Camallanus Worms!

[daworldisblack]

ARGH! So i now know that I got some infected fish. Just a word to whomever got Golden Cobra Guppies at the Big Al's in Orleans. Mine were infected and I didn't notice them till i got home! The thing is I had put them into my quarantine jar with Methylene Blue and then after about a day I got impatient and just put them into my Community Tank. The next day I saw that it had things protruding out of its vent. I didn't think much of it but I thought it was a fungal infection so I took all 3 out back into my quarantine tank. All in all they spent about 2 days in my Community tank. They could have laid eggs in there for that time (i only see worms sticking out from one ) and am scared that the rest of my fishes will get infected. What should I do? Do the eggs develop and hatch in a fish's body or do they grow outside and are ingested in somehow by the fishes? Rob (HappyGuppy) gave me some awesome tips but I also want to hear from the rest to see what else can be done. Looking up other threads on this right now but this is more as a warning to everyone that this parasite is out there in the LFS so QUARANTINE! Argh!

[irene]

Levamisole.

http://www.canadianaquatics.com/equipment/equipment.htm

[Nerine]

whew I almost bought some!!! I bought other fish instead!! and they have joined quarantine with several other fish!! I generally quarantine for a couple months because i'm neurotic like that...

I hope you're able to wipe out the worms without loss to your livestock!! Good luck! 

[HappyGuppy]

I'm soooooo sorry that you've gotten infected by it.  Also I'm sorry to have been the one to make you aware of the bad news; when you described what you saw in your fish my heart immediately went out to you.  Use the pill I gave you this weekend as I instructed you to.  Might as well put the fish I gave you in with the others, along with the plants I gave you.  The snails, well, just throw them in the freezer to kill them as the meds would kill them in the tank anyway and you'd just foul your water.  Don't worry - I'll give you a bunch more of them in a few months.

Too bad you didn't keep that fish in QT and discovered the callamanus there.  The fact that you saw them hanging out the butt of the fish in your main tank means that your entire tank is now infected.  Oh well, now you need to act to eradicate it.  Later make QT your absolute policy.  I am very paranoid of even a drip of water coming from other people's tanks. 

It is too bad that Big Als Orleans was the source of your callamanus.  Two things about that:

1)  Lots of people bought those fish, and certainly most purchasers just dropped the fish into their tanks.  Soon they'll be experiencing an outbreak, and unfortunately most won't understand why their fish are dying.

2)  I would consider all freshwater fish in Big Als Orleans now to be contaminated with callamanus, assuming that you are telling the truth that your callamanus fish came from there (I believe you, but the implications are damning).  The nematode swims in the water, and gee... what's the likelihood of water drops being transfered to other tank?  Jumping fish?  Splashes?  Oh oh oh... how about nets?  Even wet hands of employees.

In the past I vowed to always QT all fish I get, and treat everything (plants & inverts too).  For the fish I would do two rounds, two weeks apart, during QT of mebendazole treatments to kill possible callamanus.  This incident further calcifies this decision.

I'll hold off comments on treatments as I already explained what to do verbally to you, and you OP stated that you are looking for second opinions from others here.

I wish you a speedy recovery.

[HappyGuppy]

Oh, one tip.

Pull out your substrate (with fish in tank, just do delicately), and let your plants just float around in your tank.  Bleach your substrate, rinse, then store it in a box for the next couple months.

DO THIS BEFORE TREATMENT

In my experience the meds stay for a super long time in the substrate, and any snails you add to the tank will soon die.  I ended up throwing out my substrates. 

[daworldisblack]

I noticed that the spelling is really Camallanus rather then Callamanus. I see alot of posts under the name Callamanus but could not find any scientific articles and was wondering if the name was spelt right. Further research shows that its spelt different. Scientifically this nematode is known as Camallanus Anabantis . Just for those who are interested. I wanted to know about its life cycle.

[daworldisblack]

Oh, one tip.

Pull out your substrate (with fish in tank, just do delicately), and let your plants just float around in your tank.  Bleach your substrate, rinse, then store it in a box for the next couple months.

DO THIS BEFORE TREATMENT

In my experience the meds stay for a super long time in the substrate, and any snails you add to the tank will soon die.  I ended up throwing out my substrates. 

Thanks Rob for the tip! Yes I was thinking the same if not just throwing out the substrate altogether(it was cheap stuff anywhoo). I am thinking of isolating the fish for treatment and then tearing down my community aquarium. Good thing I'm only dealing with a 10Gallon. I can see this being a pain in the ass for bigger aquariums!

P.S: I trimmed down tons of my anacharis from my Species tank and I found FRY! Only to disappear again. Hopefully they don't get eaten but soon as I get some *clean*,*healthy* ones I'll let you know:)

[HappyGuppy]

P.S: I trimmed down tons of my anacharis from my Species tank and I found FRY! Only to disappear again. Hopefully they don't get eaten but soon as I get some *clean*,*healthy* ones I'll let you know:)

Weeeeellllll... under the circumstances my interest level in any fry from you has dropped like a stone.  Nothing personal; I'm sure you understand.  Besides, like we discussed, I committed my tanks to other directions.  However in the future I certainly do wish to enjoy a killifish.

