Callamanus Worm Treatment

[anton cook]

hi all

i have had problems with Callamanus Worms and after seporating infected fish into two hospital tanks have tried two seporate treatments..(after much research on the web)..this is the first treatment..and thus far has been the quickest and most effective..other treatment is a 5 week on going treatment..

NOTE...affected fish i have treated..
banjo catfish,varous loaches inc sucking loach and kuli,flying foxes,bristlenose plecs inc albino long fin,mollys,guppies,platties,various barbs,hatchet fish,corys... 'community fish'.



NOTE...if your fish isnt in the list...by allmeans try the treatment..BUT..keep a vigilant eye on the fish...ANY sign that something isnt right, put straight back into 'untreated' water..im NOT stating that it will work on ALL fish...but it worked on MY fish..(above)


NOTE...curiously my shrimp and snails were not affected atall by the worm, BUT one of each were treated to both treatments.shrimp survived both, snails didnt survive both..

ITEMS NEEDED...3x icecream tubs or the like (small fish up to 4 inches (banjo, bn) were fine in this..for bigger fish use bigger tubs...ie..angel fish being 'round bodied' would need taller tub... jug to measure water,thermometer,toothpics/matches.

MOST IMPORTANT...beaphar bird wormer..bought from ebay for about £3.50.but seen it for less.or go to your local pet shop....buy TWO...it contains levamisole which is what we need...

im not a scientist but this is what i did,i took notes an observed pretty much around the clock...i had an infected community 350 trigon tank...and two 3foot 'hospital tanks' one was a new water tank..with affected fish in...second was for fish after the first dose..whilst i was doin this i thoroughly cleaned the 350 tank..this included..filter and pipes/media..all slate and rocks..all bogwood..gravel...drained..and cleaned...and rinsed..EVERY THING...i used milton baby steralizing tablets...rinse TWICE..

here we go...

take icecream tub.and add 600mm of your water (that contains your fish) and add 6 fish (i had groups of 4-9 depending on size you can add more but its easyer to work with a set number)..add thermometer...add 17 drops of the bird wormer (no set dosage.no ratio just a guess by me..17 worked..with no side effects..dont forget i was watching these constantly)..take note of time..cover tub to stop fish from jumping out..check temp..and for any 'passed' worms..every 10 mins for the first 50 minutes...use tooth pick/match to take them out...try and keep water at normal temp..ie 25 ish..i placed another tupperware tub underneath and put boiling water in when needed..after 2 hours..remove fish and put into second 'cleane' tank..

what you are trying to do here is a kinda conveyer belt of fish...dirty fish...treated fish....clean fish...so all the water must ramain either dirty treated or clean...to help stop the spread of anything...DONT mix the water!!

the time difference between the fish 'passing' the worms ranged from 5 minutes to 45...NOTE..some are 3mm long and about half a mill thick so very hard to see....rule is...ANYthing that is passed remove..i placed mine on a peice of paper to take pics..

once your first 'batch' of fish have been treated and placed into 'clean' tank..empty the tub..use second tub,600mm water 17 dops..repeat all untill all you fish have been treated and placed into 'clean' tank...keep in there for a week..then repeat treatment (hence two bottles needed)..

NOTE...on my second treatment...NO worms were passed..none atall...the week is purley for possible worms missed to get another dose,and observation inbetween..after second dose my fish went back into my 350..and have no symtoms atall..

NOTE...i removed freshly passed worms and placed into two test tubes with tank water...to see if they were alive after passing...they wernt...so dont worry if you think you have missed one or two and they have been eaten by the fish....

NOTE...this is a wormer...dont use if u have cuts on your hands..dont put fingers on food or in mouth...wash hands every time..

PICTURES.... first one shows...tub full of hot water under tub with fish in to keep water warm..

second pic... shows fish in treatment tub

third pic...shows infected fish passing worm with poo

forth pic...shows my passed worm collection...minus 8 that went into test tubes..notice the worm inside the 10 mil mark for size!!!



please feel free to PM any questions....second treatment test will be put on forum once completed....



Please also if you use this..add comments,if it worked for you..and more importantly what fish you used it on...so we can add to list and build a kinda data base on it..



i hope this is of some help..

anton

 

[Mikaila31]

I have a lot of issues with this. I use Levamisole often, all fish get treated with it in quarantine. When ever you use ANY medication measure it out properly! Do not guess. It doesn't matter if you were sitting there watching them. If this was another med then irreversible damage could of been done before the fish started showing signs.

levamisole is a very mild medication(lucky for you). Very few fish should have problems with it, it is a highly recommended treatment for sensitive species such as loaches and discus.

