Camallanus worms in my guppy tank?

[EmmaTheCabbage]

To my horror, yesterday I woke up to one of my guppies dead on the bottom of my tank. When I looked at him closer, I noticed The belly had somehow been opened up and there were really thin and small red and white worms dangling from his butt and belly. Unfortunately I completely forgot to take pictures. The guppy that died was a guppy I got from a pond near me (he was the only one from that pond). 2 other wild guppies in their from a stream and also got a bunch of my lovely bath tub guppies. They are all acting normal. Eating well. Nothing unusual at all. I’ve also not seen any worms or abnormalities other than that 1 dead one. Thinking maybe it’s Camallanus worms so was looking at getting some fenbendazole. (That seems to be the only med I can find for it that ships here). Found one online for dogs but was wondering if anyone would mind letting me know how I’d treat them with it because obviously there’s no instructions for fish on the box. I’ll attatched a pic of what type it is though. Tanks a 10 gal with plants. Does this med affect the plants in anyway too? Just spent a small fortune on them so don’t want to kill them from medicine. Was also wondering how quickly it spreads in the tank too. Because I think the fish that died was the one that originally had it, and was hoping maybe (since I’m an idiot and forgot to do it with the ‘worms’ from the dead one), maybe I’d get some poop from my other fish and stick it under a microscope to see what I see. Maybe I’m just hoping it was some unusual looking guppy intestines and not actual worms xD. Or maybe something else. Although something else weird in that tank is happening. I got some new plants a few days ago and added them to 2 of my tanks, (both containing shrimp). I washed them with plain water beforehand because I always do that. But since adding them I’ve noticed about half my shrimp die and the rest are hiding in a corner. Just thought it was really weird and can’t figure out why. The fish are ok. And my snail. Only the shrimp are dying.
Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Colin_T]

I have no idea what the conversion rate is for using dewormers for dogs on fish. A Google search might offer some info on that.

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If one fish in the tank has intestinal worms, every fish in every tank at your house will have intestinal worms. They are extremely contagious and livebearers like guppies always have them. They come in from Asia with worms. You put them in your tank and everyone in the tank gets them. If you use nets, buckets, gravel cleaners etc in different tanks, you spread them to the other tanks.

If you treat fish for intestinal worms, treat them once a week for 4 weeks. This will kill any adult worms and baby worms that hatch from eggs inside the fish.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate 24-48 hours after treating the fish. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Clean the filter 24-48 hours after deworming the fish.

Remove carbon from filters before treating the fish so it doesn't remove the medication from the water.

Increase aeration when using medications to maximise the oxygen levels in the water.

If the fish act nervous and skittish when treating them, you have probably overdosed a bit. Do a small (5-10%) water change if this happens. Fortunately most deworming medications are quite safe even at higher than recommended doses. This does not mean you should overdose, just the medications have a lot of leeway and don't normally poison the fish like other medications can.

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I have never heard of deworming medications affecting plants, but some will kill shrimp and snails.

 

[EmmaTheCabbage]

I have no idea what the conversion rate is for using dewormers for dogs on fish. A Google search might offer some info on that.

------------------------
If one fish in the tank has intestinal worms, every fish in every tank at your house will have intestinal worms. They are extremely contagious and livebearers like guppies always have them. They come in from Asia with worms. You put them in your tank and everyone in the tank gets them. If you use nets, buckets, gravel cleaners etc in different tanks, you spread them to the other tanks.

If you treat fish for intestinal worms, treat them once a week for 4 weeks. This will kill any adult worms and baby worms that hatch from eggs inside the fish.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate 24-48 hours after treating the fish. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Clean the filter 24-48 hours after deworming the fish.

Remove carbon from filters before treating the fish so it doesn't remove the medication from the water.

Increase aeration when using medications to maximise the oxygen levels in the water.

If the fish act nervous and skittish when treating them, you have probably overdosed a bit. Do a small (5-10%) water change if this happens. Fortunately most deworming medications are quite safe even at higher than recommended doses. This does not mean you should overdose, just the medications have a lot of leeway and don't normally poison the fish like other medications can.

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I have never heard of deworming medications affecting plants, but some will kill shrimp and snails.

O wow. Thanks a lot. I’ll try find a dosage online. At least I know what to expect in general from it though. Sucks if it got to my other tanks. Will have to keep an eye out. Luckily I’m pretty good with not sharing equipment. Or at least with those fish because I knew I got them from a weird source. Do you know if the parasites can get caught up on plants? Because that’s the main thing I cross between my tanks however I rinse them under running water before hand.

 

[EmmaTheCabbage]

Ok so I’ve hit a bit of a wall. I thought they were camallanus but I put some fish poop under the microscope and I’m not seeing anything moving or that looks like worms, or even what their eggs/look like. Maybe it hasn’t spread to that fish yet but idk. The only weird thing I did see was a yellow disc that looked a lot like raillietina spp. (Only had google to compare to). Could anyone confirm this for me? Also for some reason I couldn’t find hardly any info at all on that parasite in fish. Does anyone know how I would treat that one?

 

[On_a_dishy]

Just read this thread and ordered so many treatments on Amazon just in case ... now need to spend 5 years studying veterinary science to learn how to use them! Sorry - I know that's not any help. Good luck!

 

[EmmaTheCabbage]

Just read this thread and ordered so many treatments on Amazon just in case ... now need to spend 5 years studying veterinary science to learn how to use them! Sorry - I know that's not any help. Good luck!

Haha ty I think lol