Camallanus Worms Outbreak (Succesful Treatment) (Dose and schedule in first post)

I have had a Camallanus Worm outbreak in my 30g. (The red worm that attaches to the gut and protrudes out the anus) It's a nasty parasite that if left to do it's stuff. Will wipe an entire tank out.

I have done lots of research and have found a medication that is recommended above all others for this pest. Levimisole HCL.
Just my luck that it is also VERY hard to find except on Ebay. But that is the 99% strength. Some people recommended Vermisole. (Levi based with a 7.5% strength) That is also hard to find.

That aside. After hours of searching. I found some dosage rates for the medication. 2.6grams for 30g. (Updated to add that the 2.6g dose is for the 7.5% strength ONLY) Some people have done different doses as well.
So I know what I must do once I get the Levi.

My question. Who here has encountered this worm? What was your action taken and medication? Successful? I'm hoping I can battle this out and not lose any of my fish.

***EDIT***

I will be updating this section with a live updated journal of treatment.

Start of treatment: 1/20/14
Dose: 3 1/10th measures of 1/4th tsp of Prohibit
Tank Size: 30g
Concentration: 2ppm/L
Treatment Plan: 3 treatments total. 3 doses per treatment at 48 hour's apart. Gravel Vacs between each dose. Repeat another two weeks. Then third and final treatment 2 weeks after the second. Total estimated time of treatment 1 month and a few days.
Mindset: Dalek for E-X-T-E-R-M-I-N-A-T-I-O-N
Notes: After just 2 hours I noticed expulsion of several worms in my Juvenile Pinoy Zebra Angel. Some still protruding. Worms in Weather Loach seemed untouched. Black Ghost Knife also untouched. Behavior changes noted in 2 Cory Cats. (Seemed a little agitated and extra active after initial dose. Have since calmed down.)


1/22/14
Water change performed
Second dose added
Pinoy Zebra has shown no signs of worms. However several other fish seem un effected by treatment so far. So overall a small step in the right direction.

1/23/14
Progress has been made. All but one fish have been eradicated of worms. My male GBR still has one hanging out but hopefully he can pass it. My others who have since passed the worms seem to be doing better minus hating me for tank blackout. Keeping my fingers crossed. Signs are showing that this treatment may very well be one that works. =]

1/25/14
Third treatment started after wc and vac. No fish show signs of worms now. My male GBR no longer has any. I have noted lethargic behavior out of all my fish but have read that is normal during this treatment. 2 more days blacked out and then another heavy vac and water change and then lights get to be on for 2 weeks. I want to thank everyone for their input on this thread. Every single one of you have had a part in helping me do this and it's working. Thank you so much.

1/30/14
Still no signs of worms in any fish. All active and doing well with great appetite. My male GBR however has not recovered health wise. He is still emaciated and will hardly eat. Is health degrades by the day. May have to put him down in the coming days.   
Bout a week and 5 days until second battery of treatment starts.

2/5/14
Sadly had to put down my male GBR. His health declined too far and I felt like it was the right thing to do. He had lost all his colors, was emaciated, would not even eat period, and had troubles swimming as of this morning. He was at deaths bed. =[

3/21/14
WORMS ARE GONE!!!!!
I have not updated this in a while and while busy finding work lost my initial dates of 2nd battery treatment. I didn't do the third battery as all worms were gone after the first and the seconed made sure they wouldn't come back.

Over a month later and I'm proud to say that they are no longer an issue.      

Peylix,

Seems your thread is the 1st in this forum for Callamanus Worms. I've never had this issue but interested in the results of treatment. Hopefully someone will chime in here with experience. Either way please update your results. I often research issues here in WashFishBox through the search engine and this thread will be beneficial in the future for other members.

