Camallanus

ishar

ishar

MFT Staff
#1
Jul 27, 2007
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Hamilton, ON.
#1
If you noticed my other thread "three white spots on a guppy" you know I have been having trouble with one of my male guppies. If you haven't seen it, I just told you so you are caught up ;).

I have noticed these protrusions on him near his anus, and using the internet, I have diagnosed it to be Camallanus, and I have a few questions about it.

1)Is there any home remedy I can whip up to treat it? He has two protruding form his anus and one is relatively long- like .25cm or something.

2)He is isolated in a salted 'tank' without (unfortunately) filtration or aeration, but with a rather large clump of Java fern. Will the parasite infect or latch on to the plant? So if I put the plant into the main tank once I treat the guppy, will it infect my main tank?

Please don't tell me to buy a proper quarantine tank with a filter or suggest medicines. I know I need these things but am on a very strict budget and do not have easy access to my LFS, so I am just looking for home remedies and ideas that can be implemented easily and at low cost.
 

Lotus

Lotus

Ultimate Fish
Moderator
#4
Aug 26, 2003
15,115
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Southern California
home.earthlink.net
#4
Chopped garlic would work.

If you're feeding frozen or freeze dried foods, just give a clove of garlic a good smash with the handle of a large spoon to release the juices, soak for a half hour or so, then remove the clove.

If it's flake, soak the smashed garlic clove in some water for a while, then dunk the flake in before feeding it to the fish.
 

ishar

ishar

MFT Staff
#5
Jul 27, 2007
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Hamilton, ON.
#5
alright- you've been a huge help Lotus. I read on the internet in an article that this garlic could work as well, so I am half hopeful :p. I believe he may be to far gone though, but I will start feeding my main tank this food to try to fend off any infection that may have spread.
 

ishar

ishar

MFT Staff
#6
Jul 27, 2007
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Hamilton, ON.
#6
ok, well I finally got garlic, and so I chopped and mashed it up, and am in the process of soaking it in a bit of water, I will then soak some flake food in the water, and then feed the fish. I fasted them yesterday so that if they don't like the garlic they will still likely eat it as they are hungry :). Hopefully this works out.

For tomorrow's meal, do you think that soaking a shrimp pellet and/or freeze-dried bloodworms in this solution would be good as well?
 

straitjacket

straitjacket

Large Fish
#7
Mar 21, 2004
495
2
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Los Angeles, CA
www.freewebs.com
#7
Camallanus is a nasty little parasite. Not many meds work on it either. Having tried everything "more gentle" and "natural remedies" I can tell you that garlic will not do much.
Since there are worms already protruding from your fish it is already heavily infested. You will have to treat the guppy and any fish it has been housed with previously.
The only and most effective treatment I would recommend for camallanus or capillaria infestations is levamisole. Levamichole hydrochloride or Levamisole phosphate are available at Valley Vet Supply and dosage recommendations and instructions are available at the article on Loaches Online.
So far I've used Levamisole phosphate in injectible form which was mild on the fish and very effective, Levamisole HCI in boluse form which was very hard on the fish unless most of the insolubles were strained from the boluses by soaking them in a coffeefilter or paper towel and adding the resulting solution to the tank, and I've also used (most recently) the powdered form of Levamisole HCI which was also very gentle on the fish.
This medication is so effective it often works in only one dose but two doses is recommended just to be safe.
Although slightly overdosing with the med doesn't tend to adversely effect the fish, never use expired product. It can kill your fish.
While treating with the med all of the will fish typically lose their appetite but this is nothing to worry over. They regain their appetite after treatment.

Some fish that are already bad off when you being treatment will not look good through the treatment. My female orange chromide did barrel rolls and looked almost as if just the treatment alone would kill her but she made it through treatment only to die of secondary infection. Some fish are too bad off to make a 100% recovery after treatment which is what makes this parasite so terrible. They take their toll on the fish by the time they make their presence known.
 

straitjacket

straitjacket

Large Fish
#9
Mar 21, 2004
495
2
0
Los Angeles, CA
www.freewebs.com
#9
Well, no one's immune to it and it does pop up every now and again but it's not something you have to be completely paranoid about.
In my neck of the woods it seems to be common in more places than others. I was very paranoid after my first run-in with the little demon parasite but after learning how it works and where to find the effective treatment I probably worry more about ever catching the ick or finrot. lol
Being armed with the knowledge of what it is, how to spot it and how to treat it should keep anyone at ease. I think the scariest part of the parasite is that often times quarantining an infested specimen doesn't work to prevent infestation of your other fish. It can be months before an infested fish shows signs of the parasite and by then all the fish it's been housed with probably has it too. Luckily it's not hard to medicate them using the injectible or powdered form of levamisole. Only problem you might have is finding the stuff but once you find a source it's no longer a problem. I've purchased from Valleyvet every time. I find it pretty easy to treat. Treatment is reliable, it's always gone in one dose but I second just in case.
 

ishar

ishar

MFT Staff
#10
Jul 27, 2007
1,490
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Hamilton, ON.
#10
well my camallanus has popped up again in my main tank, and it is my girlfriend's favorite fish that I have noticed the worm in this time, so I would really like to save it. I live in Canada and am having a very hard time finding a website that sells levamisole in Canada- can anyone help me on this?
 

straitjacket

straitjacket

Large Fish
#14
Mar 21, 2004
495
2
0
Los Angeles, CA
www.freewebs.com
#14
Not sure if it will hurt your shrimp but it didn't hurt my snails.
Fish stored do not carry Levamisole. It was an active ingredient in Discomed, manufactured by Aquatronics, but I believe it has been discontinued.
Alternatively you can search for Levamisole in livestock feed stores. I tried but without much luck. I order all my levamisole at valleyvet.com
I still have some left from my last bout and it's not expired. If you really have trouble finding some local I could try shipping to you.
 

ishar

ishar

MFT Staff
#15
Jul 27, 2007
1,490
0
36
36
Hamilton, ON.
#15
Thank you very much for the offer. I found some Fendbed something 'er other in a pellet type. My girlfriend and her father (farmers) helped me figure out a dosage (with help from the net- they didn't give me sources though so I can't send post them here) and they are going to mail me some of it. I will post here what I do, how I do it, and the results it gives. Until then I will be fasting my fish to try to get them to eat the medicated food.
 

marvin

marvin

Large Fish
#17
Jul 7, 2007
264
0
0
florida
#17
wow you got a lot of good advice so did i ..... i use seachem liquid garlic for years never had this kind of problem. you just put it on the food no web site on the bottle sorry seachem.com may getter done
 

S

sand

New Fish
#19
Feb 13, 2011
1
0
0
#19
why cant you use it if expired?
I dosed, okay now MORE (lots) of worms are hanging out, i'm guessing stunned or dead. been three days, did a water change, still hanging out, even hanging from the fish that showed none before. now what?
my med was a year old, i hope it was safe
 

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