Can Melafix cure Callamanus Worms?

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Discuss all topics related to freshwater and planted tanks.


liam1995
 
Posts: 51
Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2010 2:33 am

Can Melafix cure Callamanus Worms?

by liam1995

Hi guys. My large angel fish has these red barbs hanging from his anus. Looked it up, I think they are Callamanus worms. Any one had experience with them? What do they do? They can't be a very effective parasite if they eventually kill the host! Does Melafix kill them? If not, what? I am in Australia so no American cures please.

Cheers guys.

Liam


Okiimiru
 
Posts: 275
Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:19 pm

Re: Can Melafix cure Callamanus Worms?

by Okiimiru

"They can't be a very effective parasite if they eventually kill the host!" This is true. Camallanus worm can infect a large number of fish species. So it can afford to kill its host because it just finds a new one. It's the in-species pathogens that have to stay inside one species that have to not kill them. Or, if it does kill them, it's super infections and quickly moves on to new hosts. Like smallpox, whose only reservoir is humans. It kills humans, which means it has to infect new ones quickly. If you read Richard Preston's "Demon in the Freezer" there's a story in there about one man who, in quarantine in a hospital, infected something like 20 other people with smallpox. While in quarantine. Smallpox is super, super infectious, so it can afford to be virulent. Camallanus infects a large number of fish species, so if one dies meh, it's busy already infecting another.

When my fish had camallanus worm I separated them into two different tanks. One with, one without. That was really the best thing I did to stop new infections.
If you're interested in using medications, Levamisole hydrochloride might be the best option. It's a farm animal dewormer. Here's dosage information: http://inkmkr.com/Fish/CamellanusTreatment.pdf


Alasse
 
Posts: 993
Joined: Sun May 09, 2010 5:35 am
Location: QLD Australia

Re: Can Melafix cure Callamanus Worms?

by Alasse

I am Australian. I had the below recommended to me, not that i had or have callamanus worms in any of my fish, but they are prevalent around here and i wanted to treat in quarantine any new fish

Sykes Big-L Pig and Poultry Wormer @ around $28 for 500 ml

Dosage rate is 1ml per 7 litres of water.
Before treatment it is best to remove all the substrate and treat with a bare bottom tank so you can see the expelled worms as they MUST be removed immediately otherwise the fish will eat them and treatment will be ineffective.
So start off removing all substrate and rocks ect in the tank,do a 40% waterchange and then dose the tank with Big-L at 1ml per 7 litres of total water volume.
After about 2 hours you will begin to see the red worms on the bottom of the tank.
Suck them out immediately with a length of airline hose or some other hose.
They will continue to drop out for about 2 days so keep a close eye on them.
I generally leave the medication in the tank for at least 5 days and then give the tank another water change.
You will have to repeat the process every 2 weeks for at least 3-4 times as you need to remove any that hatch in the next egg cycle.
Also make sure you remove any carbon or purigen from the tank if you are using any.
It is also best to feed the fish before and during treatment as many times as possible but only small feeds at a time as they need to be passing food to help pass the worms much easier.


liam1995
 
Posts: 51
Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2010 2:33 am

Re: Can Melafix cure Callamanus Worms?

by liam1995

Hmmmmmmmm..... Interesting. Alasse could I set up a new small tank with water from the old tank and put the angel fish in that? That Skye's poultry wormer is looking pretty good. I lost a dwarf gourami last night and he was a bit swollen, no red worms though. Is it vital that you leave it in for 5 days?

Liam


Okiimiru
 
Posts: 275
Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:19 pm

Re: Can Melafix cure Callamanus Worms?

by Okiimiru

Alasse, the active ingredient of the Sykes Wormer is levamisole hydrochloride. According to http://www.sykes.net.au/sykes/bigwormpoultrypigs.htm it's at the concentration of 16g/Kg, which according to http://forum.backyardpoultry.com/viewto ... 85&start=0 is 14g/L. So with a 500 mL bottle that's 7 grams in the bottle if the forum's calculation is correct. Seven grams of levamisole HCl might be less expensive if purchased as levamisole HCl powder and not as a liquid; you could comparison shop and find out.

"could I set up a new small tank with water from the old tank"
Don't bother to move water from one tank to another. The beneficial nitrosomonas and nitrospira bacteria that convert ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate live on surface area, not floating in the water column. The bacteria are on the surfaces that water flows over. For example if you have a sponge in your filter that water gets pushed through, there's probably a whole bunch of them living in that sponge. Move the filter from their old tank to their new tank without letting it dry out.

And you don't have to use a barebottom tank anyway. If you would read the pdf http://www.inkmkr.com/Fish/CamellanusTreatment.pdf I linked to in my first post, there was the letter:

“Hi, Charles,
Here as promised is the recipe for Camallanus treatment.
1. Add 1.5 milliliter per 7.5 liter of 7.5% Levacide (levamisole hydrochloride) to each tanks to be treated.
Mix the drug in a liter of water before pouring over the tank surface. If you obtain another strength of the drug (e.g. 1.5%, 3%) then just adjust dosage as required. For 1.5% add 1 ml in 1.5l of tank water.
2. After 24 hours perform 100% (as much as possible) water change whilst vacuuming the gravel. The water change is not required due to toxicity but to remove the possibility any offspring in the gravel.
3. No further treatments should be necessary. Good luck and please let me know how you get on. Feel free to pass this information to whoever you like.
Regards, Ken L”


Alasse
 
Posts: 993
Joined: Sun May 09, 2010 5:35 am
Location: QLD Australia

Re: Can Melafix cure Callamanus Worms?

by Alasse

I'll disagree....A bare bottomed tank is by far the best option. The worms have to be removed as quickly as possible as some are stunned not killed by the treatment, definately easier to see and remove from a bare bottomed tank. Substrate is unecessary and can allow some worms to hide and then reinfect.

Just buy the Sykes...it is availble in Australia and really are you going to argue over the price of something that can save the fishés lives.....The larger amount also will permit you to treat, for the required time, any new incoming fish in quarantine prior to going into your main tank.

If the fish were mine. I would be setting up another tank, transferring the filter/heater/fish only and treating. In the meantime i would be pulling down the main tank and totalling steralizing it

Liam - it is very vital that the treatment is done thoroughly and over the time required

Can Melafix cure Callamanus Worms?

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