I had better luck with fenbendazole + flubendazole in tandem. Fenbendazole can be bought as dog wormer, safeguard for one. It's very difficult to dissolve in the water column so I made a paste and soaked bloodworms in it in the fridge for a few hours and fed. Fenbendzole is very similar but a little easier to dissolve so I used this to treat the water column, very important to kill all of the eggs. Deep substrate may make this difficult. You may eliminate them with flubendazole only. I had the fenben around so I used it and I've never had a re-appearance.
Here's where I buy these drugs. Levamisole is also available. there are some links at the site explaining use & dosage.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

fishNAbowl wrote:Peylix,

Seems your thread is the 1st in this forum for Callamanus Worms. I've never had this issue but interested in the results of treatment. Hopefully someone will chime in here with experience. Either way please update your results. I often research issues here in WashFishBox through the search engine and this thread will be beneficial in the future for other members.

Yeah, I did a quick search to see if I could find more info. I'll post updates and step by step action taken. After it's all done and if I'm successful, I think I'll make a really good thread about this worm and how to rid it.

plaamoo wrote:I had better luck with fenbendazole + flubendazole in tandem. Fenbendazole can be bought as dog wormer, safeguard for one. It's very difficult to dissolve in the water column so I made a paste and soaked bloodworms in it in the fridge for a few hours and fed. Fenbendzole is very similar but a little easier to dissolve so I used this to treat the water column, very important to kill all of the eggs. Deep substrate may make this difficult. You may eliminate them with flubendazole only. I had the fenben around so I used it and I've never had a re-appearance.
Here's where I buy these drugs. Levamisole is also available. there are some links at the site explaining use & dosage.

I have also read about that combo. The only problem with that is the food soaking. A lot of people have reported their fish not eating it with the meds. It's deff worth a shot though.

The site you linked I have already visited. It's a great source but the dosage info is not. He has his dosage rate at 5-6x more than whats needed and can actually be poisonous. As we only need a 2ppm concentration.

My plan for attack when I get the Levi is this:

1. Gravel Vac REALLY good
2. 70% WC
3. Dose 2.6g Levi for a 2ppm concen
4. Black out tank for 72 hours
5. Gravel Vac for more eggs and expelled worms
6. 70% WC
7. Repeat in 2 weeks

Would metronidazole not work for this situation? It is a wormer used in a variety of different animals, including humans, cats/dogs, and fish. You can get it from kensfish for a very low price, and it is masked with a garlic taste.

"The site you linked I have already visited. It's a great source but the dosage info is not. He has his dosage rate at 5-6x more than whats needed and can actually be poisonous. As we only need a 2ppm concentration."

I've been following his advice(for flubendazole) for several years now and I've had no problems since I began.

You'll find more info if you spell it correctly.  camallanus worms
Levamisole did nothing for me against camallanus. At the time the only form available was Durvet pig wormer from the local farm store. I've read lately some reference to levamisole being altered by neutral ph and above. Don't know if there's any truth to it and I can't find where I read it?

plaamoo wrote:"The site you linked I have already visited. It's a great source but the dosage info is not. He has his dosage rate at 5-6x more than whats needed and can actually be poisonous. As we only need a 2ppm concentration."

I've been following his advice(for flubendazole) for several years now and I've had no problems since I began.

You'll find more info if you spell it correctly.  camallanus worms
Levamisole did nothing for me against camallanus. At the time the only form available was Durvet pig wormer from the local farm store. I've read lately some reference to levamisole being altered by neutral ph and above. Don't know if there's any truth to it and I can't find where I read it?

I'm not trying to discredit him. I've just read a lot about dosage rates for varying strengths of Levimisole per L size. There is LOTS of info out there but a lot of it is mixed with bad and good. Your dosage rate is gonna change depending on your strength of med. Something that I found out tonight that I didn't account for thanks to Cory (Glad it came up too.). I have 90% strength Levi in hand now and have to redo calc on correct dose for a 2ppm/L of 30g using 90%. My previous calc was based off 7.5%.

