Camallanus worms?

Hi all. Just looking for some help. My Honey Gourami has been acting strangely for a week or 2 now, I thought he was stressed by other tank mates so I moved him to another tank. This morning he was sat on his side on the bottom of the tank and he had these red worms protruding from his anus. He is also a lot paler than he usually would be, is slightly swollen and had a dark patch on his side.



I immediately removed him into a bag, his other tank mates are 5 endlers and some new fry born last night! And some cherry shrimp.

One of the endlers has also been sat on the bottom for a couple of days and is gasping slightly more than usual. Could the two issues be the same. I have placed him in the bag also.

I have dosed the bag with panacur-c to try and kill the worms but neither fish is eating much so I do not think they will clear out properly. Any help would be appreciated, I am concerned that this will be the last of both of them.

James7 said:

Hi all. Just looking for some help. My Honey Gourami has been acting strangely for a week or 2 now, I thought he was stressed by other tank mates so I moved him to another tank. This morning he was sat on his side on the bottom of the tank and he had these red worms protruding from his anus. He is also a lot paler than he usually would be, is slightly swollen and had a dark patch on his side.

View attachment 122434

I immediately removed him into a bag, his other tank mates are 5 endlers and some new fry born last night! And some cherry shrimp.

One of the endlers has also been sat on the bottom for a couple of days and is gasping slightly more than usual. Could the two issues be the same. I have placed him in the bag also.

I have dosed the bag with panacur-c to try and kill the worms but neither fish is eating much so I do not think they will clear out properly. Any help would be appreciated, I am concerned that this will be the last of both of them.

Click to expand...

get a specific de worming drops which you bind to food it should help

If the red hair like things disappear when you try to touch them, they are thread/ round worms (Camallanus or Capillaria). You need to treat all of your tanks at the same time because if one fish has them, every fish in every tank will have them.

You use Levamisole or Flubendazole for threadworms, (see directions below).

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Intestinal Worms like tapeworm and threadworms cause the fish to lose weight, continue eating and swimming normally, and do a stringy white poop. Fish can do this for months and not be too badly affected. In some cases, fish with a bad worm infestation will actually gain weight and get fat and look like a pregnant guppy. This is due to the huge number of worms inside the fish.

You can use Praziquantel to treat tapeworm and gill flukes. And Levamisole to treat thread/ round worms. If you can't find these medications, look for Flubendazole, which treats both lots of worms.

In the UK look for:
eSHa gdex contains praziquantel that treats tapeworm and gill flukes.
eSHa-ndx contains levamisole and treats thread/ round worms.
NT Labs Anti-fluke and Wormer contains flubendazole.

Remove carbon from filters before treatment and increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise oxygen levels in the water.

You treat the fish once a week for 4 weeks. The first treatment will kill any worms in the fish. The second, third and forth treatments kill any baby worms that hatch from eggs inside the fish's digestive tract.

Treat every fish tank in the house at the same time to prevent cross contamination.

You do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean 24-48 hours after treatment. Clean the filter 24 hours after treatment too.

Do not use the 2 medications together. If you want to treat both medications in a short space of time, use Praziquantel on day one. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate on day 2 & 3. Treat the tank with Levamisole on day 4 and do a 75% water change and gravel clean on day 5, 6 & 7 and then start with Praziquantel again on day 8.

The water changes will remove most of the medication so you don't overdose the fish the next time you treat them. The gravel cleaning will suck out any worms and eggs that have been expelled by the fish. Repeating the treatment for 3-4 doses at weekly intervals will kill any worms that hatch from eggs. At the end of the treatment you will have healthier fish.

Wow Colin once again you have all of the knowledge! Thanks for the info, unfortunately both the Gourami and the endler have died today, probably not helped by the stress of trying to treat them.

I guess that the panacur-c won’t work because it is fenbendazole?

I have cherry shrimp in one tank, Amano in another. I also have cories, otocinclus and green neon tetra. Will they all be ok with these medications (also a few pest snails but not too worried about them!) I know cories can be affected by some meds.

I just have a couple of further questions.

The worms in the gourami stopped moving after the panacur, is it possible that this killed them? They did not drop out or go back inside but I didn’t touch them before disposing of the fish unfortunately. There were no signs of issues in the endler.

I have fine sand and lots of plants & fixed decor / rocks so it is difficult to achieve a good gravel vac though I try as best as I can. Is the vac just to get rid of the dead worms and stop ammonia spiking? I don’t think it will be strong enough to remove the eggs.

I know I need to do both of the tanks that the Gourami was in but will I need to treat my puffer and QT tank too? I don’t use the same equipment in all tanks, have a separate bucket for the new and old water but I do use the same jug to measure water in which occasionally goes into the tank and also a pair of plant tweezers. How waterborne are they, or is the risk just not worth it?

I can get NT Labs fluke & wormer on at MA tomorrow. Is that the best stuff to use? it sounds easier than 2 meds!