# Camallanus Worm - Levamisol diary



## sasa (Apr 15, 2005)

Thought I'd write about my experience treating the Camallanus Worm in my planted tank.

My tank








specifications:
Pressured co2
Fluorescent lights (really old)
External filter Eheim 2217
UV Sterilizer when needed 
fertilization with Seachem line
Eco Complete + flourite + gravel

Fauna
2 Angels
17 cardinals
8 rummy nose
2 darf rainbows
3 Silver Hatchet
4 Ottos
4 Clown loaches
1 big-fat-lazy SAE

Flora
Not really sure...
Sword, Lotus, Anubias barteri var. nana, Chain Sword, some kind of hair grass, Bacopa...


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## sasa (Apr 15, 2005)

*The finding...*
The other day I noticed some reddish brown worm hanging out of my female Angel. After some searching I found it was most likely a camallanus infestation. 









Here it's a small description about the worm in question:



> Camallanus is an intestinal parasitic infection. This malady is due to a nematode or parasitic
> worm which is found in wild fresh and salt water fishes throughout the world . The infestation is characterized
> by, among other things, the presence of tiny red thread structures protruding from the anus of
> the infected host fish. Close inspection of the victim shows a swollen and irritated vent area. The worms
> ...


Most people were saying to treat by adding levamisole hydrochloride to the water. So after a lot of searching I found a guy who sell the chemical (Levamisole is not available in Canada).
http://inkmkr.com/Fish/ItemsForSale.html

These are some useful links I found regarding the Camallanus Worms:
http://inkmkr.com/Fish/CamallanusTreatment/
http://www.discusforums.com/forum/vi...vamisole#39797
http://www.loaches.com/disease-treat...ydrochloride-1
http://www.petfish.net/articles/Diseases/Camallanus.php
http://www.discusforums.com/forum/vi...vamisole#39797


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## sasa (Apr 15, 2005)

*The treatment*
While I was waiting for the Levamisole to arrive I used the Medicated food called "Jungle Anti-Parasite Medicated Fish Food"











> Aids in control of internal flagellates, trematodes, and cestodes which includes hexamita (hole-in-the-head), spironucleus, intestinal worms, tapeworms and nematodes, e.g. camallanus.
> 
> Active ingredients: metronidazole 1.0%, praziquantel 0.5%, levamisole 0.4%
> 
> Feeding Directions: Gently spread food over water surface so it floats. Feed exclusively for 3 consecutive days a week for 4 weeks. Do not use other food during these 3 day periods. Feed 1 or 2 times daily as much as the fish will eat. For scavengers and small fish, crush pellets to desired size"


I fed only the medication for 3 days, twice a day. the pellets were really hard to crush but I managed to do it. I think all fishes ate the food. The third day my female angel wasn't that much bloated but I still could see the worms. In the male less worms were visible (he never had a bloated tummy). The rest of the fishes never showed any symtoms.

The fith day my female angel's tummy was again bloated and the worms were still visible in both angels. I have to put a divider cause my female was showing a lot of aggression against the male.

Maybe the medication will work at the end. I have to do 3 more treatments. Or maybe the amount of Levamisole is not enough to get rid of the worms, who knows.... I hope the Levamisole I ordered by email arrive soon.


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## sasa (Apr 15, 2005)

*The Levamisole is here!*

The Levamisole arrived the day I have to start the second dose of medicated food. So I decided to stop the medicated food and use the pure Levamisole instead.

I received 10gr of Levamisole (2 bags of 5gr. each). According with Charles 5gr will treat a 100 gallon tank, so I divided the bag content in 5 parts, and I mixed 4 parts in 1 liter of water (I don't have any scale to do it exactly, but according with Charles it is hard to overdose with this chemical (he's a Chemist so I fully trust him )

Before putting the Levamisole mixture in the tank I made a 30% water change with a gravel vacuum to remove as many worms' eggs (if any) as possible. I also remove the carbon from my external filter, put extra aeration and turn off the lights (I read that the Levamisole is light sensitive)

Now I have to wait 24 hour to see if the chemical worked. I will check the fishes in the morning to make sure they are handling the medication well. I hope they'll be all alive. I know they'll act weird during the medication but I'm hoping they survived the ordeal.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

I also have this worm in my angels, my fish don't have it as badly as yours though.

I found out that part of the camallanus worm life cycle goes through crustaceans, so unless you have some in your tank eggs shouldn't be a problem.

I hear that you can also use dog de-wormer as well, I ordered some, but haven't had the time to try it yet.

Your post is quite interesting.


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## sasa (Apr 15, 2005)

*9 hours later...*

I turn on the lights to feed the fish and see how they're doing. So far, all of them are alive. But my male Angel doesn't look so good [].

He's lying against a plant and not moving. At the beginning I thought he was dead, but I can see him breathing. The rest of the fish are "fine" but they get scared really easy.

I see fewer worms in the male Angel (only 2). The female keeps hiding from me, so I couldn't see how many worms she has.

Nobody seems to be hungry... the PH is 6.7 and the Ammonia is 0.

The CO2 is turn on, I will check in an hour to see if the PH is not affected too much.



> *Zapins:* I don't have any crustacean in my tank. I did receive one shrimp when I bought the Ottos, but I haven't see him in a long time. (IMO, he was the one who brought the infections.).


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## sasa (Apr 15, 2005)

*18 hours later....*

I turn on again the lights to see how things are going. The male Angel is still laying in the plant... at least he's breathing.
The female continues pretty active and with visible worms. The other fishes seem fine.

The PH went up to 7.2, so I have to turn on the C02, the ammonia is 0. I'll check again in a couple of hours.

