The Puffer Forum

Yep, those worms that almost killed Annabelle, the famous fahaka. They're even worse in small fish, apparently, and I've just been informed that my DPs have been exposed. I recently was given an oto by a friend. He was in great health, and so were his tankmates. A few weeks later - yesterday - she told me that her angelfish has camallanus worms. Apparently, it can be dormant for up to six months, so it could be dormant in that oto, and now dormant in my other fish!

The good news: She's already special-ordered the SHEEP DEWORMER that is used to treat fish with this problem. It's hard to get ahold of in a hurry, so she's driving a couple hours to give me enough for two full treatments. They're not showing signs and they might not have it at all, but I'm going to do a preventative course anyway. If the first one doesn't do the trick, I'll have that second one.

My guys stand a good chance. They're small, but they're in good health, and they might not even have the worms. If they do, I'll get rid of them before they do any damage at all. The only way that anything could happen is if the female worms laid eggs in the fish before they leave its body and the eggs hatch after the medication course is over. That's where the second dose would come in. It's a very strong medicine and I'm worried about using it... But I think that NOT using it would be far riskier!

The treatment is unusual. You treat the water, then wait a few hours for them to start pooing out worms (if any). The worms will be paralyzed. You net them out and siphon the gravel thoroughly. Then you leave the meds in the water for three days. I don't remember all the details off the top of my head, but I'll keep you guys updated...

Wow...that stinks. Let's hope they didn't get exposed to the parasites! Poor babies I'm sure they'll be fine

Remember to quarantine a new fish before adding it to an established tank....It could save your fish and you alot of headache!

Holy heck, those things sound NASTY. Worms hatching inside little fishies... I shudder at the thought!

I haven't heard of them before - is it an internal parasite thing? Where they latch onto the intestines to devour the nutrients? Or is it more of a flesh-eating parasite, that starts on the fish's insides itself?

And about busybones' comment on quarantine... If this can lie dormant for up to 6 months, I don't think there's any way around it if the worm is dormant. That's a pretty scary thought.

Either way - BEST OF LUCK!!! Keep us updated, and I hope they're all okay with no wormies!

LOL, maybe you haven't read some of RTR's posts about some fish being in QT for years?

In some situations - especially when getting a mature or post-puberty fish in, the permanent (single-specimen) long-term or permanent home may also serve as the QT tank. It is also coded with red warning tape for an indefinite time, until I am comfortable that the specimen is full normal. In the case of one batch of young Cichlids that I got, I was suspicious that there not quite right. I raised them, allowed them to pair of and took a batch of eggs (substrate spawners), hatched and reared then separately with precautions, and only that F1 generation ever came out of red-tape tanks. That sort of thing soulns like overkill, but I did not take such (extreme?) measure I could lose valued fish. QT for those fish was almost 3 years.

ittybittyfishy wrote: And about busybones' comment on quarantine... If this can lie dormant for up to 6 months, I don't think there's any way around it if the worm is dormant. That's a pretty scary thought.
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True, but she would have found out that they were in contact with the worms before the month QT was up..Look up Annabelle in the past posts...these worms are horrible!

RTR isn't your average fish keeper, is he? lol This man means serious business.

busybones wrote:

ittybittyfishy wrote: And about busybones' comment on quarantine... If this can lie dormant for up to 6 months, I don't think there's any way around it if the worm is dormant. That's a pretty scary thought.
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True, but she would have found out that they were in contact with the worms before the month QT was up..Look up Annabelle in the past posts...these worms are horrible!

Maybe I should set up my old 10g as a quarantine sometime... I don't intend on keeping my abei with anyone, though. I don't want him munching on any potential buddies.

RTR isn't your average fish keeper, is he? lol This man means serious business.

Yes but he's had 50 years to get it right! Let's learn from him.

When I buy fish I usually intoduce them into a new empty cycled tank..but here recently I decided to set up a QT tank because I may be getting some new SAPs to add to one of my established tanks..It can really save you money...if one of the fish is sick you can treat a small 10 gallon tank and don't have to treat a bigger tank (and the rest of your fish) plus you can monitor them better in a smaller tank...

LGP, we really went out and did a ton of research on how to eliminate these guys in Annebelle, I actually still have the detail of the search somewhere and Lissa and I plan on writing that one up someday. What was done in that thread worked real well to rid her of the worms.

Oh, there is a great article on Q-tanks in this forum somewhere....

I quarantine for one week, but I skipped it because I know the girl who gave the fish to me and I trust her. Actually, she's a TPF user who adopted one of my bettas and found a home for another one.

It was of course stupid not to quarantine, but my usual one week would not have caught the problem. There are still no symptoms and there might have been none for months (assuming that they ever showed up). I didn't want to keep a social fish alone for months!

What ever happened to Lissa?

Pufferpunk wrote:What ever happened to Lissa?

I was thinking about her the other day, she has not bee around for ages! hope all is well with her and her puffers!

LilGreenPuffer wrote:I quarantine for one week, but I skipped it because I know the girl who gave the fish to me and I trust her. Actually, she's a TPF user who adopted one of my bettas and found a home for another one.

It was of course stupid not to quarantine, but my usual one week would not have caught the problem. There are still no symptoms and there might have been none for months (assuming that they ever showed up). I didn't want to keep a social fish alone for months!

Wow that's scary! I hope everyone learns that even a good healthy fish from a friend can carry an illness just the same as one from the LFS..I'm sure she had no idea that the fish were at risk either but i'm glad she caught it so you can be prepared and run the treatment ahead of time..

Pufferpunk wrote:What ever happened to Lissa?

I haven't spoken to her for the past few months, she suddenly dropped out of sight. I've sent a few e-mails and never got a reply. I'm going to try to get a hold of her again tonight.

Well, I've got the levamisole (in a glass jar in the fridge... apparently it's acidic and can wreck plastic! ), and I'm going to incorporate a substrate change/re-aquascaping into the whole thing. Here's the directions I got:

"Do as large of a water change as you can comfortably (I did a little over half). Once done, dose tank with 1 tbsp of solution per 10 gallons (and condition it before you put it in, don't forget). Stir it in some with a net or fingers or something. If anyone has worms, you WILL know in under an hour. If you SEE anyone pass one, try to net it or just wait until they have passed them all and then do a gravel vac, and try to avoid draining too much water (probably 0.5 gallon max). If you see no one pass anything, don't worry about it then. Just wait three days, do a really good gravel vac and another large WC (I did about 20 gals for my 29 gal tank). If you feel like you need to, repeat all this in three weeks. And remember to take out any carbon first! Oh! One more thing about dosing.. You might want to consider feeding them some about twenty minutes after you dose so their digestive systems are working and they can push anything out."

I'm going to begin with a water change and removing the gravel. I'll probably also remove a lot of the decorations (and keep them wet!) so I can observe everyone. Then I'll proceed with a bare-bottom tank. Where the directions say "wait three days, do a really good gravel vac," I'm going to change the substrate (flourite black sand) and plant the tank, plus do the water change and put a carbon sleeve in the filter. A few more days after that, my driftwood should be soaked and ready to add. I'm going to begin tomorrow... Wish me luck!