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Camallanus Worms Infestation Treatment


fleshgear
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i am fairly certain that in my one tank i have camallanus worms. i have guppies, platys, cory's, angels, female betta's, albno bristle nose pleco in a 45 gallon planted tank. I have lost 5 or 6 female guppies they were old and i just added a diy co2 system and i thought that was the reason for there death, maybe stress. but now i have 5 or 6 more female guppies that i can see the worms sticking out of there vent. i have been doing some reading on this site and others and it seems that i need some Levamisole HCl. Is this the best treatment? can i get it in calgary? should i treat my other tanks at the same time? i do transfer fish between all of the tanks every now and then. all tanks have simaller fish. the other tanks show no sign of the worms. i do a 30-50% water change every week. the only thing i have done so far for treatment is added salt 1 tbsp per 5 gallon

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I had camallanus in my tanks a year ago, and I tried and tried to find levamisole in Calgary and couldn't. I ordered my supply from Charles Harrison in the states. http://inkmkr.com/Fish/ (his email link is at the bottom of the page). He was very prompt and the price was reasonable. The instructions were clear too.

If you use any of your equipment with multiple tanks (nets, buckets, etc) and if you have transferred any fish in the last 3 to 6 months you will have to dose every tank. Camallanus will be everywhere even if it hasn't shown up yet--it can take 3 to 5 months for the parasite to show externally.

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Trust me, you cannot get it in Calgary. Online is the easiest and cheapest. Yes, you will have to treat ALL of your tanks as all it takes to spread this is one drop of water, gravel vac being used in all tanks, refill buckets interchanged etc.. I had it almost a year ago in some guppies and managed to trade for enough to do my 2 tanks. One dose and they were cured. I even phoned Phizer(sp)Canada and every pharmacy in town. I would go with Shai's suggestion as it will be the fastest and cheapest way to obtain some.

Tammy

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Are vets able to prescribe levimasole?

<Ex Vet Tech Assistant> I know that human drugs can be prescribed for animals and I know that levimasole is actually prescribed for people with Colorectal Cancer, The big question is, is it a restricted drug due to the severe condition in humans it treats, and is there a pharmacy that will have it in stock... Yes in other words, if you phone a Vet, explain the situation, they should be able to call a pharmacy and set you up!

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There is only 1 vet in Calgary that will prescribe it and she demands to examine the fish first. I found a pharmacy (co-op) I think(I phoned sooooo many!) that can bring it in. BUT it takes 3-7 days and it is VERY expensive. For the amount I needed to treat 20G, the cost was $54. Crazy expensive. I even called feedlots and a pig farm to get this stuff. :boxed:

Tammy

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I Googled camallanus worms and found this site:

http://www.petfish.net/kb/entry/154/ It mentions using Panacur.

Another site on Panacur referred to treating fish stating....

You need one that contains Fenbendazole (e.g. panacur) and should be a powdered form, rather than paste.

Found this snippet on dosage however not entirely sure what they mean by long term bath.

Quote:

A 3 week course of treatment is required via a long-term bath at a dose of 2-3 mg/litre, with repeat doses on days 7 & 14.

Panacur should be available but I haven't looked for it.

Keep us posted!

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Panacur does not work against camallanus. Fenbendazole (sometimes also called Flubendazole) impacts different types of organisms but not camallanus. I did a lot of research on that and had a discussion with Charles Harrison about it too. He sells Fenbendazole/Flubendazole but it is a treatment for other internal and external parasites like gill flukes, ich, etc. Since it's been a year I forget the more specific reasons why it's no good for camallanus, unfortunately...

Besides, Levamisole is a one day treatment. In the 3 weeks for Panacur, the worms are going to be able to do a hell of a lot of internal damage to the fish. Levamisole is so effective you can literally see it working.

Edited by Shai
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i have just ordered Levamisole from Charles Harrison. hopefully it gets here soon! it is strange that the pets stores do not sell this treatment. it seems like they do not sell any medication for internal parasites only internal.

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