Thank you for the correct spelling btw. Now have been using that and have lots more sites to sift through. =]

The next day or so I'll be researching and then I'll start my treatment. I'll document each step with words and photos and post them here. So if successful. There will be a great reference in this forum should anyone else come across this issue.

i will now admit that i have been having a small outbreak of these in my 20 gallon as well, so it might be something that is making its way around the area. i have purposely not let anything from my tanks get to other people for the last month or so, but since they take a while to go through their life cycle, i may have spread them before i knew i had them.

i will also be watching this carefully, because i know i will need to treat my tank sometime soon. i hope that the levamisol works out for you, that is the one i have been trying to get ahold of but it seems hard to get

plaamoo wrote:I've read lately some reference to levamisole being altered by neutral ph and above. Don't know if there's any truth to it and I can't find where I read it?

Found something on Loaches Online about the PH thing. (cant post link as I have the 7 days rule. But search Loaches Online and Levamisole and you will pull it up)

"De-bunking a common misunderstanding about Levamisole HCl.

Does Levamisole HCl require a pH of below 7.0 to be effective?

In a word, NO.

This common misconception regarding the uselessness of Levamisole HCl in higher pH water needed a definitive answer.

Let's apply some common sense. When we look around at the other uses of Levamisole HCl we find that one common formulation is administered by adding it to livestock drinking water. Are all water supplies the same? It seemed unlikely to me that among all the farms using this medication every water supply would have a pH below 7.0.

After some digging around all over the Internet and phone calls to various Veterinarians and chemical companies the answer I was given by Dr. Hal Sinclair of IVX Animal Health was both clear and simple. Levamisole base (C11H12N2S) is unstable in water and will degrade rapidly as pH levels increase. Levamisole HCl will not. It's the addition of the hydrochloride molecule that makes the difference.

Levamisole HCl is stable in water for up to 90 days and will do its job in aquaria with with both low and high pH values.

Taking the space to go through all this chemistry may be more than you want to know. However, chemistry plays a large role in fishkeeping. It helps to be somewhat comfortable with the basics to comprehend the Nitrogen cycle and to balance the aquatic environments in which our fish live. Planted tank gurus, especially, spend time understanding the chemistry of their tanks for both fish and plant benefit.

Chemistry has already helped us to answer the pH question which has been plaguing the community for years. We will need it again in order to determine effective dosing of Levamisole HCl to cure our fish. Knowing the chemical formula, the molecular weight, and the specific gravity of the molecule will give us the information we need to make some calculations that will help us to do just that."

Also found on Loaches Online. This is calculated off 100% strength. I have 90% and I'm HORRIBLE at math. So I may need some help adjusting the rate a little. So the basic value is 90mg per 10g for 2ppm concentration for 100%. I need to calculate for 90% in a 30g. I hate math so much. Makes my brain hurt. Even when I did pharmacology.   



For 100% Levamisole HCl in powdered form (Levasole, Soluble Pig wormer):

1 teaspoon = 4 grams
.5 teaspoon = 2 grams
.25 teaspoon = 1 gram
1.0 US Gallon = 3.78 Liters

Here is where our chemistry comes in.
The molecular formula for Levamisole base is C11H12N2S
The molecular formula for Levamisole HCl is C11H12N2S•HCl

Because we know the formula we can figure out the Grams/mole off the periodic table which is:

~204.32g/mole (rounded to hundreds) for levamisole.
~240.78g/mole for Levamisole HCl because of the HCl (hydrochloride) attachment.

The active anthelmintic ingredient is the Levamisole, not the Hydrochloride, so to attain a 2ppm concentration of Levamisole using Levamisole HCl we will need more Levamisole HCl because of the size (weight) of the molecule. For example, if we know we need 50mg (at 2mg/L this will treat a 25L sized tank, or about 6 gallons) of Levamisole base but we are using Levamisole HCl, to achieve the same concentration of the Levamisole base we need to make some conversions which works like this:

50mg=.05g

then divide that by 204.32 (weight in grams of Levamisole)

to get moles which is 2.447.


Then because its 1:1 (1 mole levamisole each (basically)) you take

2.447 multiplied by 240.78 (so you get correct weight for added HCl)

and you get .0589g which is ~59mg.


