Tropical Fish Forum

Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => The Emergency Room => Topic started by: Matt on March 10, 2019, 08:24:20 PM

Title: Female Goldeneye with Camallanus Worms
Post by: Matt on March 10, 2019, 08:24:20 PM
I discovered today that my female goldeneye has Camallanus Worms  :'(

I took apart the entire tank to catch her and have set up a hospital tank for her with AquaCare Anti-Fluke & Wormer medication. Active ingredient is Flubendazole. Her gut was quite swollen and there were probably 4 ish visible worms.

I'm fairly happy that I'm doing all I can for her but also open to any thoughts??  I do want to understand people's thoughts on whether the main tank is now infected and what I should be doing (bearing in mind it has shrimp)?
Title: Re: Female Goldeneye with Camallanus Worms
Post by: Sue on March 10, 2019, 08:39:43 PM
The whole tank will be infected. The worms which we see protruding from the anus are the female worms laying eggs into the water. Fish either eat the eggs and get infected or they eat the larvae that hatch from the eggs, and get infected. If you've seen worms, there will be eggs.
Most treatments say to dose twice, the first time kills the worms inside the fish, and any larvae in the tank but not the eggs. The second dose is after the eggs have hatched but soon enough so that the eggs and larvae that the fish have eaten have not yet matured enough to lay eggs of their own.
Shrimps are the problem. The safest thing would be to catch as many as you can and transfer them to the hospital tank for the duration. Yes, you will miss a lot, but the ones that are in the hospital tank will soon reproduce. Any worm eggs you transfer will hatch but as there will be no fish in there, only shrimps, the larvae will die off without a host.


The best med for camallanus worms is levamisole - eSHa-ndx





My fish had camallaus worms a few years ago, including Nanacara anomala. I used Kusuri Wormer Plus which did not work, then Sera Nematol which did. If eSHa-ndx had been available then I would have used that instead.
Title: Re: Female Goldeneye with Camallanus Worms
Post by: Littlefish on March 10, 2019, 08:46:01 PM
Sorry to hear about your camallus problem.

If you had to take the main tank apart to catch the fish, you might as well catch the shrimp and swap them with the infected fish in your hospital tank, so you can treat the main tank.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you and your gang. I hope that the treatment works quickly and I wish your fish a speedy recovery.
Title: Re: Female Goldeneye with Camallanus Worms
Post by: Hampalong on March 10, 2019, 08:46:42 PM
It can spread through fish eating poop that contains larvae. Hard to say whether your fish have eaten poop or not...

Fishlopaedia (Bailey and Burgess) states that Flubendazole is used for flukes and tapeworms. I’ve always used Sterazin for Camallanus so cant really comment on that. Never kept shrimp much either.
Title: Re: Female Goldeneye with Camallanus Worms
Post by: Matt on March 10, 2019, 08:52:48 PM
oh dear... so wrong med and the rest of the fish are likely infected...

is it worth me sticking with my current plan for a few days or should I just start again...?

Are corys and gouramis ok with these meds?
Title: Re: Female Goldeneye with Camallanus Worms
Post by: Sue on March 10, 2019, 09:03:03 PM
eSHa's website does not have the leaflet available so I can't check on whether gouramis and cories would be OK. Gouramis should be - it's aromatic things that interfere with the labyrinth organ you need to avoid. As for cories, if you could find a shop that sells it and peek a look at the leaflet inside the box, that would say if it's OK for scaleless fish or not.

Title: Re: Female Goldeneye with Camallanus Worms
Post by: Littlefish on March 10, 2019, 09:33:27 PM
Is this is? https://www.fisutar.fi/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Bijsluiter-GB-eSHa-ndx-15H14.pdf
Title: Re: Female Goldeneye with Camallanus Worms
Post by: Littlefish on March 10, 2019, 09:40:33 PM
I just remembered that I had some ndx in the cupboard, so I had a look at the packaging & the leaflet.
It doesn't say that it is not suitable for any fish, and the pictures on the box indicate that it will not harm shrimp either.
Title: Re: Female Goldeneye with Camallanus Worms
Post by: Sue on March 10, 2019, 09:41:35 PM
I see that it says "we did not observe any negative effects on crustaceans" ie shrimps, but molluscs (snails) seem to be a different matter. And it is "well tolerated" by ornamental fish.
Title: Re: Female Goldeneye with Camallanus Worms
Post by: Hampalong on March 10, 2019, 11:59:52 PM
I don’t know if Flubendazol is the wrong product, just that Camallanus (nematode worms) weren’t mentioned under it in that book. The book cites Fenbendazole and Piperazine (Sterazin) as being effective treatments for Camallanus. Levamisole is also mentioned but has a limited effect on their eggs.
Title: Re: Female Goldeneye with Camallanus Worms
Post by: Rustle on March 11, 2019, 05:42:44 AM
Hi Matt there is not much i can add to this forum normally as i have only been in the game for about 18 months now. I can tell you tho i have also had these blighters and managed to get rid of them and successfully save all the fish at the time. I used Esha Ndx to get rid of them, I have honey gouramis and corys along with assassin snails and tangerine tiger shrimp at the time, I can tell you they all survived as far as i knew.

