Can I use fenbendazole to treat camallanus worms?

I recently added in some new plants to my tank and I ended up introducing camallanus worms. I have levamisole but I couldn’t find any instructions on how to mix it with the food ( don’t have enough treatment to treat all the tanks without using food, plus don’t want to hurt any delicate plants) so I’m going to get some fenbendazole. I know there are some meds that camallanus worms are resistant to. Is fenbendazole one of them? Also has anyone had success using it?

 

I don't think there are drugs that Camallanus is resistant to. There are drugs it's never worked on that people insist on using though.

https://dianawalstad.files.wordpress.com/2017/12/camallanusarticle4.pdf

 

Fenbendazole will actually kill the worms. Make sure you vacuum the substrate well or you may get some young ones that did not hatch while the dosage of meds have been given. Levamisole, in my experience only paralyzes the worms unless you use an extremely high dose which in turn could be harmful to your fish.

 

I don't think there are drugs that Camallanus is resistant to. There are drugs it's never worked on that people insist on using though.

https://dianawalstad.files.wordpress.com/2017/12/camallanusarticle4.pdf

Sounds good then. They can’t infect humans, right? I need to replant some of my plants but I’m a bit nervous about sticking my arm in there.

Fenbendazole will actually kill the worms. Make sure you vacuum the substrate well or you may get some young ones that did not hatch while the dosage of meds have been given. Levamisole, in my experience only paralyzes the worms unless you use an extremely high dose which in turn could be harmful to your fish.

I’ll be dosing 3 times in all, will that help get any juveniles the first dose didn’t kill? I may do a 4th dose A few weeks after using the 3rd dose.

 

That should be perfect! You can also get some fenbendazole flake and the fish gobble that down too. Works as a great dewormer. I give all my new fish I bring in to make sure their gut is nice and clean. It cured camallanus worms I had once so I was very pleased.

 

That should be perfect! You can also get some fenbendazole flake and the fish gobble that down too. Works as a great dewormer. I give all my new fish I bring in to make sure their gut is nice and clean. It cured camallanus worms I had once so I was very pleased.

Great! I ended up getting something called fish bendazole. It had pretty good reviews and instructions on dosing. Should I treat all my tanks in case there was any cross contamination?

 

I used levamisole and it knocked them right out. Knocked out my crypts too, but took the worms out.

 

I used levamisole and it knocked them right out. Knocked out my crypts too, but took the worms out.

Urgh I have crypts so I probably shouldn’t use it. Have you ever had any issues with fenbendazole killing plants if you soak the food in it?

 

Ugh, sorry to hear. I've used fenben twice in separate instances, and it worked like a charm. Bought the dog dewormer Safeguard4, which comes in three 1-gram packets for about $6.00. 1 packet will treat a 20 gallon tank twice with some left over, so 3 packets would be more than enough for a long time. (I know you already got the fish zole, just throwing in the info for others)

It's not very water soluble, but grinding it fine with a mortar & pestle and dissolving it into HOT water, it took care of anything in the water as well. Can't remember if it hurt any plants, but the fish handled it fine.

 

Thanks everyone! I think I’ll be soaking the food in the fenbendazole because all the fish are still eating and it’ll be easier because I’m treating all the fish, not just that tank. I think that I’m going to feed them the medicated food once every 8 days for a few weeks to make sure that I get the worms out. Probably will feed each tank the medicated food 3-4 times in all.

 

Urgh I have crypts so I probably shouldn’t use it. Have you ever had any issues with fenbendazole killing plants if you soak the food in it?

I've only treated with levamisole so I can't really speak to that. I will say that while it melted the crypts, it didn't kill them outright. They did eventually grow back.

 

I've only treated with levamisole so I can't really speak to that. I will say that while it melted the crypts, it didn't kill them outright. They did eventually grow back.

If the fenbendazole fails I think I’ll use levamisole. Do you think the levamisole will still be good if I’ve had it unopened in a drawer for a while?

 

Soaking isn't a reliable way to medicate food. Sometimes it works but I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't. Since the medication is on the surface it tends to wash off or the fish can taste it and refuse to eat.

The medicated flakes usually don't tell you the dosage and they've been known to fail as well.

I like to make medicated food out of commercial gel food (Mazuri). I make sure I know the purity of the drug and weigh everything. The medication is evenly distributed throughout the food and locked in once the gelatin sets.

Even if you do everything right, treating worms is hit and miss so it may require repeat or different treatments.

 

Soaking isn't a reliable way to medicate food. Sometimes it works but I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't. Since the medication is on the surface it tends to wash off or the fish can taste it and refuse to eat.

The medicated flakes usually don't tell you the dosage and they've been known to fail as well.

I like to make medicated food out of commercial gel food (Mazuri). I make sure I know the purity of the drug and weigh everything. The medication is evenly distributed throughout the food and locked in once the gelatin sets.

Even if you do everything right, treating worms is hit and miss so it may require repeat or different treatments.

What if I overdosed the meds in the water I’ll be soaking the food in? Would that make it more likely to succeed?

I’ll be repeating the treatment atleast 3 times. I can do more if you think it’d up the chances of success.

 

Even if it absorbs into the food flawlessly, how can you control how much each fish eats? Some might get 500% the dose, while others get none. I'll always advise dosing the water column over medicated food.

My honest advice to you would be to just dose the tank with levamisole. Other meds don't cut it as well. Your username has caught my attention and you're a guy I generally agree with. I know you're not a new hobbyist and you know what you're doing. You can grow some crypts back. Just smack them with the levamisole and grow the plants back. You got this.

PS. - Levamisole is light sensitive. So blackout your tank while treating. Make sure to dose again a couple weeks later. Meds won't kill eggs. So you need to dose a 2nd time to kill any parasites that might have hatched from surviving eggs.

 

Even if it absorbs into the food flawlessly, how can you control how much each fish eats? Some might get 500% the dose, while others get none. I'll always advise dosing the water column over medicated food.

My honest advice to you would be to just dose the tank with levamisole. Other meds don't cut it as well. Your username has caught my attention and you're a guy I generally agree with. I know you're not a new hobbyist and you know what you're doing. You can grow some crypts back. Just smack them with the levamisole and grow the plants back. You got this.

PS. - Levamisole is light sensitive. So blackout your tank while treating. Make sure to dose again a couple weeks later. Meds won't kill eggs. So you need to dose a 2nd time to kill any parasites that might have hatched from surviving eggs.

Thanks!

Are there any types of plants that you think will be extra sensitive? I definitely want to get rid of the worms and the fish are more important than the plants.

I do have some levamisole on hand but it’s been a drawer (unopened) for a few months now. It’s in a cool area so I think it’d be ok but just want to make sure?

 

Should be fine as long as it's been stored airtight and out of light. I dosed 4 tanks and I have tons of different types of plants. The crypts were the only thing that melted.

 

Also make sure to vaccumn your tank thouroughly! Dont want the fishies eating expelled worms and getting reinfected

 

Also make sure to vaccumn your tank thouroughly! Dont want the fishies eating expelled worms and getting reinfected

Should be fine as long as it's been stored airtight and out of light. I dosed 4 tanks and I have tons of different types of plants. The crypts were the only thing that melted.

Sounds good! I’ll vacuum as much as I can. I think that I may do a dose of the Medicated food a few days from now to make sure that none of the worms survived and then I’ll Do the second dose of levamisole in 3 weeks.

 

I recently treated Camallanus Worms successfully with levamisole. Members in this forum provided invaluable information. Thank you all!

_______ levamisole or fenbendazole? _______
I used levamisole because fenbendazole is usually consumed by the fish in food and if the fish are stressed then they may not eat so then the camallanus worms would not be wiped out.

_______ treatment _______
Vacuumed tank bottom immediately before the treatment
Removed charcoal from the power filter
Added 6ppm levamisole.
Turn off all lights and used black trash bags to cover the tanks.
Vacuumed tank bottom again 3 days after the treatment.
Repeated above process in 2 weeks.

_______ response _______
No worms were ever found again.
Most fish and snails took it well and didn't show any distress, except that some platy and African leaf fish stopped eating for a few days. They started eating immediately after a 80% water change AND charcoal added to the power filter (to remove the remaining drug from the water).

_______ purchase _______
I bought levamisole from Amazon.
Amazon.com: Agrilabs Prohibit Soluble Drench Powder: Pet Supplies

_______ make the solution _______
The concentration recommended for treating aquariums ranges from 2 to 13 ppm (mg/liter)

How to make 6ppm:
Use 1 cup boiled (then cooled) filtered water, add 13 gram drug.
Levamisole solutions can be stored for 90 days under refrigeration:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16124942/

13 ppm:
13 ppm for 100 gallon = 5799 mg = 5.799 gram
13 ppm for 10 gallon = 0.578 gram
13 ppm for 29 gallon = 1.682 gram
13 ppm for 55 gallon = 3.190 gram
2 ppm for 10 gallon = 0.090 gram
2 ppm for 29 gallon = 0.259 gram
2 ppm for 55 gallon = 0.490 gram

6 ppm:
6 ppm for 2 gallon = 0.053 gram
6 ppm for 5 gallon = 0.134 gram
6 ppm for 10 gallon = 0.268 gram
6 ppm for 29 gallon = 0.777 gram
6 ppm for 55 gallon = 1.472 gram


_______ more info _______
The infective free-living first-stage larvae may survive 4-5 weeks in the host-external environment!!!! The larvae survive 24 days at 25?C but live longer (39 days) at the lower temperature of 20?C.
Therefore, all tools may have to be disinfected with bleach!

Levamisole HCl is light sensitive. Store product in tightly closed, light resistant containers. Leave off tank lights or UV lighting when treating.

The drug paralyzes the worms such that they are released from the fish’s intestine. The drug does NOT actually kill the worm or eggs. So you have to vacuum them out (otherwise, fish may eat them again!)! And treat again in 2-3 weeks for the new hatchings from eggs!

Fish readily absorb Levamisole from their skin and gills into the blood stream. Camallanus worms feeding on the fish’s blood take in the Levamisole. The drug paralyzes the worms such that they are released from the fish’s intestine. The concentration recommended for treating aquariums ranges from 2 to 13 ppm (mg/liter) [1,13,14]. Levamisole’s lethal concentration (LC50/24 hours) was 250 ppm when tested in eels [15]. Thus, for most fish, there is little chance of overdosing. However, aquarium shrimp or loaches are apparently sensitive to this drug at doses greater than 2 ppm [16]. And higher doses may be unnecessary.

Do not mix the drug with food and feed fish directly, as it may kill fish in high concentration (food with high level of drug may create high level in fish gut). Eel fish LD-50 is 250 ppm.

It's 2ppm to 13ppm according to (https://dianawalstad.files.wordpress.com/2017/12/camallanusarticle4.pdf)

The LD-50 (the lethal dose of a compound for 50% of animals exposed) of levamisole for Eel fish (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00539579) is 250 mg/l per 24 hours. This level of dosage is much higher than that which is prescribed for use in a freshwater bath (the method used in our fish tanks). Only extreme overdosing with this medication will result in death to your fish. Few accounts of adverse side effects in aquaria have been noted even with much higher than currently accepted appropriate dosing.

Now that we have covered the medications and dosages it’s time to discuss the best plan of action while using these.
It is best to dose the tank on a day when you will be around. From the time you add the treatment it can take less than 6 hours for the worms to start being excreted from the fish. During this time you need to keep a vigilant watch on them. This is because both the above medications paralise the worms, forcing them to release their hold on the intestinal walls and then be passed out of the body. It does not kill them. They then fall to the bottom of the tank, and will become food if they are not syphoned out of the tank, then continuing the cycle.

This parasite can be spread in droplets of water by using the same nets, siphon, etc. from the infected tank. If you have multiple tanks it would be prudent to treat all of the tanks if you use same nets, etc.

Camallanus worms have developed immunities to common wormers on the market which have reduced effectiveness or do not work at all. Callamanus worms are reportedly immune to PrazI medication, Praziquantel powder, Droncit (Prazi), Prazipro, Trichlorfon, Metronidazole, (& possibly fenbendizole)etc.

 

I recently treated Camallanus Worms successfully with levamisole. Members in this forum provided invaluable information. Thank you all!

_______ levamisole or fenbendazole? _______
I used levamisole because fenbendazole is usually consumed by the fish in food and if the fish are stressed then they may not eat so then the camallanus worms would not be wiped out.

Thanks for all the info!

Because most of the fish are still eating I do have one concern: You said that you vacuumed the tank 3 days after treatment but I’m concerned that I will have to interrupt the treatment (instead of waiting 24 hours) to vacuum the tank And remove the worms because of how readily the fish are eating. However, because the worms will still be paralyzed I wonder if they’ll just be passed out again?

 

Thanks for all the info!

Because most of the fish are still eating I do have one concern: You said that you vacuumed the tank 3 days after treatment but I’m concerned that I will have to interrupt the treatment (instead of waiting 24 hours) to vacuum the tank And remove the worms because of how readily the fish are eating. However, because the worms will still be paralyzed I wonder if they’ll just be passed out again?

Not sure if the fish ate the paralyzed worms, but I treated the tanks again in 2 weeks. Didn't see the worms ever again.

 

Not sure if the fish ate the paralyzed worms, but I treated the tanks again in 2 weeks. Didn't see the worms ever again.

Ok, I’ll do that then.

 

Update: treated the tank, I saw a huge reduction in worms and for the first day after treatment they all were gone. Now I’m seeing 1-2 on my angelfish. I think I’m going to quarantine it so I can do a longer treatment and monitor it more without harming the plants, plus that’ll remove some of the adult worms. After that I’m going to wait 3 days and treat the 40 gallon again because it seems like I didn’t get all the adult worms. Then I’ll repeat in 2 weeks. Does this sound ok??

 

Sounds like a good plan!

If the angelfish reacts well to the drug, you could raise the concentration to 13ppm, if not yet.

 

Sounds like a good plan!

If the angelfish reacts well to the drug, you could raise the concentration to 13ppm, if not yet.

Speaking of the angelfish, the worms actually disappeared before I moved it so right now it’s still in the tank. I never added carbon to the tank and only did a 50% water change after treatment Because I was almost out of dechlorinator. So I wonder if the treatment is still going? I’m going to do another water change and then add carbon to remove the remaining meds.

If I see any more worms then I’ll raise the concentration (because the fish reacted well and even ate during treatment) and quarantine the fish that have the worst infections.

 

UPDATE: good news is I managed to kill off all the visible worms in the 40 gallon and I’m going to redose in a week. Unfortunately I also infected my 10 gallon, 20 gallon, and possibly 55 gallon. I finished the first dose for the 10 gallon a few days ago but I still see some worms. Is that normal or should I redose in a few days? I plan to treat the 20 gallon today and I’m going to monitor the 55 gallon to see if it’s been infected.

 

From my own experience, all my tanks had to be treated since some tools were shared, and redosing was safe in 2 weeks.

 

Greengirl87’s question has been moved
camallanus worms? | Freshwater Fish Disease and Fish Health Forum | 475939

 

Well, The fish seem to have ich. Fortunately I have an adjustable heater and only two tanks are infected, with barely any fish having any spots. I’m thinking I’ll finish up the levamisole treatment and then I’ll treat them for ich.

I’m wondering if the heat will speed up the lifespan of the worms? Also, because I quarantined one of my pregnant female endlers who still had worms she ended up becoming infected with ich, and unfortunately I have a feeling the fry did too.

