Camallanus worms

Hi,

I'm recently finding random camallanus infections in some of my aquariums, where does it come from? I thought it came through copepods that come together with daphnia but I haven't fed daphnia for months exactly for that reason? Where else can the worms come from?

They are a real pain in the a.s.s. both for the fish and the fishkeeper.

Fortunately I have medication that works well so I can use that. I'm slowly starting to realize that keeping fish is more than changing water and throwing food in so I'm planning rearrangements in the fish room to be able to start quarantining fish.

If I get rid of the Camallanus infections, what is the best way to prevent them from reoccurring in the future? Are there any foods best avoided for instance?

Hi all,

I think that very little of the Camallanus infection comes from eating infected copepods, and that it is all (or certainly nearly all) fish to fish.

I would be extremely wary of any Apistogramma originating in SE Asia, and I would definitely quarantine any from E. Europe as well. My personal experience with Camallanus was brought in via a female "Steel-Blue", and she didn't develop obvious external signs for about 2 months. Knowing what I know now by the time the worms appear it is usually too late to save the fish. The particular strain was resistant to Flubendazole (applied at 15% and it wiped out all the Planaria and Snails), but had no resistance to Levamisole HCL, which may have accounted for the relatively slow development of the infection (resistant strains are usually less fit than wild type ones).

Any new fish I'm now treating with Levamisole HCl.

cheers Darrel

I see, I had completely stopped buying Daphnia since I first had a Camallanus infection but maybe I have to reconsider that. I have a commercially available medicine that contains Levamisole and Praziquantel and previously it worked well. It will just be a bit expensive since the Camallanus pops up in a lot if different tanks now...

I'm afraid so too... All the more reason to reorganize all the fish and get some more structure in to the way we keep them. If it's not associated with the loss of too many fish I guess it's actually a perfect opportunity...

Hi all,

I bought a liquid Levamisole HCl intended for chickens and caged birds, as "Harka Verm" and it worked out extremely cheap.

cheers Darrel

I found the Harka Verm brand on Amazon, any idea how much water can be treated with one 100 ml bottle? I might consider buying that too, although I also like the combination of Praziquantel and Levamisole HCl in the commercial product I have.

Hi all,
I'd have to have a look at the bottle, but I think "Harka Verm" is 8% Levamisole HCl solution, and I think the answer is for my 60 litre tank and 8% "Harka Verm", was about 11 0r 12ml of "Harka Verm".

Have a look here: <http://www.loaches.com/disease-treatment/levamisole-hydrochloride-1/?searchterm=levamisole>, that is where I originally got the information from.

cheers Darrel

How do you recognize Camallanus symptoms before worms are visible at the anus? Weight-loss of course, but what else?

Aren't Camallanus worms viviparous and Capillaria worms oviparous? And because they are viviparous they don;t have any problems to infect new tanks- we can take larvae with fishing net, hosepipe, with water when we are taking fish from one tank to another.
With copepods we can infect our fishes with tapeworms, most of oviparous Nematode need a worm like annelids as host before infecting fish.

I dont think Praziquantel is effective against Camallanus, it is mainly for external parasitic infection. Levamisole HCl is the 'go to' drug for this. There is a new medication that can be a substitute for Levamisole, it is Fenbendazole, USDA is working on banning this in US since it has unwanted side effects on livestocks ( and causes livestocks harmful for human consumption). Levamisole is in short supply due to a lack of one chemical ingredient necessary to make it. They simply cant make enough of it since it is used heavily on livestock, bird, and even fish.

I would not get Levamisole HCl in solution since the shelve life is less than a year (even refrigerated). Effectiveness of the medication decreases drastically as it reaches its shelf-life limit. I would get the powder form instead. Only make enough into solution for immediate use.

thanks for your comments!

I also thought Camallanus worms are viviparous. I just discovered an infection in another tank, now I'm considering treating all the tanks... I'm also going to organize the way I do water changes better, with separate tanks for water in and water out for instance. And a separate net for each tank, stuff like this.

Interesting this substance pops up again, I was checking it out last week since I understand it's very effective against hydra too.

I'll look into buying either Levamisole HCl powder or Fenbendazole. Since the Praziquantel is effective against external parasitic infection the commercial product I have might still be useful for treating new fish in quarantine but for now I'll try to get Levamisole too. I found some Levamisole offered on ebay, can I trust that this is the real stuff?

I also find Levamisole and flubendazole in medicine used for other animals, like the Harka Verm Darrel suggested. Can I use these to? I mean do I have to be worried about any other ingredients that might be in these medications?

You can use Harka Verm, just make sure to get the correct dosage as it is made for bird. I personally prefer the 100% powder as it is easier to calculate the required dosage and much cheaper (I hate paying extra for someone to dilute it). Buying Levamisole on Ebay maybe ok in Europe. Here in US, drug cannot be legally repackaged and re-sale by individuals. The only thing you have to worry about individual reselling the drug is the expiration date. They maybe selling stuff that has been expired and since they 'repackage' it, there is no way to verify their information.

Hmm, all the Levamisole I found on ebay comes from the US so I guess there's something fishy going on there... I'll just compare the price of Harka Verm with the commercial product I have and then decide which is most economical to use. I can also inquire at the veterinarian, maybe they can help me.

I just noticed that I misread the Fenbendazole as Flubendazole... I just found a cheap source of Flubendazole but given Darrel's comment on resistance i think I'll stick with Levamisole. I also did some calculations and using the Harka Verm wouldn't be much cheaper than using the product I've used up to now so I guess in the end I'll just stick to it...

Fenbendazole is not Flubendazole, there is also Albendazole that is actually approved for human consumption in some countries but not in US. They are all considered as benzimidazole anthelmintic. Levamisole is an imidazothiazole.