The only thing i found was the snails did't like the med and made their way towards the the top of the tank on the glass.

All i did was follow the instructions and i think i dosed again a week or so later to kill off any larvae but that's all in the instructions.
Title: Re: Female Goldeneye with Camallanus Worms
Post by: Littlefish on March 11, 2019, 08:42:39 AM
Glad to hear that all of your gang were ok with the treatment @Rustle , including gouramis, corys, and shrimp. It's very comforting for us hear first hand experience of success prior to using a new treatment, especially where specific fish or shrimp are concerned. Thanks for the information.  :cheers:
Title: Re: Female Goldeneye with Camallanus Worms
Post by: Matt on March 11, 2019, 09:35:31 PM
Thanks all for your help... I was too late back from work and too early to leave to check on her properly but she is ok in the hospital tank. I've dropped a small bit of sinking food in to see if she is interested in this overnight. I have some esha ndx arriving later in the week and will treat the main tank with it and her too if there have been no improvements. I managed to catch the nerite snail and move it to the shrimp tank earlier. I have pest snails and MTS which im not concerned about to be honest (apart from a potential  ammonia spike IF there are any losses). I'm hoping the assassin snails and shrimp are ok as per Rustles experience.

Will the wood I put in the hospital tank have soaked up the medication (the current one which is harmful to shrimp)? Should I soak it in water after all this is over to remove it again?
Title: Re: Female Goldeneye with Camallanus Worms
Post by: Matt on March 11, 2019, 09:53:39 PM
Just to add quickly that I've added to this post that Rustle had success with esha-ndx  :cheers:

https://forums.thinkfish.co.uk/fish-medicines/medicines-for-treating-different-conditions/msg35552/#msg35552 (https://forums.thinkfish.co.uk/fish-medicines/medicines-for-treating-different-conditions/msg35552/#msg35552)
Title: Re: Female Goldeneye with Camallanus Worms
Post by: Rustle on March 12, 2019, 06:01:29 AM
you're welcome littlefish & matt, I forgot to mention after the treatment i ran carbon to remove the meds then treated with esha 2000 to clear up any bacteria infection. I read these worms can damage the intestinal wall and cause infection' but i think you will already know this.
Title: Re: Female Goldeneye with Camallanus Worms
Post by: Sue on March 12, 2019, 08:59:08 AM
I ran several batches of carbon, then Polyfilter - that's the media that used to be made by Underworld and is now made by Arcadia and removes all sorts of things from the water. It's expensive which is why I used cheap carbon to remove as much as possible first. https://www.completeaquatics.co.uk/underworld-polyfilter-standard-size
Title: Re: Female Goldeneye with Camallanus Worms
Post by: Hampalong on March 12, 2019, 09:53:21 PM
I ran several batches of carbon, then Polyfilter - that's the media that used to be made by Underworld and is now made by Arcadia and removes all sorts of things from the water. It's expensive which is why I used cheap carbon to remove as much as possible first. https://www.completeaquatics.co.uk/underworld-polyfilter-standard-size

