Camallanus Worms will NOT STOP!!!

[mushroom_luca]

Hi all, I'm new here.

I recently got back into the hobby after I took my tanks down a few years ago due to this very same parasite. They wiped out both my Endler tanks and didn't respond well to the Levamisole I ordered from the internet, although my dosing was imprecise. 

At the beginning of this year, I set up a new tank with completely new equipment in order to avoid contamination, and I was eager to start again without this horrible worm. I have a pair of swamp guppies (Macropoecilia picta) and about 30 fry, along with ramshorn snails in a planted tank. They came in with typical "livebearer disease" type stringy poop, and when 3 rounds of General Cure did not solve the issue, I moved on to Expel-P. I just dosed with my fourth Expel-P treatment yesterday, and I haven't changed the water yet, but my adult male definitely has a redworm hanging off him now.

Should I remove the plants and substrate for easier vacuuming of waste? If so, do I need to throw them out and restart my planted tank? Why do the  roundworms seem not to respond to Levamisole in my tanks, years ago or now?

I am kind of at wit's end and like many other fishkeeping topics, there is a lot of conflicting information about this on the internet. I hope somebody here can help me with this, I really don't want to have to take down my tank because of Camallanus again, especially not now that I've got these cool livebearers.

[Odd Duck]

A worm hanging off may mean that he is expelling them.  What was your timing on the treatments?  Have you tried mixing the Expel-P with Repashy so you’re feeding it instead of putting it in the water?  That’s your best bet for being effective.

[Torrey]

@mushroom_luca I think you will find Odd Duck and Colu incredibly helpful in dealing with parasites and other illnesses. I second Odd Duck: my fish have suffered zero losses ever since I learned the Repashy trick in here. 

I do recommend making Repashy on a day you can open windows, and Guppysnail has the best tips to get it to set well. Let's just say... Repashy is, um, quite aromatic...

[mushroom_luca]

On 4/1/2022 at 1:40 PM, Odd Duck said:

A worm hanging off may mean that he is expelling them.  What was your timing on the treatments?  Have you tried mixing the Expel-P with Repashy so you’re feeding it instead of putting it in the water?  That’s your best bet for being effective.

I've been dosing once a week and then water changing after 24 hours, and this is my third week doing so as of today. I will try the medicated Repashy trick, should I wait to do so or should I do it immediately since they are clearly still infected with adults?

[Colu]

If levamisole doesn't work you can treat with fenbendazole in food  he's a couple of medication containing fenbendazole you can also use panacur c as it contains fenbendazole

[Odd Duck]

On 4/1/2022 at 7:54 PM, mushroom_luca said:

I've been dosing once a week and then water changing after 24 hours, and this is my third week doing so as of today. I will try the medicated Repashy trick, should I wait to do so or should I do it immediately since they are clearly still infected with adults?

All intestinal parasites have differing life stages, which is why we need to do repeated doses.  Certain stages in the parasite life cycle are vulnerable to treatment and some are not.  Repeated doses let’s us treat the more vulnerable stages as the less vulnerable stages proceed through their life cycle to a more vulnerable stage.  The parasites tend to mature in waves and we try to hit each wave.  Many of the dewormers cause partial to full paralysis of the worms so they can be expelled by normal movement of the GI tract.  This is why it’s important to vacuum the bottom after each treatment.  Sometimes they are even digested after paralysis, so you may, or may not see them expelled.

I would do another repeat dose of levamisole (the Expel-P), but adding fenbendazole is also a pretty decent idea from @Colu.  I would wait at least 48 hours after the levamisole.

[mushroom_luca]

Awesome, much thanks to you both @Colu

[mushroom_luca]

@Colu@Odd Duck The treated food didn't seem to have any effect, the male still has the same worm and is now laying on the substrate. I will move on to Fenbendazole, but I can't seem to find information on how to dose the stuff.

[Colu]

He's a medicated food recipe for fenbendazole what type of medication did you get was it panacur c or one of the other medications I mentioned he how @Odd Duckdose panacur c 

Edited April 7, 2022 by Colu