Thus, 59 mg of Levamisole HCl is equivalent to 50 mg of levamisole base.

So:

2ppm = 2 mg/L Levamisole base

which converts to:


2.36 mg/L Levamisole HCl or

~9 mg/Gallon or 90 mg/10 gallons


How do you know how many milligrams of Levamisole HCl you need? More calculating:


We need 2.36 mg/L (or 9 mg/Gallon) of Levamisole HCl to treat our tank at the recommended dosage.


If we measure our tanks in Liters:

2.36 x (the size of your tank in liters) = mg/L of Levamisole HCl to treat your tank.


If we measure our tanks in gallons:


10 US gallons = ~38 Liters

For a 10g tank that means:

2.36 x 38 = 89.68 mg or ~90mg of Levamisole HCl will treat 10 gallons with a 2 ppm concentration.

LuminousAphid wrote:i will now admit that i have been having a small outbreak of these in my 20 gallon as well, so it might be something that is making its way around the area. i have purposely not let anything from my tanks get to other people for the last month or so, but since they take a while to go through their life cycle, i may have spread them before i knew i had them.

i will also be watching this carefully, because i know i will need to treat my tank sometime soon. i hope that the levamisol works out for you, that is the one i have been trying to get ahold of but it seems hard to get

It's hard admitting things wrong in our tanks. I know. It's kind of a hit to our pride but sometimes it's out of our hands. I personally don't have the space for a full quarantine setup. Because of this, I got my tank infected. It took me a week to come out and ask for help since I took so much pride in my hobby that it felt like I would be looked down upon.

The fact is. It's going to happen sooner or later. Be it Ich, Worms, Dropsy, or any other tank busting issue. The moment I realized that, I knew I could come out to state my issues. Cause lets face it. The more help we get, the better off we are and the more help we can be to others who are now or will be in the same boat.

As for treatment. I just posted a writeup from a site with dosage rates. Leva is hard to get as well, A few places had me on back order and almost gave up until I was able to get some from Cory at Aquarium CoOp.
My best advice is to start treatment as soon as you can. See if you can find some Leva or other meds like fluben which has also been reported to work. The sooner the better is what I've been reading with this worm.

Best of luck to you man. Keep tabs on this thread though. Like I mentioned before. I'll be doing a live journal process of treatment.

" I personally don't have the space for a full quarantine setup. Because of this, I got my tank infected. It took me a week to come out and ask for help since I took so much pride in my hobby that it felt like I would be looked down upon."

It only takes a 5 or 10 gallon tank. The smaller the better, less meds and easier water changes. I forget though that many here keep large fish so it may take a 20 gal. I will NEVER put new fish in an established tank without quarantine. I've learned the hard way, more than once. Anyone who looks down on you for this reason is not worth knowing.

" See if you can find some Leva or other meds like fluben "

Both available from Charles at the link I posted for a reasonable price.

Peylix wrote:

It's hard admitting things wrong in our tanks. I know. It's kind of a hit to our pride but sometimes it's out of our hands. I personally don't have the space for a full quarantine setup. Because of this, I got my tank infected. It took me a week to come out and ask for help since I took so much pride in my hobby that it felt like I would be looked down upon.

The fact is. It's going to happen sooner or later. Be it Ich, Worms, Dropsy, or any other tank busting issue. The moment I realized that, I knew I could come out to state my issues. Cause lets face it. The more help we get, the better off we are and the more help we can be to others who are now or will be in the same boat.

As for treatment. I just posted a writeup from a site with dosage rates. Leva is hard to get as well, A few places had me on back order and almost gave up until I was able to get some from Cory at Aquarium CoOp.
My best advice is to start treatment as soon as you can. See if you can find some Leva or other meds like fluben which has also been reported to work. The sooner the better is what I've been reading with this worm.

Best of luck to you man. Keep tabs on this thread though. Like I mentioned before. I'll be doing a live journal process of treatment.

