Snails and medication against Camellanus

[raymond82]

Yesterday I noted that one of my fish is infected with Camellanus worms. I bought medicine and will treat the water, but it says it will kill my snails. If I remove the snails, can I return them to the tank later or will they be a potential source of infection again?

Thanks!

 

[Mike Wise]

Your snail are unlikely to be carriers of Camellanus. What kind of medication are you using?

 

[raymond82]

I used medication from a dutch brand called "Colombo", called Dactycid. Unfortunately, it doesn't specify the active ingredient but the description said it was meant for Camellanus treatment. Around 4 hours after I treated the aquarium I noticed that all the worms had disappeared from my macmasteri female, who had the worst infection. Now I'm hoping that it will also kill any larvae and/or eggs.

I removed whatever snail I could find but I'm sure there's some more in the aquarium, I'll have to wait and see how they handle it. I did read that small snails can handle treatment with this product so I'm hoping for the best.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
I wish you the best of luck, it is a horrible parasite. Flubenol kills snails, and wasn't effective, but Levamisole was excellent and didn't kill my snails.

There is an excellent article at "loaches on-line" <http://www.loaches.com/Members/shari2/levamisole-hydrochloride-1>

cheers Darrel

 

[raymond82]

Thanks Darrel, I checked again this morning and I didn't see any signs of worms anymore in the fish that had them before treatment so I'm optimistic. I thought I had lost one macmasteri female to the parasite cause I didn't see her for a while but she showed up again this morning.

This Levamisole HCl seems like a very good treatment, but yesterday I just rushed to the LFS and got one of these pricy medications. I sent the company that produces the medication an email to see if they are willing to share the active ingredient with me, I wouldn't be surprised if it is Levamisole HCl.

 

[raymond82]

Colombo just replied to me, I actually overlooked the ingredients of the medication. It contains Praziquantel and Levamisole as active ingredients.

I still have a question however: From what I understood the medication kills the worms which can then be excreted. However, there's one fish left with a worm protruding from her anus, suggesting that somehow she cannot pass it. What would be advisable to do now?

 

[Kaosu]

Hello...

new to this site but i have dealt with this parasite in guppies. I went to my local feed store and had them order me some Prohibit. it comes in 52g packs for about 20$ and it takes 5 grams to treat 100 gallons
here are the directions i used to clear out this nasty bug.

http://www.inkmkr.com/Fish/CamallanusTreatment/TreatmentProcedure.html

my snails and cherry shrimp came threw all the treatment perfectly, though some snails are sensitive to medications, they do not carry it so there is no point in treating them for something they do not have.

good luck..the key to treating this properly is the nearly 100% water changed between dosing.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

From what I understood the medication kills the worms which can then be excreted. However, there's one fish left with a worm protruding from her anus, suggesting that somehow she cannot pass it. What would be advisable to do now?

I'd probably try feeding some food with a chitonous exoskeleton, live Daphnia or (Adult Brine Shrimp?) would be good if you can get them. Other may be able to suggest dry foods that would do.

I think the problem with the Camallanus worms is that by the time you can see them they have often done severe damage to the fishes intestine (their heads embed in the intestine wall).

Cheers Darrel

 

[tjudy]

Prazi and Levamisole in one med? I like that... we do not have a commercially available source of levamisole in an aquarium product. We can get it from Charles Harrison (as well as flubendazole). I will be in Germany in May. This Colombo Dactycid is on the list... LOL

 

[tjudy]

Neither Prazi nor Levamisole should hurt a snail or crustacean. Prazi will not even hurt an annelid (we were testing it on some black worms recently).

 

[raymond82]

So far I'm happy with this medication, from all the fish that were visibly affected the worms are gone and they are much more active now. Unfortunately I did loose one of my Macmasteri females, she was breathing heavily yesterday with her mouth wide open so I separated her but I found her dead this morning. And the N. Anomala lost her fry but she has fry quite regularly (and looses it all the time too).

I'm only worried about one of my Panduro females, she doesn't seem to be able to pass the worm. I have been feeding her daphnia (frozen ones, live ones are hard to come by with these temperatures) for three days now and I'll keep doing that. I really hope she'll make it.

Even though the package mentioned that the product is harmful for snails, the snails that I left in the aquarium indeed do not seem to be affected.

The description mentioned I should do a 25% water change (which I did) and then filter over activated carbon (which I'm doing now). For how long should I filter over carbon?