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One fish dead, another on its way


FishyFishy!
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So I came home to find one of my angels dead. I looked at his brother and he has a large light colored thing coming out of his anus. It really looks like he has a very large pooh coming out. The dead guy had looked like something silimar had happened.

Help meeeeee!!!

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Ok woke up this morning, and he was dead of course. Now I think one of my Bolivian Rams has it. Here are some pictures of the dead one. Do you think that it is camallanus??? I need to know soon so I can start treatment.

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And he wasn't bitten to death. No signs of any other damage. I haven't started feeding them anything new at all. Same old Nutrafin tropical flakes. I have though recently bought a large container of it. I now put it in the fridge. Would that alter the food in any way?

I also don't seem to see any red worms like the camallanus

Edited by FishyFishy!
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from what i can see i wouldn't say it's callamanus, unless the worms aren't yet at the point where they protrude from the anus of the fish, and are doing damage inside without revealing themselves.

i know it may sound horrid, but is there any way you might disect one of the dead fish to see if there is a worm infestation within the intestines?

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I have confirmed it as callamanus. I can now see the very tiny red worms hanging from the anus. I will begin treatment today... hopefully I don't loose anymore of my angels/rams!

Now... I'd like to know how the parasites either develop, or get into the tank. Is it mainly the food? What could be the cause?

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Just a tip, when using Levamisole increase the oxygenation in the tanks. I had better survival in my tanks with increased circulation and added oxygen.

Here is some research that I did for another forum:

General information

Camallanus nematodes is a common parasite of freshwater fishes. They are reported from all continents except Antarctica. There are 6 genera and 130 species!

It is the mature female worm protruding from the anus of the fish.

There has been research on Camallanus oxycephalus as early as 1916, and several projects on the same worm since. This is information from paraphrased those reports:

Their life cycle includes 5 stages and involves an indirect host. The 1st stage larvae must be consumed by a copepod. It has the highest chance of this in planktonic rich locations. The 2nd and 3rd stages are completed within the copepod. During this time, the copepod gets eaten by planctivorus fish. The 4th stage involves contact with bile triggering rupture from the copepod and infecting the fish. The 5th stage is maturation into the worm in the terminal end of the intestine. It has been found that in some species they do not develop beyond the 4th stage. That would it make them a possible reservoir host for infecting larger fish when eaten. The piscivore can be infected by eating either the 4th or 5th stage.

There has been some research done on Camallanus cotti, which has been identified in a number of ornamental fish, Platys, Betta's, Paradise fish, to name a few.

It is suspected that copepods are not required in this species. Here is the abstract from

an article entitled Transmission Ecology and Larval Behaviour of Camallanus cotti (Nematoda, Camallanidae) Under Aquarium Conditions

found at http://www.ingentaconnect.com/conten...8?crawler=true

Abstract:

The parasitic fish nematode Camallanus cotti has been reported from a number of freshwater fish species around the world. Its wide geographical distribution seems mainly to be the result of anthropogenic dissemination due to extensive ornamental fish trade. In most reports it is assumed that C. cotti's life cycle involves cyclopoid copepods as intermediate host and various freshwater fishes as final host. However, the species' relatively frequent and persistent occurrence in aquaria worldwide strongly indicates flexibility in its life cycle, i.e. the ability to infect the final host directly. The present study has shown that under aquaria conditions, without any presence of copepods, C. cotti is able to infect various phylogenetically distant fish species directly for at least three generations. It was further shown that the infective free-living first-stage larvae may survive for more than three weeks in the host-external environment and that their host-attracting behaviour is not precluding direct transmission to the final fish host. Any treatment for C. cotti under aquaculture or aquarium conditions should be directed towards both individual infected fish hosts as well as the free-living larvae on the substrate.

Other sources:

Clear Technical Report No. 26 Changes in the Occurrence of Camallanus oxycephalus

http://ohioseagrant.osu.edu/_documen...TR/CTR-026.pdf

Clear Technical Report No. 25 The Life Cycle and Development of Camallanus oxycephalus

http://www.ohioseagrant.osu.edu/_doc...TR/CTR-025.pdf

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