 I dont think admitting something wrong with your tank should be hit to your pride. I would say by far the most important thing about the aquarium community is crowd sourcing information. With the knowledge we share with each other it paves the way for us to in turn help someone in the future as well as becoming better at what we do. I mean I am sure just about everyone here has had a tank where they killed everything in it because they tried to use their own logic instead of seeking advice.

 I myself didnt even know such an infection existed(in fact I went scouring all my tanks to make sure I didnt have it lol). So your "admitting" has actually increased my knowledge base on both problems that may arise as well as treatments for such an issue. Cheers mate!

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
hope it's ok to post this.
I was actually able to get levamisole Hcl (pig wormer)at a feed store .. it is difficult to find and this was a while back.
btw the hcl version is the 'water soluable' version. it is very effective when used in a bath.
recommendation was to change water after 24-48 hr and retreat(within 2 weeks) since it does not kill the eggs.

also be aware.. it works to immobilize the parasite which will and hopefully sluff out.. if it does not you can lose fish to bacterial infection (internal) as the worm will die and erode inside the fishes intestinal tract.

This is one of the reasons I joined this forum, the exchange of info in a courteous manner.
Where the hell was this in the 70's and the early 80's? LOL

strider wrote:This is one of the reasons I joined this forum, the exchange of info in a courteous manner.
Where the hell was this in the 70's and the early 80's? LOL  

BBS boards... if you had the money to buy a computer and a phone line you would have known!   

Chiisai wrote:

strider wrote:This is one of the reasons I joined this forum, the exchange of info in a courteous manner.
Where the hell was this in the 70's and the early 80's? LOL  

BBS boards... if you had the money to buy a computer and a phone line you would have known!   

Says the person born in 1982. Lol
My neighbor was an engineer at the time and built his his own computer. He showed me the most info available at the time and it definitely was not the type of fish we are discussing here. And yes I am older than whale dung found in the Pacific Trough.   

Ok. It was relayed to me that for Prohibit (The Leva med I got) Treats 100g with 1/4tsp.

Since I do not have a gram scale that measure into mg. I took 1/4 and split it into 10ths. So each 10th treats 10g.

Just started the first treatment. Wish me luck.

 .oOGood luck!

Good luck peylix!
Something else to consider in dosing is the amount of organic material in the tank. Plants, wood, substrate etc can absorb meds and interfere with the treatment. This is why my q-tanks are bare bones.

plaamoo wrote:Good luck peylix!
Something else to consider in dosing is the amount of organic material in the tank. Plants, wood, substrate etc can absorb meds and interfere with the treatment. This is why my q-tanks are bare bones.

Didn't think of that. I'll take that into consideration should I run into any hiccups. Thanks!

also, my tank is heavy on inverts, so hopefully there is no ill effects on snails or shrimp. i think i read that snails are a carrier of the eggs or an intermediate life stage, but i don't want a sudden huge die-off of snails... that could be worse than the worms in the first place

LuminousAphid wrote:also, my tank is heavy on inverts, so hopefully there is no ill effects on snails or shrimp. i think i read that snails are a carrier of the eggs or an intermediate life stage, but i don't want a sudden huge die-off of snails... that could be worse than the worms in the first place

I have read no ill effects of Levamisole against inverts. Other meds though I'm not too sure as I have focused all my time and energy on Levamisole as that's the med I procured. If you go another route other than Leva. I'd do a quick search with toxicity for said med.

I have also updated my main post with a treatment journal since I started the medication. So keep an eye on there as I'll be updating it as the treatment progresses.

Flubendazole will kill snails. Snails can be a host for certain parasites but I don't think camallanus is among them. It doesn't seem to affect my shrimp.
Here's some good reading,
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

ok good to know, i guess it's copepods and not snails. also, the secondary infection aspect is interesting, that could well be the case with a ram i had that had worms and wouldn't eat. thanks for posting results of this, rep for you sir!

