Parasitic Worm Infection (i Am Desperate)

[newfishaddict]

Levamisole Phosphate is a sterile solution recommended for the treatment of cattle infected with the following parasites. Each mL of solution contains levamisole phosphate equivalent to 136.5 mg of levamisole hydrochloride.

According to http/www.loaches.com/faq_parasites.html you need to treat with Use 800mg per 10US gallons. So 80 mg per gallon. You have a 29 gallon tank, so you need 2320 mg. Since each ml has 136.5 mg in it, you will need to add 17 ml.

EDIT: A teaspoon has 5 ml in it, so you need a little under 3.5 teaspoons.

I hate to complicate the situation but I have a feeling(what the vet. pharmasict said) the drug is not in use anymore in Canada, and thus could very likely be disposed of at the boarder. My doctor gave me the advice about the boarder, he perscribes meds for my fish but he cant get this one....I will order it anyway and see what happends at the boarder....

In the meantime I will try to talk to a vet regarding medications....

Now I have to make the decision to feed my angel metronidazole or not while I wait.....

 

[WILDER]

I would, but if you do get the med you might have to issolate her.

 

[newfishaddict]

I would, but if you do get the med you might have to issolate her.

Isolate? I am confused, I thought with this disease you need to treat the whole tank and not just the fish with symptoms....?

 

[WILDER]

What i meant is if you feed the fish with the worming food, then if you get the other stuff and add it to the tank, she might be overdosed so it would be best to remove that fish.

 

[newfishaddict]

What i meant is if you feed the fish with the worming food, then if you get the other stuff and add it to the tank, she might be overdosed so it would be best to remove that fish.

Ok I see now, yes I agree.

Ok, I ordered levamisole today, I got 500ml of injectable(I got injectable because 1) it will store longer in fridge 2) it is already dissolved. I paid extra to have them overnight courier it to me. I should have it within 48hrs due to the customs at the boarder.

I have done so much reading on camallanus the past 24hrs that I am a bit confused now, there are so many different treatment methods.

I have read some that say just to feed it to the fish, because due to the complicated life cycle of the parasite it is unlikely to be contagious in an aquarium.

I also read that I should NOT feed it to them, I should treat the tank water itself to get all the parasites in the water and substrate because it is so contagious….I am not sure what is the best approach…..I read one article that said the worm needs an intermediate host, but that this can be a copepod and that these are already in my tank….is this true If this is true then certainly I should treat the whole tank (treat the water)

Also, since I started feeding my angelfish metronidazole yesterday, I wonder if I should continue….? I don’t want to overmedicate my angel and kill it….Since I have read that success treating Camallanus with metronidazole is not very good I suspect I should stop the metronidazole treatment and treat with levamisole when it arrives.

 

[WILDER]

Add it to the water alot of fishkeepers do an had good result, yes they need a host.

http/www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/nematodes.shtml

 

[fishgeek]

couple of points
metronidazol will do nothing of benefit if you have worms

levamisol is dosed at 1-2mg/l as per veterinary literature
upto 10 times this dose have been used with little ill effect, some people report discus are overly sensitive to treatment with levamisol
if you get 7.5% solution you have 75 mg/ml of levamisole this means 1 ml will treat 37.5 litres of water
i have used levamisol in the tank at 1ml per 7.5 litres of water ie 10 mgs/l

the most common side effect with evamisol is inappetance


other options for treating all nematodes , of whih camallanus is one, include febendazol, mebendazol and flubendazol or piperazine

andrew
ps although camallanus is generally a complex lifecycle ie needs an intermediate host , there has been research that suggest a direct lifecycle can be attained by the parasite for a few generations

 

[newfishaddict]

Add it to the water alot of fishkeepers do an had good result, yes they need a host.

http/www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/nematodes.shtml

Are copepods a host for camallanus?

Are copepods in the average planted tank?

 

[*Kristy*]

Hi,
Thought id put my two cents in. I bought my poweder levamisole hydrochloride at www.wormer.com. Its very expensive stuff for the amount you get. Maybe you can find somewhere cheaper. I'm going to tell you right now, these things are very hard to kill. I'm sure if you read my signature you will see I lost all of my fish except for 4. I thought these 4 were safe until just yesterday. I found another worm coming out of one of my baby female guppies. So I added a bit of my powder worming stuff and no joking, a million or more of these worms came out of hiding and were swimming around my tank. I was confused why they were white. But Wilder said its only because they havent drank blood yet, which makes alot of since. So anyways, the next morning I woke up, some of these things were still alive.

What I did is a HUGE no no and I hope nobody fusses at me. But when all of your fish have died except for 4 you kinda feel like I'LL DO ANYTHING! I put my 4 fish in a small one gallon tank that had no filter, only a little heater. Put in some meds, 4 different times. Kept checking to make sure the pH level was down of course. I let them hang out in there ALL DAY! poor things. So all day yesterday I took all my rocks, fake plants, TOSSED my Live plants (they stick to everything!) and my one decorative castle and SOAKED them in Bleach Water. I rinsed them well of course, filled up my tank again, let it run till night time. Then right before bed I added my fish back, very carefully, trying not to stir up the water. Most dead worms were at the bottom by then (because of the no filter, before they were flying around). So I slowly moved then back into the now Clean tank.

I really think i've got them clean now. I pray I do at least. This is the second go round of these things. The first time i thought I killed them, BUT BOY WAS I WRONG! So good luck to you. I pray your fish will live and you won't loose almost all of yours as I did. My husband kept telling me to flush them and start over, but were all I had left. So I just did the best I can. Once I get the pH level down in the clean tank, i plan to add more meds, just to see if I see anymore and to be on the safe side.

GOOD LUCK!

 

[karlp]

I had this problem, also funnily enough with Rainbow fish. It infected all the fish in the tank. I got Levasmisole from the vet, which was added as a solution to the tank water and it cleared it up first time. No fish losses from the meds either.

I'm afraid I can't remember the dosage now, but it does work.