Worms

[maui]

Yikes! This is worse then I ever could have imagined!
I think my betas have worms, camallanus to be exact. Right now I can see little red spiky things poking out of the anus.
What should I do?! How contagious is this?
I’m really really worried as it seems to be in my main tank system (three 15gals holding 10 bettas).
The water parameters are:
Nitrate 20 ppm
Nitrite 0
Total hardness 120
Alkalinity 180
pH 7.7
I haven’t added any new fish recently the betas tank mates are plecos and snails. There are also plants in the tank. The water temp is 80 and I do 30% water change ever 10 days approx.
Any help would be so awesome, im so anxious and really worried.

 

[Bettaman]

http/www.inkmkr.com/Fish/CamellanusTreatment.pdf

 

[WILDER]

Your tank is overstocked, yes it's internal parsites you will need an internal parasite med, can you issolate the fish with worms as if the other fish suck their poo up they will get infected too.

 

[maui]

thanks for the info/help folks
i visited the vet clinic at the university and got refered to a "fish doctor"
he suggested i jar them all as the camallanus worms need a secondary host to reproduce.
he also mentioned that he could get the levasole if i need it. I am very tempted to give this a try. has anyone tried this before?
Thanks for the link bettaman, very informative.

also to clear up in regards to the comment about being overstocked, i have three 15 gal tanks running from one magnum 350 filter with 10 bettas 2 plecos and 4 snails total in the set up, i dont feel this is overstocked but i may be wrong, pls let me know.

 

[sylvia]

Strictly speaking you aren't over-stocked with the bettas and snails but common plecos (which is probably what you have) can get to 18 inches and are incredibly messy - in that sense the 2 plecos alone are way beyond simply over-stocked in 3 15 gallon tanks... However, they grow slowly so you'll have time to re-home them if they are indeed one of the larger plecs. I'd reccomend doing so while they are young as it's harder to re-home large plecs and replace them with a smaller species - bristlenose plecs are great .

Also, what do you mean when you say they need a secondary host? Surely they can just use the betta again? I don't know about the levasole but if there's no improvement you can try it. A little salt would also help as worms and things usualy can't tolerate salt.

 

[juliethegr8t]

Unfortunately, moving them into jars won't keep it from getting worse, or make them get better. The thing about a secondary host is not for sure, it's still undetermined. I had a horrible infestation of these nasty critters in my 6 gallon tank a while back, and had to take drastic measures to get rid of them. They'll kill the fish if left untreated. (Thanks to Lateral Line for his help - PM him or me if you need more info.) Levasole is a livestock dewormer, so obviously very risky to use in a fish tank. I ended up using what I believe was Levacide, in the form of a powder for sheep deworming. It was very hard on the fish, but I only lost one (a male cherry barb who had the worms coming through a hole in his side). I both added it to the water, and fed it to them with frozen bloodworms soaked in a mixture. However, since this isn't always needed to get rid of these worms, I would suggest Pipzine. It's made by Aquatronics I believe, comes in a brown package - same kind of design as Bettamax. Mix it with their food for best results, and treat them twice before trying the Levasole. Here is the most helpful link I found when researching treatment -

http/www.thekrib.com/Diseases/nematodes.html#2

 

[Dwarfs]

Unfortunately, moving them into jars won't keep it from getting worse, or make them get better. The thing about a secondary host is not for sure, it's still undetermined. I had a horrible infestation of these nasty critters in my 6 gallon tank a while back, and had to take drastic measures to get rid of them. They'll kill the fish if left untreated. (Thanks to Lateral Line for his help - PM him or me if you need more info.) Levasole is a livestock dewormer, so obviously very risky to use in a fish tank. I ended up using what I believe was Levacide, in the form of a powder for sheep deworming. It was very hard on the fish, but I only lost one (a male cherry barb who had the worms coming through a hole in his side). I both added it to the water, and fed it to them with frozen bloodworms soaked in a mixture. However, since this isn't always needed to get rid of these worms, I would suggest Pipzine. It's made by Aquatronics I believe, comes in a brown package - same kind of design as Bettamax. Mix it with their food for best results, and treat them twice before trying the Levasole. Here is the most helpful link I found when researching treatment -

http/www.thekrib.com/Diseases/nematodes.html#2

Listen to her, levamasole will work I had this infestation, and my tank and fish were cured almost overnight My plants were fine but, we lost most of our (My dad's mostly) malayan snails It was worth it though, because I doubt there is any commercial fish med that will have any effect at all My fish didn't show any signs of stress due to the treatment, nor did my plants. If you can get levamisole, do some resaerch or ask someone on the forum for dosage (I forgot what I used)

 

[maui]

Mmm so the mission is to track down some Levacide, deal.
Unfortunately the crew will have to wait until wed at least as i have a major exam wed morning and need to seriously crack down for that. I hope they'll be okay for that long.
I've been watching the kids closely, im wondering if i should decrease the amount of food i'm giving them... i read somewhere that this is suggested, what do you guys think? some of the girls that are wrose off have stopped eating recently

mmm those plecos are going to grow up to be big fish, when i purchased them Super Pet told me that once they out grow my tanks that i can bring them in and exchange then for some smaller ones. so thats the plan but i will see if i can find some smaller ones next time.

its good to know that the levacide may not affect the plants.
im really wondering where this camallanus came from thou, any thoughts?

 

[Colin_BC]

I bought some Levamisole HCl from Charles Harrison and it worked like a charm. Check this link for my experience with it.

Colin