You say you researched this medication, but IMO your thread suggest you didn't do it enough. Dosage is about 0.1g per 10 gals, treatment is for 24hours. Due to the way you wrote your procedure I cannot calculate if you over dose or by how much. I believe you used way too much. Luckily this med even if majorly over dosed will not harm fish. It killed your snails though, at the recommended dosage it is snail and shrimp safe, which is why I think you overdosed. It works at the recommended 2ppm dosage adding more will not increase its effectiveness. This parasite has 2 hosts, its eggs and larva are not normally on the fish. They may very well infect the shrimp and other crustaceans or copepods in the tank. Fish eat these and become infected by worm. Eggs and larval stages will not be effected by med. Its life cycle is 30 days, so repeat treatments should be done a week or two apart, you need multiple treatments.

This medication normally does not kill the parasites, it "tranquilizes" them. How long did you watch the worms in clean water, if you overdosed it could take a long time or possible of killed them. They should of regained movement after a while though.

Be aware as you have seen this med is very fast acting. If a fish has a high parasite load, sudden removal of it can kill the fish. These worms are latched on to the intestinal track, which causes damage. Removal leaves exposed wounds, lots of which in a already weakened fish may kill it.

For your next treatments I highly suggest putting the fish in one of the bare tanks. Do the proper dosage and leave them for 24 hours. Then gravel vac the tank and do a 100% water change. Place fish back in same tank. Do treatment every 10 days following same procedure. I suggest 2 more treatments. Then add fish back to main tank. You can treat the empty main tank too, I would do the proper dosage then just let it run with the med for a couple weeks since it is empty.

I wish you good luck with whatever you plan to do.

 

[anton cook]

yeah cheers for that...i thought i was trying to help..any how i wont bother again...


the product wastnt Levamisole it contains just a % of it....its a bird wormer so how could i work out the dosage?..for 600mm or a 350 ltr tank!..17 drops is roughtly 2mm

the worms didnt move atall over the 9 hours i was watching them so can only ASSUME they were dead...

yeah about the life cycle..hence not using same water..and a total strip down of the 350 as i didnt know dosage..

as you say you have used it often..IMO..maybe YOU should have put a detailed treatment on here with pictures instead of pulling something apart that was ment to help people out of their potentioal fish killing problem..also i used this a i was unable to find levamisole over the counter..and was sick of loosing a fish every day..my second treatment is wormer plus but in an advised dosage..but doubt that il put this on here.

lesson learned anton

 

[Mikaila31]

Sorry If you can't accept some criticism.

Here is a good source for callamanus and treating it. This med must reach internal concentrations of 2ppm, more will not speed up the process. When you use more than needed the med reaches higher internal concentrations. Moving the fish does not stop this as the medication will remain in the fish for some time before it gets worked out of the system.

Yes your med was 0.1%(w/v) of levamisole. I'm having issues getting a g/ml measurement out of this . I'm a chem minor, but gen chem was so long ago and we rarely worked with % w/v. I'm probably over complicating the conversions, cuz all my numbers come out really small. I will try to figure it out. For those across the pond I normally suggest Harka verm which I recommend dosing at 1.25ml per 10 gal, or 11.5ml for your 350L. This med has a different concentration of Levamisole than yours though.

When you say 600mm of water I'm confused? You mean the water was 600mm high? or do you actually mean mL? I can't figure out a dosage for 600mm of water....

I'm glad you understand the lifecycle, I just home you realize your two treatments a week apart are not enough IMO.

I see no reason for me to write up detailed treatment for this med. When I come across threads on callamanus I suggest the med and proper procedures, all which can be found elsewhere on line. I was not around mid march so I did not see your first post otherwise I would of given you my suggestions then if I saw it. Since you posted on a message board, I can only guess that you want others suggestions. I apologize if my comment was not what you wanted to hear and if it came across harsher than I intended. I see no excuse to guess at medication dosage.

 

[Sanj]

Actually after searching the net for treatment of worms in the UK, i actually found Anton's post one of the only few on the net. While I am confused with his measurements (what is 600mm?), thanks to him and also Mikaila for providing some information on ways to treat and sourcing medication that is not going to cost the earth.

I think a write up would actually be very helpful. I am not sure what worms I have in a few young fish that I have, but I have seen them protruding from the anal vent and mouth on one occasion, they are white and not red often described for Callamanus.