Camallanus worms removal **Update 09/02/20**

So here it goes:

I went to check on my guppies like I do every day and saw little red hair coming out of their bums.

At first, I was like are they giving birth? but then I already knew that wasn't the case. Researched online and not long after I find out what those little red hair was...it's called Camallanus worms and it is not your everyday parasite (more here on this amazing post by daniomom).

I went to my local pet store and the guy there suggested Metroplex by Seachem. I followed every instruction and dosed the water as well as blend it with the food and feed it to the fish, quarantined the fish that visible had the worms and patiently waited for 3 weeks.

Worms still present, so I think to myself why not pull them out? so I did...

I grabbed a typical Stainless Steel Pig Hair Clipper that my mother used, lay the fish on its side (THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT - I noticed that the worm pulls back if the fish is in any other direction and that it helps if you touch the worm and WAIT, it somehow likes the petting and comes out ), wait wait wait and gently try to grab the worm and pull.

Et voila! First worm is out, second worm out as well and so on, put the fish back in the water and waited.

Day 2: The fish is fine, tried 3 more fish 2-month-old baby guppies as well.

Fast Forward to today Day 12: Fish are going strong, still in the quarantine tank and no visible signs of any worms and the fish are going fine, pooping a lot! with plenty of appetite to eat.

Don't know if this helps anyone or if my guppies are "cured" but I'd really love some feedback.

I will keep this thread updated!

This is what I removed:

 

I sincerely wish you the best of luck but I must admit I am unsure whether or not pulling them out will help. I had them take out 90% of an entire tank last year and only managed to save 1 fish with levamizole. In my experience and seemingly the majority of people who have had to deal with these little monsters- levamizole is really the only medication that will do anything. They've built up a resistance to just about everything else.

The point where the worms are sticking out of the fish is the point that theyre dropping eggs. If you saw them prior to moving them into the qt tank then they are almost certainly in the main one. Seeing as you removed them and put the fish in qt though there is a chance that they currently are worm free. It should be noted though that they can hide in fish for extended periods of time while they grow.

 

ya...pulling the worms out was only a temporary solution. And only included the worms that were already starting to emerge from the fish. There are likely more inside of them. I wish it was that easy though!!!!!!

Once the worms have emerged, they have sprayed eggs all over the tank. These eggs will hatch into larvae and be eaten by the fish. They will then grow to full sized worms INSIDE the fish until they are mature enough to drop eggs. That's when they emerge. This means your guppies have likely had those worms in them for quite a while.

Fish can live for a very long time with these worms as they develop in their gut. Showing no signs of anything being wrong. This is why QT periods should be much more than just a couple weeks.

So, if you removed them from your main tank to treat them....(with a med that doesn't treat them unfortunately) the tank they started in is infested with eggs and larvae. So the cycle will continue. The QT tank is also full of eggs and larvae if they were moved in there with the worms. (obviously the eggs and larvae are too small to see.)

You need to pick up Levamisole and follow this link. After hours and hours of research years ago when I faced this, I found this link to be the most helpful. I treated 19 tanks even though I only saw the worms in 3 of them. Because I share nets and siphon....its very easy to pass from tank to tank. And I saved every single fish after I started treating (I lost a couple before I knew what was going on)

Levamisole Hydrochloride — Loaches Online


If you do not treat your tanks, you will not be rid of the worms and you will be dealing with this indefinitely. Metro does not effect these worms unfortunately.

 

I sincerely wish you the best of luck but I must admit I am unsure whether or not pulling them out will help. I had them take out 90% of an entire tank last year and only managed to save 1 fish with levamizole. In my experience and seemingly the majority of people who have had to deal with these little monsters- levamizole is really the only medication that will do anything. They've built up a resistance to just about everything else.

The point where the worms are sticking out of the fish is the point that theyre dropping eggs. If you saw them prior to moving them into the qt tank then they are almost certainly in the main one. Seeing as you removed them and put the fish in qt though there is a chance that they currently are worm free. It should be noted though that they can hide in fish for extended periods of time while they grow.

Thank you for this! Yeah I saw them prior so...where do I find levamizole from?

ya...pulling the worms out was only a temporary solution. And only included the worms that were already starting to emerge from the fish. There are likely more inside of them. I wish it was that easy though!!!!!!

Once the worms have emerged, they have sprayed eggs all over the tank. These eggs will hatch into larvae and be eaten by the fish. They will then grow to full sized worms INSIDE the fish until they are mature enough to drop eggs. That's when they emerge. This means your guppies have likely had those worms in them for quite a while.