Expensive but Priceless. I use it all the time before any water goes near a tank.
Title: Re: Female Goldeneye with Camallanus Worms
Post by: Matt on March 16, 2019, 08:10:07 PM
Quick update... The fish has eaten a couple of times. But didn't really look any better following treatment, so I did a lot of water changes and switched her over the the esha-ndx. I did the 50% water change after 24 hours as per the instructions earlier on today. I've let her settle in for the night and will take a look at her tomorrow properly. I'm hopeful that her 'rear' will be looking a lot healthier!! I put a couple of caves in there which she has been using so getting a clear look is not easy!!
Title: Re: Female Goldeneye with Camallanus Worms
Post by: Littlefish on March 17, 2019, 09:19:59 AM
Glad to hear that she has eaten, and best of luck with the new meds.
Title: Re: Female Goldeneye with Camallanus Worms
Post by: Rustle on March 19, 2019, 05:15:29 AM
Good luck matt i hope it all turns out well.
Title: Re: Female Goldeneye with Camallanus Worms
Post by: Matt on March 19, 2019, 07:15:57 AM
It says to treat 14 days later for the eggs, if these are on the bottom of the hospital tank, can I not simply return her?
Title: Re: Female Goldeneye with Camallanus Worms
Post by: Sue on March 19, 2019, 02:27:50 PM
These worms lay eggs which cannot be killed by any meds. The problems is, did the worms lay any eggs in the main tank before you moved her. If they did, you'll have to treat the main tank anyway as the rest of the fish will have eaten these eggs. Just because this one fish shows signs does not mean the other fish are already infected. And if the other fish are infected, their worms will start laying eggs which will re-infect the goldeneye.

I would treat both the main tank with the full dose regime, and treat the hospital tank with the second dose as per instructions, though with no fish in the hospital tank once the eggs hatch the worm larvae should die reasonably quickly.

Title: Re: Female Goldeneye with Camallanus Worms
Post by: Matt on March 19, 2019, 07:02:19 PM
Thanks @Sue. Is the second dose to kill what's in the substrate/tank, is the fish itself 'clear' in theory?
Title: Re: Female Goldeneye with Camallanus Worms
Post by: Sue on March 19, 2019, 07:39:56 PM
The first dose kills the worms inside the fish. But the worms will have already laid eggs which can't be killed. The fish eat those eggs, which hatch inside the fish, or they eat the larvae that hatch from eggs in the water (I read somewhere that the larvae wriggle around to temp the fish to eat them), and the fish get infected again. It takes a short time for the new infestation to mature enough to lay their own eggs, and the second dose kills the second infestation before they have chance to mature. And it kills any larvae in the water that were eggs when when the first dose was added.
Title: Re: Female Goldeneye with Camallanus Worms
Post by: Matt on March 19, 2019, 08:48:54 PM
Brilliant explanation thanks @Sue

I added a comma to your reply for additional clarity in the third sentence between eggs and which - let me know if I've misunderstood things?

She looked so much better today... much less swollen abdomen and I think she had eaten again. I am getting better at spotting and treating issues... quite proud of myself really. This is the second time I've spotted an issue and saved the fish through medication. First time round was the gcomet goldfish when first introduced to the pond, once developed a fungal infection. Though this time round I have definately learnt to research the medication. I panic bought on Sunday evening as my LFS was closing. The first med was not right.

Just wondering how these worms get introduced to an aquarium as I've not added any fish for yonks... maybe through frozen food? Off to do some research...
Title: Re: Female Goldeneye with Camallanus Worms
Post by: Rustle on March 20, 2019, 04:34:37 AM
That's great news matt' that the fish is doing well, It's a great sense of achievement when you actually spot something is wrong and save the fish. I have lost a few but saved some as well in the past from all different ailments including dropsy and when it works it's a great feeling.  :cheers:

Did you happen to see all the dead worms in the bottom of the hospital tank ? i remember how long and how many there were and i can't imagine how that fish was feeling with them inside them like that.
Title: Re: Female Goldeneye with Camallanus Worms
Post by: Matt on March 20, 2019, 06:01:59 AM
No I didn't see them on the bottom to be honest... I can only assume she ate them again... though now harmless to her  :sick:
Title: Re: Female Goldeneye with Camallanus Worms
Post by: Matt on March 30, 2019, 03:14:16 PM
I have returned her to the main tank. Sure enough I have since seen signs of worms in the Stiphodons. The while tank is undergoing treatment. Snails seem unaffected. Shrimp are ok but all a lot 'less hidey' than normal. The Amano shrimp didn't look all that great, 2 of 4 right up at the surface and so the three of them I could find have been moved temporarily to the dwarf puffer tank. As for the cherries, I stand no chance of catching them all so am just keeping a close eye on things for the time being. They only have about 5 more hours of treatment to go now.

I actually think I may have observed a dieing worm. It was sticking out of the stiphodon whilst it was sat on the front glass and so i got a good chance to observe it sort of pulsating along it's length. Like it was getting thicker/redder in waves across its body...
Title: Re: Female Goldeneye with Camallanus Worms
Post by: Littlefish on March 30, 2019, 07:28:44 PM
Fingers crossed that your shrimp are ok during the treatment.
As unpleasant as it sounds, it must have been fascinating to watch the worm coming out of the stiphodon during treatment. I probably would have spent some time watching that too.