The waters is clowdy, I don't know what is causing this, there is a lot of aereation in the tank and the filter is running (without carbon). The plants look a little down, especially the lotus.


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## sasa (Apr 15, 2005)

*24 hours*

The time's up! I made 50% water change vacumming around the plants. So far, all fishes are alive (the male Angel is still lying on the plant)

I only saw 1 worm in the female Angel and it looks dry. Her tummy is less bloated.

The PH dropped again to 6.8 with the CO2. I put again the carbon in the filter to get rid of the rest of the medication.

I'll do the treatment again in 2 weeks. I hope the female can get rid of the worms soon, she seems pretty active.

I'll try to take pictures tomorrow.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Interesting Sasa.

I use the Levamisole/Metronidazole oral method as shown here Fish deworming and it shouldn't ever have a negative effect on your fish, unless he was so loaded up with worms he couldn't take it, which does happen occasionally.

I hope he pulls through for you.


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## sasa (Apr 15, 2005)

*2 days after treatment*

It has been 2 days since I treated the tank with 100% levamisole. So far, All fishes are alive. The dark male angel was still lying on the plants so I put a divider and it seems to work wonders. He's moving, swimming and eating again! (My female angel is a little aggressive with him). Today I notice a long white-transparent (worm??) coming from his anus. I hope that means he's getting rid of the camallanus.

The female tummy if almost flat again. I'm still seeing some worms, but she's pretty active and eating well. She was really bloated before so I assume she is getting rid of the worms too. The rest of the fishes are fine.

I'm feeding 2-3 times a day with frozen brine shrimp and color bit pellets (the angels seems to prefer the pellets, they only eat one bite of frozen food)

By the way, the plants are a little bit down mainly because I stopped the fertilization. I'll restart tomorrow with the ferts.


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## sasa (Apr 15, 2005)

> Interesting Sasa.
> 
> I use the Levamisole/Metronidazole oral method as shown here Fish deworming and it shouldn't ever have a negative effect on your fish, unless he was so loaded up with worms he couldn't take it, which does happen occasionally.


Somebody told me that some fish react in this way (lethargic and not eating) with the medicine, so I was hoping for the best. The angel is getting better every day.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Glad to hear the male is improving for you and that they're both passing the worms. Wow, they must have been loaded up if they're still passing some after 2 days. I bet they feel much better now.


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## sasa (Apr 15, 2005)

:sad: it looks like the female is having a hard time passing the worms

I had ordered online some antibacterial flakes to see if that will help her.


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## Turbosaurus (May 24, 2006)

Levimisole does work, and you did the right thing. I would dose again. I don't know that 24 hours is enough, when I did my tanks I left it for three days, big W/c then dosed again. I am not sure its effective against the eggs either, so I would dose a third time in a week just to be safe and make sure you get any stragglers. 

My fish were unhappy when I dosed it too. They say it is extremely safe, but my fish were definately not pleased - but that may be a reaction to the worms dying more than it is to the medication itself? If they've got to be uncomfortable a little? too bad. Its for their own good. The other thing to watch for is dead snails. I think I OD-ed on the medication and it wiped out my snails, which imidiately caused a massive ammonia spike and it was a mess. 

I vaguely remember reading that sometimes the worms can remain attached or have gotten through the digestive tract into the body of the fish. They die inside the fish and can cause infection from rotting there. One thing you can try is adding some Epsom salts, it works as a fish laxative and will hopefully help her pass any dead worms that may remain? I don't remember the proper dosage, but you can check on angelfish.net forum for more info on epsom salts.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Sasa, are you just adding the Levimisole to the water? If so, you may want to try the oral route putting it in their food (from the link I provided above), so it's more effective, and you won't have to be circulating it through the whole tank.


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## sasa (Apr 15, 2005)

*Jans*
Yes, I did the bath. I will order today the levamisole in flakes ( I cannot get it in Canada ) and do it as a third treatment. I have to do the second bath in a week and I'll leave it at lest for 36 hours.

*Turbosaurus*
I'll go to my LFS to see if they sell the Epsom salt. I read that I have to add 1 tablespoon per 10 gallons but I'm going to do more research about it. You know if I have to do a water change some time after adding the salt?


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## sasa (Apr 15, 2005)

my female angel is having a hard time passing the dead worms. I added some epsom salt to the tank (1 tbs per 20 gallons) to see if that help her a little bit.

I also ordered some antibacterial flakes by internet in case the fish had any infection left from the worms.

We will see what happen. So far no deads.


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## Nevermore (Mar 26, 2007)

I don't know if you have any access to daphnia but I know that they can be an effective way to get medications in to fish. It works with Levamisole and Metronidazole. You put the recommended dosage in a container of water, add the daphnia, let them filter-feed, then feed them to the fish.


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## fishtastico (Feb 28, 2007)

Your photo, and description of these worms sounds familiar to me. I'm pretty sure we had an infestation of those in one of our tanks. We used something called Praziquantel "prazi powder". It smells horrible, but it seemed to work. 

I seem to remember the infestation being in some F1 angels that we had in our fishroom a year ago.

Glad to see that your tank is recovering.


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## sasa (Apr 15, 2005)

Both Angels seems fine now! They are eating like crazy and no more bloated tummies.  

I'll make today the second Levamisol treatment and leave it for 36 hours, and I'll give them the medicated flakes (with levamisole) in one more week. hopefully this will get rid completely of the worms if any.

I'm so happy that all my fishes survive the worms.

If anyone needs flakes (with levamisole) and lives in Canada, I'm willing to send them by email. (the minimum that I got was 8 oz. from the US. I got them form Angel plus.

Sasa


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

That's great news Sasa!

I had no idea they made the flakes with the levamisole already in them. Thanks for the tip.


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