DougAdel

Thanks for the support everyone. She passed this evening. I think tomorrow I will do the substrate boil. I might even get new substrate. Does anyone know where to get eco complete in Edmonton? Jay, what are your thoughts on FENbenzadole? I've read about it, but it seems a little more dangerous for the fish...

Sorry. Double post.

Things have finally come to a head today. Olivia appears to be on her last legs. I found her squirming on the bottom of the tank this morning. She can't even swim without flopping side to side. I'm guessing the worms inside her have caused a major infection. She's in quarantine now. The original tank also contained a dead platy this morning. I thought I had beaten cammallanus, but out of curiosity I did a little fish autopsy only to find more worms than fish insides. I followed the directions. Symptoms went away and retreatments were done. Are my tanks too far gone? Should I tear down, sterilize and start over?

No, I never saw the worms get pooped out. The Angelfish in the main tank is where I noticed them first while the Ram was still in there. It was treated with Levamisole and the red threads protruding from the Angelfish vanished. The main tank was a gravel bottom though so they could have been passed and vacuumed up. I have never seen any of my other fish display the same red worms protruding out the anus like the Angelfish though. I know this doesn't mean much as they spread quickly, but I haven't had a recurrence of the worms with the main tank after the treatments. What would you consider a "wide spectrum" antibiotic? I have some kanaplex left after a swim bladder problem with a platy. Or do you mean products like StressGuard?

Well neither the flubendazole or levamisole treatments seemed to have any affect on Olivia (although the cories are back to their usual ways). I moved the tetras to the main tank as I thought maybe there was too much activity in the 20gal for her. I got a dimmer light thinking she might be too stressed by that. I gradually increased the temperature (80 degrees) for a little bit hoping to stimulate her appetite, but it seemingly had no effect. I dropped it back down after (77). After the medication treatments I now do twice a week pwcs to keep nitrates under 10 She still sits in the back under her anubias with her sunken belly and stress colours. I think I've done everything I can and perhaps it's just time to wait it out to see if she decides to get better on her own. Big thanks to everyone who chimed in with their help and suggestions and a big thanks to Jayba who sent the flubendazole my way.

Yeah, that could be the case. I guess with all the issues I've been having I'm feeling a little defeated

The substrate is black sand.

I'm getting to the end of my rope with this tank... I have no idea what's wrong. A couple days ago I came home from work and the ram was showing very stressful colours and the peppered cories were almost black. I checked the water parameters and everything was coming up 0. I did a 30% water change anyways. I got the flubendazole in the mail on Thursday and treated the tank. Olivia's colours have gotten better, but she still isn't eating and the cories are very inactive and not eating either. The black phantoms seem normal. Could the overactive cories have been stressing Olivia out? Now that they're docile she seems better. What could be happening with the cories? They were healthy and happy a few days ago and now this. Their barbels are still healthy looking and the water conditions are perfect (aside from the flubendazole, but I added that after the cories started showing signs of illness and thought it could help...)

Well what I had thought to be a sunken stomach seems to have gone away. She just must not want me to see her eat. She's currently frolicking with the cories...

As someone who has suffered through these parasites I really want to blame the LFS I believe they came from and I think that all LFS should be doing their part to stop the spread, but as many have mentioned it comes down to the business aspect. And who knows perhaps these particular places Jayba has researched are doing all they can to prevent the spread, but callamanus are very tricky (I may STILL be dealing with them).

Yeah, I had just taken the advice from the guy I wish I had done a little more research though. No ill effects, but I think I just watched $6 fizz away in to the tank. I messaged Jayba about it, but he never got back to me. I figure he's busy or something and I don't want to pester him or be a nuisance.

I'd be way too tempted to take a dip with the rays every morning haha

Update. A closer look at the Bolivian and she appeared to have a sunken stomach. After talking to someone at the LFS he recommended parasite guard fizzing tabs as he said they did not need to be ingested for them to help. I removed the carbon filter and did the treatment as the box suggested (2 tabs for the 20 gal tank wait two days do a large water change and then 2 more tabs). Still haven't noticed any improvement. Everyone else in the tank is as hungry as ever, but Olivia just doesn't seem to have any interest in feeding time. Any other suggestions?

I keep an Albino BN Pleco in my freshwater tank and have never had a problem with it. I don't purposely keep my pH levels up, but I'm sure many here in Edmonton will attest to the high pH levels right out of the tap. My API test kit frequently reads around 8.0 straight from the tap. Did you have any driftwood or something similar for the pleco to suck on? BN plecos need driftwood which would also lower the pH in the tank.

