# My fish have bloody Camallanus Worms/Nematods!!! Advice needed



## John_C (Dec 17, 2007)

There should really be a separate section for Fish Diseases on Gta Aquaria...

But that being said.. Yes I discovered one of my tanks have Camallanus worms.. I started noticing some barbs and white clouds bloated and refusing to feed, in obvious distress... Then I notice tiny red worms hanging out of there anuses, did my research and found out I had an infestation of these worms which I've never heard of till now....

Read that levamisole hydrochloride or other strong deworming solutions will eradicate this disease, but this stuff is pretty expensive and I have no more fish left in this tank... 

DO you think if I shut down this tank, emptying out the whole thing, and leaving it dry for a couple weeks or more, would kill off any remaining larvae or eggs of the Camallanus worms, or should i clean it out with alcohol. Might as well take this approach than treating the tank since there 
aren't anymore fish left...

Bloody wretched things!!! It's hard to take the buddhist approach to this issue. lol


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

If the tank is empty, then your BB in the filter will be dead now.

My advice would be to add bleach to the tank to kill anything left.

Bleach I believe will kill anything.

It will burn off on its own in a few days, but I would still drain it, refill, drain again, refill and then double dechlorinator just to be safe.

Possible problems

not sure what it might do to decorations such as driftwood or fake things. I'm pretty sure any wood would be fine.

The substrate, if it is that painted gravel, it might ruin the colour. If you have any soil in the tank, it would be a problem, I would remove it and toss it. If your substrate is all the same, like gravel or sand, I would be sure to stir it up well so the bleach gets all through it. Stirring up substrate that has dirt it in would just make a total mess, that is why I said toss it.

Toss out all the media in the filter and run the filter while the bleach is in the system.

Plants need to be dealt with differently. If you have live plants, remove them all and put them in a bucket full of water of a good temp. Add a cup or so of bleach, stir it up a bit, leave it for 5 min max, 2 to 5 min depending on the plant, thin leafed plants less time, thicker plants more time. Dump water, refill, dump again, refill and then add double dechlorinator to the bucket to make sure all the bleach is gone.

Hope this helps


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## ksimdjembe (Nov 11, 2006)

Cross contamination is the biggest worry for these worms.

I have heard that cleaning with the levamisole is the only sure way to guarantee you have no residual cysts that could hatch out and infect other fish. Bleach may work, but I don't know if bleach in solution would kill a cyst.

All nets, siphons, thongs, etc (anything that had contact with the affected tank) needs to be dealt with as well.


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## RevoBuda (Sep 3, 2011)

went through this with a 150 gallon tank full of rainbows and managed to successfully clear it up with several casualties. 

I would do my research on bleach / peroxide etc. I highly recommend getting rid of anything that you can dispose of in the tank- especially substrate / plants / deco. You may want to consider soaking your hoses as well. It only takes one incident and you will only discover them weeks or even months later when it often is far too late. 

Good Luck and sorry to hear about all this. I would strongly recommend investing in a quarantine tank once you're all set up again and use a strict regiment before adding fish to your primary tank. Since I have had this process in place, I never run into these issues any longer.


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## John_C (Dec 17, 2007)

*THanks*

Thanks for the advice.. 

Yah i've decided to shut down this tank anyways and convert from a planted tank to a cichlid tanks.. SO I'll be throwing out everything in it anyways and starting from scratch... The Filter is old anyways, so I'll be getting rid of it in favor of a new more efficient filter...

Just wanted to know if leaving it dry for a month would be good enough to get rid of it.. But I think I'll fill it up with water and bleach for a bit before starting it up again .


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

if the filter is an aquaclear, keep it, those things last forever


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## John_C (Dec 17, 2007)

*oh...*

It's a cheapo Jebo... So no loss.... Gonna go all out in this tank with maximum filtration, 3d rock background, LED spot lighting, and fancy mbuna


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I'd have to look up this particular parasite to learn how hardy it's cysts are, but I can tell you from experience that at least one species of FW leech is impervious to bleach and boiling too. I finally broke the tank down and tossed everything, after 3 rounds of bleach/boil all the substrate, rocks, glass, etc. Each time the darn things were back within a few weeks. I don't know the precise species, but whether they laid eggs or made cysts, they were very, very hardy. So I think it's a good thing you are switching the tank right over, bleach is by no means a sure cure for everything.


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## John_C (Dec 17, 2007)

*Grrrr...*

I wish absolute Death upon these things!!!!! lOL


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