Worm Identification Help Needed

[Donya]

I don't normally wander outside of the TFF marine and other inverts sections, but I've had a small problem between yesterday and today with one cory cat that I need help with. I would post in the emergency section, but the fish went from normal and healthy to dead in about 2-3 hours, so it's not exactly urgent anymore. I'm mainly trying to figure out what I've seen and whether I need to worry about other fish. Already had a look through all the FAQs and stickies I could find here and didn’t see anything that matched. If I've landed in the wrong section, I apologize to the mods in advance.

I left the tank room last night to get dinner, came back and one cory cat was dead with massive internal bleeding on its right side near the pectoral fin and up under gills. It was happy and eating before I left, and it had grown quite a bit since I got it so it seemed overall healthy. The bleeding and bruising it turned up with looked a lot like some sort of physical trauma. I removed the dead cory cat to a container of tank water overnight and, well....a surprise appeared:

The fish had been dead for over 12 hours when the photo was taken, so a combination of the flash from the camera and the clouding up of the skin has somewhat obscured the bruising and internal bleeding that was quite clear immediately after death. The worm is ~1/2", unsegmented. No way it could have been dragged into the container by accident; the fish was well-examined prior to being put in a container of water that also contained no such worms. I have had no possible parasite problems in any of my tanks until this event, and I’m unsure whether the worm and bleeding are related, or if it really was trauma and the worm coming out is just a coincidence. I'm going to get the worm under higher magnification later to see if I can find any other idenfitying features.

Details on the tank in question in case it helps: 20g long with some plants, 2x HOTB whisper filters + UGF. Yesterday the stock was 4 cory cats, one blue gourami, and one pleco. Stats were pH = ~7.8, ammonia/nitrite=0, nitrate=~20 with weekly changes. The tank has been set up for ~2 years with various stocking changes over time as other tanks have been set up and modified. I have been trying to get another tub with more floor space worked out for the pleco as he's gotten a bit large, but otherwise it's been a healthy tank although a bit crowded recently while I've been shifting things around.

Of course, I'm kicking myself for having been sloppy with record keeping the past several months. I have many tanks and now unfortunately can't recall exactly what went in and out this particular tank and when.

 

[Paradise3]

I'll have to ask wilder to look at it.
She's best with illness's and worms and all that!

Alessa x.

 

[Curiosity101]

Hmm, I'm no expert and Alessa is correct that Wilder is the one to speak to. But the first (and most common) red worm parasite in freshwater fish is the Callamanus worm, so it may well be one of those.

If it in then I suggest you treat the tank with a worming med. If you only have fish and no inverts (you didn't list any) then you could use a discus wormer on the tank as this will flush a whole host of nasty parasites out of the systems.

 

[drobbyb]

Metronidazole might work.

 

[Mikaila31]

That would be some type of roundworm. Idenifying features of a round worm is unsegmented, with 1 way digestive tract, move in "snake" or undulating fashion, will probably lack any hairs when viewed under a scope. Pay close attention to its mouth parts if you look at it under the scope. Hooks, teeth, or suckers are clear signs of a parasite. The whole tank will have to be treated, probably more then once as well. I suggest using Levamisole HCl as this is the dewormer I always use. However it is not common, my best suggestion would be to order a bird dewormer called Harka verm which only contains levamisole as an active ingredient. Dosage is 1.25ml per 10 gal, then follow the information in this link. I can not guarantee it will work on what ever you have. Only way to be sure is to try and keep the worm alive until you get the med, then test the med on the worm.

 

[Donya]

I had wondered briefly about Camallanus, but none of the other symptoms described for the worm aside from the red color of the worm seem to be a match. No other fish show the anus-related symptoms (not even any redness or swelling), and this fish did not show those symptoms either. The worm also lacks the type of head region described for Camallanus - there are no visible barbs or burr-like structures. The worm seems completely smooth at both ends.

However, if it is a contageous parasite I will need to treat two tanks just to be safe, since there was overlap in stock within the last two months and plenty of opportunity for water contamination. The second tank unfortunately contains snails and also some shrimp. Two questions questions:
1. Is Metronidazole known to be crustacean-safe?
2. Is Albendazole also known to be effective against Cmallanus and its relatives?

I have Albendazole on-hand. I know it to be effective against flukes and some other worms (have used it to de-fluke snails) but do not know the full extent of its usefulness or lack thereof.

EDIT: somehow didn't see Mikaila's post until after I hit the button. Levamisole looks to be crustacean and mollusk safe so that is good. Didn't think to test the meds on the worm - will do that with the albendazole too just in case.

 

[Mikaila31]

Levamisole is defiantly shrimp and plant safe as I use it in my planted communities before. It is a very fast med that is hard on the parasites and easy on the fish.