Thanks for all the advice guys! As much as I would love another ram I think the tanks are carrying as much bioload as they can. I'll try the Flubendazole and if that doesn't change her tune I'll try another round of levimasole treatments. If these treatments don't work out I'll look in to rehoming some fish and finding her a mate.

I treated the entire tank with the levimasole. The tank is well planted although most of the leaves from the plants have fallen off because of the stress of replanting, but they're on their way back. I had a little planter for her to hide in, but she never went in. This was the case in both tanks. Unfortunately the lighting is a little high at the moment. When I first set up the new tank the vals were so tall they were draping over the surface of the water providing some shady spots, but I had to cut them back as they were a haven for brown diatoms. I have often thought about getting another Bolivian to keep her company. Sexing them is kind of hard and I'm not sure my tank is big enough for a mated pair that may get a little territorial. Do you think moving the tetras over to the other tank and getting Olivia another Bolivian to associate with would help? Would two females improve her eating habits or would they just ignore each other?

My Bolivian Ram was one of my first fish when I started this hobby last summer. She lived happily and accepted all sinking fish food (NLS pellets, blood worms, brine shrimp etc.). She was in a 30g tank for several weeks when we upped our stock to include an Angelfish sometime last summer. The two never really crossed paths for months and lived in harmony and Olivia (the ram) ate plentiful. Then the chases started... Olivia held her own and would chase off the much larger Angelfish, but her appetite started dwindling and I noticed she was eating less and less. This kept on through several months. Last November the Angel started showing signs of stress and less eating and I eventually diagnosed it as Cammalanus worms. I did the levimasole treatment and the red threads protruding from the Angel's rectum disappeared. There were never any signs of the parasite in the Olivia. After the levimasole treatment Olivia appeared to stop eating entirely and the chases with the Angel had increased as the Angel seemed to get stronger after the parasites were resolved. I received a 20g tank from the lovey Jayba in mid December that was originally going to be held to the side as a quarantine tank. With Olivia not eating and the Angel showing more aggression I decided it would be best to set up a new tank that would revolve around Olivia. The tank cycled in about a month and mid January it was ready. The new 20g has a sand substrate 6 black phantom tetras, 6 peppered cories and my beloved Olivia. After the initial stress of moving over I thought I was going to lose her she was so stressed for a few days, but after the introduction of the new fish she went back to her normal self sans Angel aggression. I thought with the more peaceful tank and sand substrate she would go back to her original self and eat more, but I have yet to see her eat ANYTHING. I've caught her sift the sand once or twice, but she immediately spits out anything. She isn't getting smaller so she must be foraging somewhere, but she is the only fish I own that doesn't lose her mind when it's feeding time. In her life Olivia has never seen more than .25 ammonia (that was at the very beginning when the first tank went through a mini cycle when I introduced too many fish too fast), 0 nitrite and no more than about 20 nitrate. I am very diligent about water changes and tank maintenance. She's never been super bright or colorful (almost always a bland grey color), but I always assumed this was because she was a single ram and no one to mate with. She is completely ignoring the blood worms I poured in for her as per usual. I guess my question is should I be worried? is there anything I can do to increase her appetite? During the cammalanus incident I tried garlic, but to no avail. Sorry for the super long post, but I find the more background information the better for these types of things.

I'm not a huge expert, but maybe you'll find this link useful http://www.nationalfishpharm.com/fish_diseases/eyes.html

Well I'll hope that the blasted things are down the toilet now. Thanks for the support and expertise flyfisher

So, I did my water change today, but didn't seem to vacuum up any worms... Is this normal? There doesn't seem to be any more hanging out of my angel's rectum.

The rainbows were found dead the morning after :cry: . I recently found an outbreak of cammallanus worms in my Angel so I'm wondering if it had something to do with it, but I can't be sure. I had done a large water change the day they changed colour and one of the employees at AC suggested that I may have over done it on the water change. I'm really not too sure what happened...

Thanks for the help everyone! I ended up getting some from AC here in Edmonton. Within hours of the treatment the little red threads hanging out of my Angel were gone! I'm gonna follow Jayba's treatment and see how it goes.

I believe I have Cammalanus worms currently infecting my Angel (and most likely the rest of my tank). Where in Edmonton can I get some levamisole?

From head to mid body.

My two rainbowfish just developed some black patches about an hour ago. Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate are reading 0 (just did a big water change today) 29g tank. No other symptoms to report other than the black patches.