Small Worm on Catfish

here's a pic of the ram I had with these worms... you can see he was in poor shape but the worms were clear enough in this shot.

ram.jpg
 
i found levimasole hard to get. i used biltricide ( praziquantel) for tapeworms but it works on external worms as well. i never used such an effective medication before. my fish are more active now and fattening up. i see dead worms floating around the tank. it is a very safe drug and tough to overdose the fish on. it is also plant and shrimp safe. trust lupin and look for levimasole but this is a good alternative if you need it.
 
Dangerdoll said:
They aren't hook worms or anchors.... I had this same type of worm on a german ram once and because I couldn't find much detail on them, the ridding of them was close to impossible... let me see if I can find where the post is that found them... ah found it... what they were finally diagnosed as were round worms. I tried using copper safe on him and it seemed to work for a little bit but ultimately, the worms got him..... it was suggested though that I used Levamisole hydrochloride. I heard that it is what gets them and I wish I had the stuff sooner. However, with this being a catfish, you should look into if using this would cause more harm than good on him.
Click to expand...
from this description and your picture im pretty sure this is that mysterious worm a lot of us have seen inside ghost shrimp and wonder what it is. the way it is burrowed into your ram by the gil plate is identical to the way it burrows in the ghost shrimps thorax and head. maybe we should bring up the old thread and see if everyone else agrees...
 
I had those worms once on a batch of stunning emporer tetras. They were in my planted tank and I ended up losing quite a few fish with different attempts at treatment. Praziquantel did absolutely nothing to slow the spread of them, nor did metronidazole, salt, potassium permanganate, and even fluke tabs. I finally got rid of them with Flubendazole, but that too can be difficult to get.

Levamisole is good to use for most fish, but Rosy barbs and Roselines can be sensitive to it. I've lost them both on the system and in display tanks at different times when trying to treat for internal parasites. Most catfish and other normally sensitive fish can handle it quite well though, go figure. I've dosed altum angels at almost 3 times the recommended dose for camallanus and had no problem with the fish.

Barbie
 
Hi

Thanks all for the info. I have tried Cyropro which is cyromazine. I started it last night and I don't see the worms this AM but will keep an eye. It says to repeat every 7 days for 3 doses. I will try it. If not I will see if I can get one of the other meds suggested. let me know what you think of the Cyropro.

Amy
 
i'm so glad this thread was made and that i looked at it the other day. . . . when i fed my oscar this morning he was still asleep. i waited for him to come out of his "bedroom" (he sleeps inside of a clay pipe) and he is covered in these tiny worms, though is look finer than the ones above. . . maybe because they have not had much time to feed. is there any more information on round worms?

where do they come from?
can feeding earthworms introduce them to the tank? I bought some new worms a copuple days ago. . . .
is any fish in the tank automatically a carrier or can visually unaffected fish be moved before treatment without spreading the worms?
does it affect any fish or only those already sick? my O is starting to get some erosion around his nostrils that is very recent - also noticed it only this morning.

EDIT:

I'm not so sure these external worms are actually roundworms. . . . this is an article by the University of Florida about roundworm (nematode) infestation in fish, and says nothing about them living outside of the fish, only in intestines and other internal body tissues. . . .
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/FA091
 
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I'm not sure, wata... these came in with my ram when I bought him. I didn't even know he had them until I took a close up shot with the camera and saw them... I went looking all over the place when I did realize about them and that was the final consensus on him... I think with how impacting these worms are, it would do a great help to find out what they are and how to do away with them, as well as how they come in the first place... obviously it's not such a rare ocurrence
 
wata, check your water quality. sounds like hole in the head disease. the worms may be planaria since the water quality is bad for hole in the head disease.
 
jaysen, you're right. the worms on my oscar turned out to be planaria. he lays on the bottom when he sleeps so they got all over him, but once he was awake and swimming they went on their merry way within a half-hour or so. last week i cleaned the filters (not the biowheels of course) and a couple days later i realized they weren't running and i don't know how long they had been off. water is fine now but it might have spiked while the filters were down and caused the little bit of HITH.
 
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