I think how the life cycle works varies with the species of camallanus.. some shed eggs others shed live larvae.
that said it is believed they still need an intermediate host (usually something like a copepod or other crustacean)
IME levamisol had no ill effect on the snails in my tanks.. but I can't say for the shrimp as they are not in my discus/angel tanks.(at least not for very long)

I want to extend a thank you to every one of you who have come in this thread and and helped with this problem. I updated the main post with the third and final dose of the first battery of treatment. It's not done though. I have to repeat the three doses 2 more times over the course of the month to ensure all eggs and larvae are taken care of.

I've searched high and low for ideas and info on how to treat. The thread we created has lots of great info and I was able to use all of it for a treatment that is working.

Thank you.  

Updated the main post with new notes.

Oh man, I'm glad your other fish seem to have taken well to the medication treatments, I hope your German Blue Ram pulls through and recovers along with them!

Thank you for keeping us updated, following this thread has been really nice, with your updates.

PokeSephiroth wrote:Oh man, I'm glad your other fish seem to have taken well to the medication treatments, I hope your German Blue Ram pulls through and recovers along with them!

Thank you for keeping us updated, following this thread has been really nice, with your updates.

Me too. :/

really glad to see this has worked for you, i will try and get my hands on some to treat my tank... most fish are ok but my female gbr is really getting hit hard by it now

LuminousAphid wrote:really glad to see this has worked for you, i will try and get my hands on some to treat my tank... most fish are ok but my female gbr is really getting hit hard by it now

Best of luck to you man.   

Sorry about the Ram. If you're up to it cut open it's belly with a razor knife and see if it's full of worms. If so, are they still alive? I lost a few of the rainbows that I treated as their bellies were so full of dead worms that they couldn't pass them.

I noticed one of my guppies has these worms sticking out :/ so far she is the only one that I can see. It has been like that for a few days, she is pregnant so I thought she was just giving birth, but upon further inspection something seemed odd. She definitely has them, so should I remove her? Treat the whole tank? I have never treated for anything like this, what should I use?

Missgrumpygills wrote:I noticed one of my guppies has these worms sticking out :/ so far she is the only one that I can see. It has been like that for a few days, she is pregnant so I thought she was just giving birth, but upon further inspection something seemed odd. She definitely has them, so should I remove her? Treat the whole tank? I have never treated for anything like this, what should I use?

Treat the whole tank. Once you see the worms protruding out of the anus. They have been releasing their offspring in the tank. As for what to use. Levamisole HCL. You can buy some under the name Prohibit. If you are unable to find any. I have some left over from my treatment that I'd be willing to sell to you. Dose and instructions are posted in my first post. But it's 1/10th of 1/4th tsp per 10 gallons for dose. So once you get the medication. Measure out 1/4th tsp and then cut that small pile into 10 even piles. Each pile treats 10 gallons.

When dosing. Black out the tank the entire time it's in. You can follow my schedule that I have also posted on my first post.

I eradicated the worms after the 2nd battery of treatment (1 battery = 3 treatments). Hope this helps.

Peylix wrote:Black out the tank the entire time it's in. You can follow my schedule that I have also posted on my first post.

I have live plants, will they be ok? Do you have enough medication to eradicate the worms in my tank?(I have a 40 gal) If it is showing on only one guppy, have I caught it early?

Missgrumpygills wrote:I have live plants, will they be ok? Do you have enough medication to eradicate the worms in my tank?(I have a 40 gal) If it is showing on only one guppy, have I caught it early?

Your plants will do fine. Fish as well though they will be sluggish and will lose a bit of appetite. I do have enough medication for a 40g actually. =]
And yes you have. But others may have it too. Only adult worms protrude so juvi worms are more than likely in the gut of some other fish.

Then I would like to buy it off you  How much?
And this should help... 
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I accidently knocked his eye off You could super glue it

Missgrumpygills wrote:Then I would like to buy it off you  How much?
And this should help... 
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Gonna send you a pm shortly =]

I'm not quite sure what to do with with the water/ worms I will suck out during this process. How do I properly dispose of it, can I dump it in the back yard? Idk lol

Boil all the water taken out of the tank for a while and all the worms that came with it. It will kill them so they wont infest your local water supply.