Worms???

[Lucy155]

To my surprise, in my 75 gallon display tank, I noticed a “light brown” version of what Camallanus worms look like, but not red, coming out of one of my angels. I’ve had Camallanus worms twice brought in with new fish over my 35 years of fish keeping. I Treated all tanks with Lavamisole and the last episode was a year ago. A pain to go through the process, but no deaths. It worked. This is a surprise because this is an established tank with no newbies for six months. Everyone is heathy and growing. The affected Angel shows no other signs of sickness. I just happened to notice.

I’ve attached pictures. Is this worms? What type? Treatment? I have General Cure and also have 5grms of Lavamisole. I hate to use the Lavamisole because it is so strong, so if it’s not Camallanus worms, will something else work?

I fear it is worms.... how did they get in my display tank!!!!! Errrrr!

75 gallon
Penn Flex Cascade 1200 Canister
Large Sponge Filter
Two 150 w heaters
Green Machine UV
Weekly 30-50% water changes
Nitrate 20
Nitrite 0
Amonia 0
GH 300
TA 40
PH 7

Heavily Planted Low Tech
5 Adult Angels
4 Turquoise Rainbows
2 Red Rainbows
2 Bosmani Rainbows
8 Albino Corys
1 BN Pleco
5 Nerite snails
1 Clown Loach (12 years old!)

Thank you! Read this site almost daily!

 

[Lucy155]

He’s continuing to pass, so here’s better pics.

 

[Colin_T]

The 2 main types of thread/ round worms in fish are Camallanus and Capillaria. You treat them both with Levamisole or Flubendazole. The red colour is blood that the worms have been sucking out of the fish.

Praziquantel is used to treat tapeworm, which are white segmented worms. It's usually a good idea to treat them for both types of worm (round and segmented). You should also treat every tank in the house at the same time to prevent cross contamination.

Intestinal worms in fish can come from live foods like Daphnia, Black worms or Tubifex worms. Worms can also be brought in by contaminated fish.

----------------------
The following is how to treat intestinal worms in fish.

Intestinal Worms like tapeworm and threadworms cause the fish to lose weight, continue eating and swimming normally, do a stringy white poop. Fish can do this for months and not be too badly affected. In some cases, fish with 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.

Livebearers like guppies, mollies, swordtails & platies are regularly infected with gill flukes and intestinal worms but any fish can carry them. If the fish are still eating well, then worms is the most likely cause.

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.

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.

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.

 

[Retired Viking]

Colin-T has it covered. I had two angle fish years ago that grew to 6 and 4 inches in my 55 gallon tank. You have a nice looking tank and angle fish. I hope your fish gets better.

 

[Lucy155]

Thank you. I will start with the Lavamisole.

Is there any chance the Tetra tubeflex worms you buy in cube that press up against the tank will cause real worms? Still puzzled by how they got in this tank. I started feeding these cubes about a month ago ... once a week.

Does anyone know if there is a difference in the animal product version of Lavamisole sold on Amazon?

.

I usually buy 5 gram packets online from Inkster. I’ll probably just do that again. I have the one five gram packet on my shelf to get me started.

Thanks again.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Colin_T]

Levamisole is usually available in different concentrations for different species of animal. The lowest dose is for poultry, the next dose is for sheep and pigs, the strongest dose is for cattle. You can use any of these as long as you adjust the dose rate. eg: you use the one for cattle, so the amount you use is less than if you use the one for poultry or sheep.

-------------------------
Freeze dried food like tubifex and bloodworms do not normally carry or cause intestinal worms in fish. The freeze drying process removes all moisture and heats the food up to about 60C, which kills pretty much anything on it.

 

[Lucy155]

Wanted to provide update on my Camallanus worm infestation in my display tank.
I contacted Charles, The inkster, an expert on worms and ordered 3, 5 gram packets of Lavamisole. Finished first treatment 7 days ago. This morning many strings were simultaneously exiting the anus of the Angel that first showed me signs. See pics.
I sent the pics to Charles, worried that worms were still viable. He said they were “dead” camallanus worms and that this fish had been severely Infected with worms. I am to repeat treatment in two weeks (3 weeks from first).

These worms are terrible!!!! The fish hate the treatment. They stay low in the tank. Especially my Angels. Need to turn off lighting. The Rainbows don’t seem to mind the treatment. SNAILS can’t handle the med at all... I had to remove them after a day.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

@Colin_T is right on spot. I hope your fish gets better! (P.S. I love your tank!)

 

[Lucy155]

Thank you!!! Yes, @Colin_T was right! Thanks to him for sharing all his knowledge!

 

[Colin_T]

If the fish are stressed from the medication, you overdosed. use a bit less next time.

you need to treat the tanks once a week for 4 weeks to kill any baby worms that hatch.

do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean 24-48 hours after each treatment.

snails aren't normally affected by Levamisole, it could be it you overdosed them.

 

[Lucy155]

Ok, I’ll treat a second time tonight. Thank you.