Fish can live for a very long time with these worms as they develop in their gut. Showing no signs of anything being wrong. This is why QT periods should be much more than just a couple weeks.

So, if you removed them from your main tank to treat them....(with a med that doesn't treat them unfortunately) the tank they started in is infested with eggs and larvae. So the cycle will continue. The QT tank is also full of eggs and larvae if they were moved in there with the worms. (obviously the eggs and larvae are too small to see.)

You need to pick up Levamisole and follow this link. After hours and hours of research years ago when I faced this, I found this link to be the most helpful. I treated 19 tanks even though I only saw the worms in 3 of them. Because I share nets and siphon....its very easy to pass from tank to tank. And I saved every single fish after I started treating (I lost a couple before I knew what was going on)

Levamisole Hydrochloride — Loaches Online


If you do not treat your tanks, you will not be rid of the worms and you will be dealing with this indefinitely. Metro does not effect these worms unfortunately.

Thank you very much as well! really helpful information! where do I buy that product? Does lets say Serra sell a product that includes that chemical?

 

99% Pure Levamisole HCl Powder

 

I'm in Canada so it was a bit difficult to get it, but I just ordered it off of someone on Ebay

 

So I thought I'd keep you guys posted, I found Levamisole powder and been following this guide:
Levamisole Info & Dosing (see below - copy pasted)

1. Determine the appropriate dosage for your tank.
2. Treat with the lights off and increased aeration.
3. Perform a largish water change prior to treatment.
4. Treat once for 24 hours.
5. Do a largish water change and vacuum to remove any paralyzed worms in the substrate.
6. Return tank to normal lighting/feeding/cleaning cycle.
7. Treat again in 5-7 days after a water change. If you know the parasite you are treating and its life cycle adjust the timing for the second treatment accordingly.
8. Do another water change with gravel vacuum.
9. Return to normal schedule.
10. Treat a third time after 1 - 2 weeks. (This may be overkill, but due to the lack of negative side effects, and because I have had a previously treated clown loach relapse after over a month, I now do a third treatment.)
11. Do another good vacuuming with water change and consider your treatment complete.

I added a second dose tho after step 5 and I will now wait for 4 days and dose again. I will see how it goes.

Fish look better but not 100% sure as if there has been no big change as of yet.

 

Glad to hear you got your hands on some levamisole powder.
So you did see another worm in a clown loach recently?

 

Sorry you are dealing with these nasty worms. I'm glad you got some Levamisole HCI though, because I too lost a bunch of my precious fish (in 2017) to this worm and only saved the others with a dewormer.

I followed the Loaches link to a tee and treated for 24hrs, 3 times, 2 weeks apart. The next two doses are to make sure I get all the baby worms.

Good luck!

 

Thank you, guys! I appreciate the feedback and interest.

Update 16/02/20:
-Not a real improvement from the powder.
-Bought another Levamisole product in liquid form. (Tabernil Levamisol - supposedly used in birds)
-The above has 0.75mg/ml of levamisole I dosed yesterday once 2ml on their pellets. I will do a water change today and dose again.
- I will do this for 3 days and see if I get lucky.
- If I see any improvements then I will do this again in 2 weeks and fingers crossed I beat this.


The only affected fish in the tank are my guppies, I also have some corydoras, 1 brislenose pleco, and some shrimps - I believe the other fish will not get affected as if calamanus worms won't infect all the fish species (you can correct me if am wrong)

 

I hope you get this straightened out. I was relatively unfamiliar with this until I did some research after reading this thread awhile back. Sometimes (in a worst case scenario) it seems like people remove everything, including fish and are forced to do a deep clean/sterilization

 

I wouldn't trust that it is species specific because I have lost angelfish, rams and tetras (only fish I was keeping in the tank) to this thing.

You may not see immediate results from the dewormer, I know I lost a few affected fish that were too far gone a few months after the third Levamisole HCI treatment. That's another thing, you will need to do at least 2 treatments, 2 weeks apart to get all the second generation worms.

I also never saw worms hanging from the vent, another weird thing, but I did see parasitic intestinal damage.

 

Kids don't try this at home. By the time you see a few hanging out of the fish, they're attached throughout the body by tiny 'hooks' on the head end which can cause internal damage not seen until later on. Livebearers are notorious for them, but they can make it through quarantine undetected and infect any other fish. For this reason almost all my stock gets treated with fenbendazole in qt, and haven't had to deal with them in years.