've now basically introduced them to all my tanks. As I was using media out of the affected tank in my new tanks. FFS.
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ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1474105366.253702.jpg
Rest in peace poor babies
 
To dissolve the prazi most use a little vodka...No joke.... It will not help with the camallanus though.
You need levamisole HCI to cure the worm...
Here is a link on treatment procedures;
Camallanus Treatment - Use of Levamisole HCl

Shame your across the pond as Charles [inkmaker] is a great source of levamisole .
Two treatments about 3 weeks apart. I believe you want to treat even if fish die as it is very infectious..
 
To dissolve the prazi most use a little vodka...No joke.... It will not help with the camallanus though.
You need levamisole HCI to cure the worm...
Here is a link on treatment procedures;
Camallanus Treatment - Use of Levamisole HCl

Shame your across the pond as Charles [inkmaker] is a great source of levamisole .
Two treatments about 3 weeks apart. I believe you want to treat even if fish die as it is very infectious..


Thanks Coral. Interesting about the vodka! I'd believe it though as that Prazi was a tough thing to mix in water. Levamisole will be gotten, I need to treat all my tanks. Is this typical fish keeping.. My friends are now calling me he fish killer... :(


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Thanks Coral. Interesting about the vodka! I'd believe it though as that Prazi was a tough thing to mix in water. Levamisole will be gotten, I need to treat all my tanks. Is this typical fish keeping.. My friends are now calling me he fish killer... :(


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It's honestly not usual here that I know of (thanks for sharing the photos). Unfortunately the store had some really bad stock. I've heard I guess regular complaints of standards slipping here with a bit of a downturn in fish keeping but that's just poor quality imo.
 
It's honestly not usual here that I know of (thanks for sharing the photos). Unfortunately the store had some really bad stock.


I'm really disheartened. I will keep working on my tanks.. And rid of these parasites which disgust me. Poor fish. Really pi$$ed off about the pet shop, yes not a dedicated fish shop, annoyed with his attitude yesterday when I tried to show him the issue. A wry smile and a "you better shut up" look of disdain thrown at me for raising the concern.

Ok time to move on. Thanks everyone for your help. It's been a crappy week.


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Use pigeon wormer. (Any wormer for birds from the pet store)
Worked a charm on my betta.
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After dosing with harkers, harkaverm. (Levamisole)
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This will kill them dead, with no need for the painful cleaning process!
Only this fish was infected, it did not spread, but I did do a precautionary treatment in all systems.
 
Use pigeon wormer. (Any wormer for birds from the pet store)

Worked a charm on my betta.

.. will kill them dead, with no need for the painful cleaning process!

Only this fish was infected, it did not spread, but I did do a precautionary treatment in all systems.


Thanks for the tip! I visited three pet/animal shops today with no luck. Was going to try a vet tomorrow, but will look for this. Thanks!


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It is a good point to raise that simply dosing the tanks with de-wormers should kill them.
Most guppies are raised in barebottom tanks, maybe the OP will decide to switchover.
So coralbandit, do you think dosing in the tank will kill all the worms?
Two doses?
What medicine would you recommend to just "dump in" the tank to kill them, and their eggs.
The levimasole, right?
Next time I notice a guppy with it its what im gonna use. Ive tried powder fenbendazole kukwatoo, ive tried medicated levimasole flakes, it never has worked
 
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