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A. Macmasteri with swollen vent

Sostratos

New Member
Messages
3
I have a pair of Macmasteri in a 55g planted tank. I noticed yesterday that the female has a noticeably swollen vent, and she's acting somewhat shy. I just did a water change Tuesday, although I haven't been having any issues with water quality. I feed them flake food with weekly treats of frozen bloodworm, and they share the tank with a single Angelfish, some nerite snails, and a bristlenose pleco.


I snapped this pic just before I made this post. She's been mostly hovering in the corner with her mouth slightly open, as you can see here.
DSC_03631.jpg
 

gerald

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
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1,491
Location
Wake Forest NC, USA
Camel-anus .... thus the "hump" ... (sorry couldn't resist) ;)
That does look like Camallanus symptom, but it might be a different parasite or bacterial infection.
Look carefully for the little worm-tails poking out when the fish is sitting still.
 

Sostratos

New Member
Messages
3
Camel-anus .... thus the "hump" ... (sorry couldn't resist) ;)
That does look like Camallanus symptom, but it might be a different parasite or bacterial infection.
Look carefully for the little worm-tails poking out when the fish is sitting still.
Unfortunately, the little female died. I never saw any worms poking out. I think she must have had some sort of obstruction that she couldn't pass.
 

Daneland

New Member
Messages
27
Location
Maidstone, Kent
Sorry resurrecting an old topic. My A.cacatuoides has same thing and last a couple of days it keeps hiding in a cave most of the times. I dont see any blood or worms coming out from the vent. How likely it is a Camallanus? Should I start Levamisole HCl regardless of correct diagnosis or keep watching afew more days?
Thanks in advance
 

Daneland

New Member
Messages
27
Location
Maidstone, Kent
It came out from the cave and I took some photos. They dont show the swollen vent clear. It has sort of convulsions, shakes itself and occasionally makes erratic movement. I saw him once when rubbing his back to a piece of wood. Female had a similar protrusion but it disappeared when I saw it last or almost did.

IMG_20180607_220043_HDR.jpg IMG_20180607_215923_HDR.jpg IMG_20180607_215814_HDR.jpg
 

dw1305

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
2,755
Location
Wiltshire UK
Hi all,
The clamped fins and dark colour make that a fairly unhappy looking Apistogramma. The first photo looks pretty definitive for Camallanus, and I would treat the fish straight away.

"Harka Verm"
I used at 12 cm3 in 60 litres. Details are in <"Camallanus worms"> thread.

cheers Darrel
 

Daneland

New Member
Messages
27
Location
Maidstone, Kent
OK i dosed with Harka Verm today @1.00 pm , poor male is still hiding in a cave and cant see female at all,. But she was in a better shape yesterday .
My question how quickly should I expect them to recover ?
 

Daneland

New Member
Messages
27
Location
Maidstone, Kent
Another update, today after 24 hour from the medication, male apisto was looking better and fins were not clamped, but still shaking and more importantly I can see fiber like things still are sticking out from the anus and it is swollen. I dosed 10 ml again and I will wait until tomorrow evening. I guess, worms should have gone by now from its anus, isn't it ?
 

Daneland

New Member
Messages
27
Location
Maidstone, Kent
The female has gone and male still has worms,I did medication for 3 days and doubled the dose last day.I took dithers in to another tank.It is an empty cycled shrimp tank.I will keep them there until I am sure they dont have anything in their system. I dont think that I can save the male, is euthanasia right way to go? I will empty the water with a really good siphoning of the substrate.I dont want to get rid of the sand substrate as washing it a new bag of sane will be a real pain. How can I disinfect it from worms, cysts etc? w/o changing the substrate. There are only a few plant that I can remove. I am really pissed off, they were in the main tank before I transferred them to 60L and I dont know what I will do if an outbreak starts there. Little buggers they are really pain in the a%$
 
Last edited:

gerald

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
1,491
Location
Wake Forest NC, USA
Overuse of antibiotic and anti-parasite drugs at ornamental fish farms has created drug-resistant strains in recent years. Camallanus and several other diseases are more common now in aquarium fish world-wide, and harder to treat than in years past.
 

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