camelanus

[H2O]

HELP!

One of my angels is visably infected with camelanus (dark,red strings hanging out of anus) I know it's camelanus, because several months ago I had other angels with the same symptoms and after one of them died I did a necropsy with a local "expert" and by looking under a microscope determined it was camelanus.

With the last occurance, most of the tank died with treatment. The few fish that were left were moved to a new tank (3 rainbows and a pleco all still fine with no symptoms). The old tank was completely torn down, disinfected, and re-started. I then bought new angels from a different supplier than before.

For the past 6 weeks, I have tried treating with Prazi-pro, jungle parasite food, gel-tek. With the food and gel-tek, even with after a few days of withholding food, I had trouble getting them to eat it.

There has been no change whatsoever in the visably infected angel.

I would greatly appreciate any and all help/suggestions.

 

[bigredspecial]

After several attempts, I managed to erradicate them using jungle internal parasite guard. However, from the people I've talked to who are in-the-know, the general consensus is that I am either the exception to the rule, or one very lucky person. Possibly both.

The most commonly suggested treatment seems to be levamisole, which is commonly used to treat cats, dogs, and livestock; I havn't been able to find it anywhere however.

If I were to fight it again, given what I have available to me, I'd try Metronidazole by Seachem. Not sure what it would do to camelanus, but it gets good reviews for most internal parasites.

Good luck with it, you have an uphill battle ahead of you.

 

[Lotus]

I couldn't get any of my fish to eat the Gel-Tek either (even the ones that don't seem to care what they eat). I ended up soaking the bloodworms in it or dipping a pinch of flake in it before feeding.

My disease book recommends feeding piperazine citrate mixed with food as a good treatment for camallanus.

 

[H2O]

Thanks bigredspecial and Lotus.
I will contact seachem about the effectiveness of metronidazole on camallanus.
I will also contact local vets and see if they can get either the levamisole or the piperazine citrate.
I'll post another reply if I get any useful info.

 

[H2O]

Update:
tried jungle parasite clear-didn't work.
levamisole supposedly doesn't work at a ph above 7.

Finally located some metronidazole by seachem, will mix with food, and also add to water. (Seachem reps claims will work on camellanus)

Will update after treatment.

(someday, I'd like to have this tank healthy again, with as many survivors as possible.)

 

[Lotus]

Good luck with the treatment. Please let us know how it works out for you.

 

[H2O]

YEAH! Finally!
Treatment:
1st day: 1 Tbs frozen mysis shrimp with 1 scoop metro (by seachem), also dosed water. Fish not too interested in eating medicated food.
2nd day: mixed in a tiny bit of fresh smashed garlic with food. Visably infected Angel ate with relish.
3rd day: No visable worms! Yeah! Treated water again, as per directions.
4th day: still feeding medicated food, just in case. (still working off original 1 tablespoon, keeping leftovers frozen.)

So, after many tries with multiple medications, and lots of $, I seem to finally have solved the problem (Knock on wood)

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how long I should be feeding medicated food and treating the water?

 

[Lotus]

Good to hear it's working out for you!

My book says to feed medicated food for 5-10 days, with a follow-up feeding after 10-14 days. I think the medication in the water should be done once, for a few days, and not again, unless you see signs of the worms again.

 

[bigredspecial]

excellent news... I've heard nothing but good about Metro; this confirms it, in my mind.