# Treating Camallanus nematodes



## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

Dear Mistergreen,

This parasitic disease almost caused me to quit the aquarium hobby. Even now, I see guppies being sold with red worms sticking out of their anus. Disgusting!

The treatment, devised by my well-regarded and nationally famous fish vet (Dr. Greg Lewbart), does not require cleaning the substrate. You just need to feed the fish a dewormer in a way that takes into account the parasite's life cycle. 

The treatment that cured my guppies was Fenbendazole (the "dewormer") incorporated into their food for 7 days. Then 3 weeks without Fenbendazole. Then, another 7 days with Fenbendazole to kill parasites from the cysts that had hatched. 

Ivermectin, a terrific horse wormer, also can probably do the same thing.


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

Thanks for the reply!

I've read from http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/BODY_FA091 that Levamisol (pig/cattle dewormer) is also a good drug.

Fenbendazole is a food additive only while levamisol can be used in the tank as well as adding to the food.

I think dosage is 2 -5mg/l for bath
and 1.8 grams/pound of food.


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

In answer Red Rose's recent question on dosage.

I have two questions to ask you.

1. How much powder should I mix into water for my guppies?

2. Can I keep the solution for the next feeding or do I have to throw it out after each soaking? I was sent three 1 gram packets from a friend since I cannot find the medication here so I'd like to make it stretch if all possible.
_______________________________

You do not add powder to the water. 

You add it to the food, plus you have to carefully follow a treatment program. Here is what the fish vet instructed me to do to treat my guppies.

I prepared 750 g of wet fishfood (held together with gelatin) containing 750 mg of Fenbendazole. I used a liquid preparation that I bought from my vet; it contained 100 mg/ml fenbendazole.

Put following into a blender and make a slurry:

1/2 cup flake food, 
can of sardines with all oil
1/2 jar of spinach baby food
Then add to blender and mix:


7.5 ml of fenbendazole (100 mg/ml)

In a separate pan, heat 2 pkg of Knox gelatin in a cup of water to near boiling. Let cool about 10 min and then mix with the food.

You can pour the mix into ice cube trays. Whatever you don't use within 5 days should be frozen.

Feeding Schedule:

Feed mix at least 2 times/day for 7 days
Wait 3 weeks (no drug)
Next month, feed mix at least 2 times/day for 7 days

This solved the Camallanus problem permanently in my guppies. You probably can substitute 750 mg of powder for the liquid I used. It may not be water soluble, so make sure then that you get plenty of sardine oil into your food mix.

I hope this helps. If not, I would consult a veterinarian.


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## Red_Rose (Mar 18, 2007)

Thank you so much for this!  I'm sure a lot of other people who are trying to find the proper method as well as dosage for their guppies or other small fish will really appreciate this.

What I had read prior to contacting you was to put food into 100ml of water then add the powder to the water and food and let soak for 30 minutes. This was suppose to be done for each feeding. Other sites posted that this medication often works best when made into a homemade fishfood but none of the sites said how to go about making the food.

I plan on making this asap! The fenbendazole I was given is a granule that contains 222 mg/g per each dose(1 packet). 750 mg is 0.75 g which means I would only have to use not even one full packet in the mixture. There won't be any problems with this since from the looks of it, the powder I have contains more fenbendazole then the liquid form you used, right? If any of this sounds wrong, please correct me on it.

As for contacting a vet on this matter, it's almost impossible. None of the vets in this area deal with fish except for one at the local university but it's almost impossible to contact him.


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## Lefunz (Sep 26, 2014)

Hi ! I just realised I had an outbreak...but will fenbendazole affect the bacteria and the microbial life inside de aquarium?


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Since 2007 when this thread was started, another livestock wormer has proven to be safe and effective in aquaria: levamisole hydrochloride. Here is the best article on its use: http://www.loaches.com/Members/shari2/levamisole-hydrochloride-1

I had to use it on pearl gouramis, and it worked perfectly.


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## Lefunz (Sep 26, 2014)

but why levimazole instead of fenbendazole? I see that levimazole is harder to get by. And there is no info about fenbendazole effect on the biofilter..


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

It works better. No feeding of medicated food, usually it is effective with one or two treatments.


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## Yo-han (Oct 15, 2010)

I can second the article Michael cited. Works like a charm, only my kuhlii loaches had a hard time.


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## Lefunz (Sep 26, 2014)

Well i found the anwser to my Question. It'says that levimasole hydrochloride does not affect the protozoa or other tank flora either.

http://www.inkmkr.com/Fish/CamallanusTreatment/CamallanusTreatment.pdf

I guess I'll have to find levimasole now...anybody knows an internet site where I can buy it?


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