Camallanus Worms in a planted tank

S

sasarivera

AC Members
May 4, 2005
17
0
0
Hi all.

I have a 77 middle-planted tank. I was struggling with a terrible algae outbreak for a couple months so I add some Ottos to help me a little bit.

When I came home I saw they also put a Chinese shrimp in there. so I thought poor guy my clown loaches will have a snack today.

After a couple of weeks I noticed some red hairs coming from my two angelfish, after a lot of research I found they have Camallanus Worms, the worst nightmare you can find. The most possible source will be the shrimp or the ottos. I read a lot about it and the best tratment is levamisole hcl (no available in Canada), so I end up buying some Jungle Anti-parasite med food that contain a small amount of the same ingredient. I'm in the beggining of the treatment.

With more research I found that I really need the pure levamisole if I want to get rid of the worms completely, so I decided to buy it online.

The problem is that they recommend a 100% water change after the treatment with a completely gravel vacum. Will this kill my plants?

I don't have any exotic/fancy plants in there, but I've been fighting for 3 years to keep them alive.

Please help, any advise to how make the treatment work without killing everything inside will be greatly appreciated. I just love my plant and fishes.
sorry for the long post.

These are some pictures of the tank and the camallanus worm:
aqua.jpg

hair2.jpg


Tank specifications:
* 77 gallon with pressurized C02
* 3 watts/gal
* Canister filter

Fish:
* 2 Angels (the only ones with visible worms)
* 9 cardinal tetras
* 8 rummy nose
* 2 dwarf rainbow
* 1 SAE (not sure if the real one)
* 5 OTTOS
* 4 clown loaches

Plants:
* Sword
* Nanas
* no sure the rest. see picture
 
I wouldn't think that having the water drained off would kill your plants, since it's not going to stay that way very long. The only thing I would be worried about would be some of your stem plants not being able to support themselves in the air and breaking. Although the water level is going to drop gradually, so I don't know if that will be a problem either.
IME, I've had java fern, anubias, and umbrella plants completely out of water except for the roots for over half an hour without any problems. I was letting BBA that had grown on them die in the air.
 
best treated with food..but there are other meds that willwork. fenbenzadole, flubenzadole you may need to get these from a veterinarian.

Levamisole hcl, is very effective and can be treated in a bath.
I used it in my planted tanks..and did 50% water changes and ran carbon to help remove the meds.

with camillanus you should re-treat in 3 weeks.
the jungle med is fed to the fish (assuming they ingest food)
when the med is ingested it requires less medication. in a bath the concentration needs to be fairly high.

that said..I used it in 2 planted tanks with 0 effect on the plants.
 
hi star rider

Should I continue with the plant fertilization during the treatment? Will the UV sterilizator help to remove the medicine too? Did you gravel vacum?

sorry for so many questions.

Sasa
 
I didn't change anything..the levamisole is only left in for 24-48 hrs then at least a 50% water change.

run carbon to remove the rest..yes a very heavy vac was done..you need to try and remove the dead worms and as many eggs as possible.
keep an eye on the fish..some times the dead worms won't get passed and may cause an infetion in the fish.(lost one of my favorite angels with this)

I retreated in 2-3 weeks..it has been fine since(I did this over 10 months ago)

if you are worried about mixing ferts in at the same time hold off onthe ferts.


btw, you have a beautiful tank.

looks like the angel is pretty heavily infested..is it eating? be prepared for upset fish...levamisole is not very pleasant but it is relatively safe.
I use it when I quarantine all my fish.


I am not sure uv sterilization has much impact on the med.
 
star rider
yes, he's eating a bit but it has been already 2 days and the tummy is less bloated but I still see the worms. The levamisol hcl should arrive in 4-5 days so I can give the bath. for now I will continue with the med food.

There are any way I can help them to pass the dead worms? an special food or something else?

happybob59
They ARE gross, but they're pretty small so you have to look really close to see them. only my two angel have visible worms


Sasa
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom