10 Gallon Tank Stubborn Camallanus Worms

I treated my qt tank for camallanus worms before using 100 mg/10 gallons of levamisole. The worms turned clear for a while before turning dark red again. I then upped the dosage a bit later to 500 mg/10 gallons, same thing, nothing is being passed, just clear then they get red again. Is this resistance and if so what do I do now? I can move my snails out into a bucket during treatment if I need to do fenbendazole but I can't find any medicated food.

 

I treated my qt tank for camallanus worms before using 100 mg/10 gallons of levamisole. The worms turned clear for a while before turning dark red again. I then upped the dosage a bit later to 500 mg/10 gallons, same thing, nothing is being passed, just clear then they get red again. Is this resistance and if so what do I do now? I can move my snails out into a bucket during treatment if I need to do fenbendazole but I can't find any medicated food.

Depending on where you live you may be able to order medicated foods from angelsplus. But I have used their foods on guppies and from what I could see it did not cure their camallanus worms. Levamisole is what did the trick for me. I do not remember the dosage through.

 

Depending on where you live you may be able to order medicated foods from angelsplus. But I have used their foods on guppies and from what I could see it did not cure their camallanus worms. Levamisole is what did the trick for me. I do not remember the dosage through.

I guess their fenbendazole flakes are worth a shot. If that doesn't work I'll need to do something like ivermectin.
I'm upset that I'll need to risk the lives of my snails in an unheated bucket for a few weeks but I need to figure out something that'll work against the worms in the event they got into my main tank.

 

I've dosed 2 PPM of levamisole hydrochloride several times without any ill effects on snails and shrimp. Have you read the article on loaches.com about levamisole? It's VERY thorough and provides a ton of great information.

 

I've dosed 2 PPM of levamisole hydrochloride several times without any ill effects on snails and shrimp. Have you read the article on loaches.com about levamisole? It's VERY thorough and provides a ton of great information.

I had no bad effects on snails and shrimp. The issue is 2 ppm and 10 ppm didn't kill the worms either.

 

Ah, I see. Levamisole isn't designed to kill the worms; it paralyzes them. That's part of why the thorough gravel vac and retreatment several weeks later are so important. Was it worms extruding from your fish that changed colour and then changed back?

 

Ah, I see. Levamisole isn't designed to kill the worms; it paralyzes them. That's part of why the thorough gravel vac and retreatment several weeks later are so important. Was it worms extruding from your fish that changed colour and then changed back?

no they never dropped from the fish. I was told by coralbandit the higher dose would kill the worms, I used 5x the usual dose of 2 ppm. But yes, the worms hanging out of the fish turned clear/white upon treatment then went back red several days later, and in this case I think some are red on the 3rd day levamisole has been in the water but they're super thin and my barbs are like 1 inch (2.5 cm long) darting around everywhere so tough to see.
If it just paralyzes, and I miss even one worm or a fish eats an excreted worm the cycle just repeats over and over and I'm stuck with them forever right? If that gets into any tank with plants it would be impossible to treat.
EDIT: nothing came off either time. The worm I can see in my barb is still clear but it's not always visible so I'm not sure what's up with that. Maybe it's dead and I overreacted maybe it's not. At any rate I have the fenbendazole flakes coming and the fish are all eating thus far so fingers crossed it works.

 

If they're still eating, there's hope! I almost quit the hobby when I lost >80% of my livestock to camallanus. Glad I pulled through but it SUCKED to deal with!

 

where did the Levamisole come from ?
Is it 100% ?

The lethal dose for treatment has been determined from studies with cattle. The weight of a steer or calf and the weight of water in aquariums were equated so I could weigh out the dosages for different amounts of water. I targeted 10 to 15 ppm as a standard dosage. That is 5 grams in 100 gallons of water(13.5 ppm). So I add 10 tablespoons of water in a glass and mix in the powder. Now each tablespoon of the solution will treat 10 gallons.

It takes about 36 hours to kill the adult Nematodes, less time to kill the smaller ones. The compound paralyzes the worm and this kills it. The eggs inside the large adult female worms don't die apparently from this dosage. So the adult worm dies and falls to the bottom of the tank to spill out the eggs days later. These hatch and produce infectious young in a few days. That is why the second treatment. It takes about 2 weeks for the small worms to get started again. So, treat a second time in 3 weeks.

The medication needs to remain in the water for 3 days (2 nights) No carbon filter, it takes the medication out. pH doesn't make any differences in the treatment. Light doesn't affect the drug at this level unless there is a UV sterilizer in the system. Undergravel filters are ok. Everything that stays wet needs to be treated to get rid of the Nematode and the residence time is at least 48 hours. 3 days is best. The drug can be dosed at twice the amount without harm to the fish. The dead Nematode is much more deadly to the host. The smaller the host the more the problems they have expelling the dead worms, large fish don't have near the problems.

That adds a lot of corrections to the questionable information around.
If after reading this you still need more information send me an email to: charles@inkmkr.com

I would contact Charles and see what he says and get the Levamisole HCI from him ..

 

where did the Levamisole come from ?
Is it 100% ?

The lethal dose for treatment has been determined from studies with cattle. The weight of a steer or calf and the weight of water in aquariums were equated so I could weigh out the dosages for different amounts of water. I targeted 10 to 15 ppm as a standard dosage. That is 5 grams in 100 gallons of water(13.5 ppm). So I add 10 tablespoons of water in a glass and mix in the powder. Now each tablespoon of the solution will treat 10 gallons.

It takes about 36 hours to kill the adult Nematodes, less time to kill the smaller ones. The compound paralyzes the worm and this kills it. The eggs inside the large adult female worms don't die apparently from this dosage. So the adult worm dies and falls to the bottom of the tank to spill out the eggs days later. These hatch and produce infectious young in a few days. That is why the second treatment. It takes about 2 weeks for the small worms to get started again. So, treat a second time in 3 weeks.

The medication needs to remain in the water for 3 days (2 nights) No carbon filter, it takes the medication out. pH doesn't make any differences in the treatment. Light doesn't affect the drug at this level unless there is a UV sterilizer in the system. Undergravel filters are ok. Everything that stays wet needs to be treated to get rid of the Nematode and the residence time is at least 48 hours. 3 days is best. The drug can be dosed at twice the amount without harm to the fish. The dead Nematode is much more deadly to the host. The smaller the host the more the problems they have expelling the dead worms, large fish don't have near the problems.

That adds a lot of corrections to the questionable information around.
If after reading this you still need more information send me an email to: charles@inkmkr.com

I would contact Charles and see what he says and get the Levamisole HCI from him ..

I use the Fritz expel p, I upped the dosage and tried again because the last 500 mg did absolutely nothing to stop the infestation. Hoping Fenbendazole works but I'll try to get some more levamisole, although I'm really thinking it's resistance to the drug.