Camallanus worms

[dw1305]

Hi all,

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

The fish become extremely aggressive, particularly at feeding time, and then they begin to lose condition and colour, whilst all the time getting thinner in profile. Eventually the fish will start hiding and soon after that the worms become visible.

cheers Darrel

 

[wethumbs]

In my case, they were perfectly happy and spawning. Even when the worm was visible, they would still be feeding and going about for little while. The affected fish will eventually 'bullied' by others as it cant hold its ground, by then it was a rapid downward spiral for the fish. Needless to say if left untreated, another would follow its 'finstep' and the cycle continued until there were none.

 

[raymond82]

The fish become extremely aggressive, particularly at feeding time, and then they begin to lose condition and colour, whilst all the time getting thinner in profile. Eventually the fish will start hiding and soon after that the worms become visible.

I'll keep my eye out for symptoms like these, after I had a Congochromis female dying of Velvet infection detected too late I'm going to be a bit more on top of signs of disease in general.

In my case, they were perfectly happy and spawning.

I also found Camallanus in a couple of killi's and they are also spawning all the time (at least attemetping, I haven't seen many eggs). All the more reason to keep a really good eye on all the fish.

If I get rid of all the infections, and start quarantining any new fish and plants, feed only frozen food and live food from a trusted source, am I right if I assume that then there's not a big chance of getting an infection again?

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

If I get rid of all the infections, and start quarantining any new fish and plants, feed only frozen food and live food from a trusted source, am I right if I assume that then there's not a big chance of getting an infection again?

Some pathogens like Velvet may be more of a problem, but I'm pretty sure Camallanus is only likely to come in with fish. You can quarantine plants effectively by placing them in carbonated water for 30 minutes.

cheers Darrel

 

[gerald]

There are plenty of bacteria, viruses, sporozoans, intestinal worms, and other diseases that can go undetected with no obvious symptoms for many months in an otherwise healthy fish, so quarantine is NO guarantee, but it can certainly help in managing many common diseases that get active when fish are stressed by transport (ich, velvet, flexibacter, gill flukes, skin & gill protozoa, etc).

 

[raymond82]

You can quarantine plants effectively by placing them in carbonated water for 30 minutes.

Is carbonated water the same kind of water we drink? That sounds awesome, much better than messing around with all kinds of chemicals (I did it with bleach once and that wasn't a big success).

Of course it will be impossible to not ever have any disease anymore, but I agree that managing it to the best of my abilities is what I should aim for. I've had Camallanus once before and now it pops up again and I have the feeling that it could have been prevented.

 

[raymond82]

but I'm pretty sure Camallanus is only likely to come in with fish

Does that mean that I don't have to be afraid of getting a Camallanus infection anymore from copepods that come with live Daphnia? I completely stopped feeding live Daphnia, I would love to start feeding it again but I have to say most shops collect it from some water around the city. They refuse telling me where (bad for business I guess) but I'm sure it's from places where you can also find fish.