Because The fry are so small and weak I’m not sure how to treat them. Would it be best to treat them for the worms first and then treat them for ich afterwards? The adult female only had one spot and none of the fry have any so far so I feel like I have some time.

 

With the endlers I'd try salt and heat. That's usually enough to knock out ich and livebearers actually like some salt so it shouldn't hurt the fry.

 

Well, thankfully it turns out I was wrong about the ich. I’ve managed to eradicate almost all the worms except in the 20 gallon. For that tank I’m doing a levamisole and fish bendazole combo to kill all the worms. Normally I wouldn’t use both but it’s causing some fish to be really stressed and I’m afraid of cross contamination. I plan on only doing it for 24 hours but I’ll both be feeding the fish bendazole and adding the levamisole to the water. Hopefully I’ll be able to wipe out all the remaining worms.

 

I just went to check on the fish and All the worms are gone! I guess the combination did work, and very quickly too. I’ll be moving everyone in the 20g to the 40g today, but now I don’t need to worry about any more worms being spread via Fish.

 

I just went to check on the fish and All the worms are gone! I guess the combination did work, and very quickly too. I’ll be moving everyone in the 20g to the 40g today, but now I don’t need to worry about any more worms being spread via Fish.

How can you tell the worms are gone? Just curious as when I was using levamisole I had no way of telling except for the worms I siphoned out.

 

How can you tell the worms are gone? Just curious as when I was using levamisole I had no way of telling except for the worms I siphoned out.

I could still see a few worms sticking out of the fish. I think a few were resistant to the levamisole so that’s why they didn’t die during the first and second treatments. Now though I can’t find any worms so I’m thinking all of them are out of the fish. There’s probably more in the substrate but I’m draining the tank and replacing the substrate so that shouldn’t be an issue.

 

Hey hope your problem with the worms is over, my tank somehow got them as well and I was told to use Fenbandazole as it kills the worms inside, I’ve mixed it with some food and used garlic to disguise the taste so hopefully it’ll work

 

Hey hope your problem with the worms is over, my tank somehow got them as well and I was told to use Fenbandazole as it kills the worms inside, I’ve mixed it with some food and used garlic to disguise the taste so hopefully it’ll work

Pretty sure it is, but I know of a couple ways I might’ve accidentally reinfected the tanks I treated. I’m not going to treat the tanks again with levamisole because my vals have FINALLY recovered and started growing again, but I’m gonna use fenbendazole in the fish food just to be certain there’s no worms left.

I might treat my 20g with levamisole though, since it’s a hardscape only cichlid tank. The 20g was the only tank I didn’t ever treat, and while I think the fish in there never were infected, I’m not certain so if the other tanks were reinfected it was probably from that tank (although no adult worms are visible and by now they should be, I think.)

 

Soaking isn't a reliable way to medicate food. Sometimes it works but I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't. Since the medication is on the surface it tends to wash off or the fish can taste it and refuse to eat.

The medicated flakes usually don't tell you the dosage and they've been known to fail as well.

I like to make medicated food out of commercial gel food (Mazuri). I make sure I know the purity of the drug and weigh everything. The medication is evenly distributed throughout the food and locked in once the gelatin sets.

Even if you do everything right, treating worms is hit and miss so it may require repeat or different treatments.

I’ve made medicated repashy gel before using safeguard dog dewormer(fenbendazole). I followed a recipe that was using fishbendazole. The safeguard is only 22% fenbendazole though. How many milligrams of fenbendazole should I use?

 

I’ve made medicated repashy gel before using safeguard dog dewormer(fenbendazole). I followed a recipe that was using fishbendazole. The safeguard is only 22% fenbendazole though. How many milligrams of fenbendazole should I use?

0.025 g pure fenbendazole per kg food.

22.2% purity means 11.26 mg per 100 g food.

 

You can use fenbendazole capsules or solutions as prevention or deworming for your fish and animals.