Sorry that your tanks are going through this, but like you said good thing it wasn't a much larger tank.  If you act fast enough then you might be able to save all or most of your fish.

[robt18]

Just a follow up note here,

I've taken a careful look at our guppies here and no one, including myself, has seen any sign of worms on them... nor have we had any sort of die off in that tank. Is it possible they (the worms) came from another source?

Rob

[daworldisblack]

Just a follow up note here,

I've taken a careful look at our guppies here and no one, including myself, has seen any sign of worms on them... nor have we had any sort of die off in that tank. Is it possible they (the worms) came from another source?

Rob

I don't know of any other source. I got the Fish on the Saturday and noticed the worms on a Wednesday. No one else in the tank had it. As well, the life cycle of the worm is such that to get to the adult stage seen in the guppy, it would have taken more then a week. Hence its not plausible I don't think.

http://www.zebrapleco.com/articles/4_treatment_camallanus_worms.php
http://www.fishchannel.com/fish-health/freshwater-conditions/camallanus-worms.aspx

[Laura]

Levamisole.

http://www.canadianaquatics.com/equipment/equipment.htm

I concur with Irene - if you do have the evil worms (while it's odd that BA hasn't found any evidence), then Levamisole is reputed to be a great product and is invert safe, so any snails you have should be unharmed.

http://www.loaches.com/Members/shari2/levamisole-hydrochloride-1

[HappyGuppy]

I wouldn't blame Big Als for two reasons.  It is actually their suppliers that are passing on the worm, and Big Als is just one of MANY retail customers that get their fish.  Second, fish come and get sold off most likely before the red bristle appears.  Honestly I don't think that Big Als or any LFS could really be blamed or held responsible.  I think that this is all re-inspiring me with a previous conclusion... treat ALL fish in QT (6 weeks) for ick & callamanus.  Not doing so is basically a russian roulette with your fish tank.

[HappyGuppy]

I concur with Irene - if you do have the evil worms (while it's odd that BA hasn't found any evidence), then Levamisole is reputed to be a great product and is invert safe, so any snails you have should be unharmed.

http://www.loaches.com/Members/shari2/levamisole-hydrochloride-1

Last year I desperately tried to get lavamisole, but could only get mebendazole after a couple of weeks of trying.  Shrimps all ok, but snails all died.  I felt horrible.  I saw Laura at the Ovas auction but didn't even go to say hi... I still feel horrible - she kindly shared snails with me, but all succumb to the meds.

[HappyGuppy]

Last year I desperately tried to get lavamisole, but could only get mebendazole after a couple of weeks of trying.  Shrimps all ok, but snails all died.  I felt horrible.  I saw Laura at the Ovas auction but didn't even go to say hi... I still feel horrible - she kindly shared snails with me, but all succumb to the meds.

Clarification

Reading my above post I think it might be unclear by what I meant, and someone PMed me about the possible person information.  Laura did NOT give me callamanus.  I never disclosed who it was.  Laura gave me some lovely mystery snails.  I killed them thanks to the meds I used to kill the callamanus.  I didn't go to say hi to her because I felt so bad that she so generously gave me snails, which I murdered.  I felt horrible about it, and never had the guts to ask her for any more.  Laura is super cool IMHO. 

Hope that clarifies any potential misunderstandings of my previous post.

[daworldisblack]

I wouldn't blame Big Als for two reasons.  It is actually their suppliers that are passing on the worm, and Big Als is just one of MANY retail customers that get their fish.  Second, fish come and get sold off most likely before the red bristle appears.  Honestly I don't think that Big Als or any LFS could really be blamed or held responsible.  I think that this is all re-inspiring me with a previous conclusion... treat ALL fish in QT (6 weeks) for ick & callamanus.  Not doing so is basically a russian roulette with your fish tank.

I agree. Not blaming the LFS at all. Just was letting others who bought the same guppies as me really. Thanks for bringing this up tho:)

[daworldisblack]

I concur with Irene - if you do have the evil worms (while it's odd that BA hasn't found any evidence), then Levamisole is reputed to be a great product and is invert safe, so any snails you have should be unharmed.

http://www.loaches.com/Members/shari2/levamisole-hydrochloride-1

Great Link! Waiting on my order of Levamisole to arrive:)

[wandmangels]

I have som Levamisol if you havnt recieved yours yet just replace it when yours arrives

[Laura]

I concur with Irene - if you do have the evil worms (while it's odd that BA hasn't found any evidence), then Levamisole is reputed to be a great product and is invert safe, so any snails you have should be unharmed.

Yes, I know I'm quoting myself
After reading my post and happyguppy's following, I realized it could appear that I was suggesting something negative about BA - nothing could be further from the truth. I like that store and think the staff are great.

I was as much wondering if it could be something else given that it hadn't shown up in their tank, and they had a lot of the same type of fish.

Good luck with the levamisole - I haven't used it myself, but the folks on loaches.com swear by the stuff.

@Happyguppy - thanks very much for the kind words and don't feel bad about the snails.