Re: NANFA-- Worms. Parasitic?

unclescott (unclescott_at_prodigy.net)
Fri, 20 Feb 2004 15:59:14 -0600

> Here is what these critters do and look like. I have seen this before, but
> never paid that much attention, until today.
>
> Some young jewel cichlids I am raising up, one looked kind of thin. I then
> noticed the anal opening looked much larger than normal and reddish. I
> pulled the fish, thinking it was wounded. The red turned out to be a few
> things sticking out. I thought maybe a blockage, maybe shells from
> crustaceans. When I pulled them out, they were small clear / red worms.
> There were literally dozens in there.
>
> I destroyed the fish. I have seen similar but less destructive symptoms in
> Fundulus and Lepomis. These seemed to clear up on their own, since I
thought
> they were blockages.
>
> Are these parasitic worms of some sort? Would panacur treat them? What
about
> that other one someone mentioned a while back, "Flubendazol"[sic] or
> something similar. There were two with names similar to that . One worked
> great, the other not so well with bad side effects.

There was a thread about 1-13-04 on parasite removal where Camallanus was
nominated. Your observation that natives were not as bothered by the
infestation as the jewel cichlids is in light of Burgess' contention that
different species of Camallanus are more threatening to different groups of
fishes. There seems to be some regional factors (although C, cottis has been
spread around many of the warm water areas in the world).

That regional suggestion can be found several places but I encountered it in
the Christmas issue of Practical Fishkeeping in a very useful article where
Peter Burgess suggested that there are different species of Camallanus.
Their host copepods are likewise regional and species specific.

The medicating nominees did include anthelmintics such as levamisole or
flubendazol. What was said about Praziquantel on the NANFA list sounded very
promising too. Brand name Droncit according to Nick Z.

A run down on the various stages of Camallanus:
http://www.paru.cas.cz/folia/pdf/3-02/Levsen.pdf

A couple of representative photos:

www.rhusmann.de/aqua/ a_concur.htm

http://aquarium.box.org.za/2001-09-14%20-%20Camallanus%20Worms%20in%20Guppy/

I'm sorry the cichlids were disposed of. They might have been cured.

Also (recalling that I'm not a medical person) the tank and residents should
still be treated. When the worms (females) are extending from the fish's
vent they are giving birth to larvae. These very small stage one larvae
evidently do a great job of advertising their presence and getting ingested
by a fish or copepod. When in the fish, they develop head hooks and latch on
to the fish's intestine. The worm's intestinal system then develops, They
feed, grow, procreate and as much as 3-4 months later appear outside the
fish to release their young and start the cycle over.

If the tank were vacated for a few days, the young would starve. However
fish moved might still need treatment.

Because Camallanus takes so long to show itself, quarantine is pretty
useless. The good news is that they don't form indestructible cysts and both
internal and external forms should be killed by medication.

I hate the idea, but have begun treating new arrivals with an anthelmintic
because there seem to be so many worm parasites available to fish. And they
seem fairly common on aquarium fish.

Does anyone know if North American Camallanus species are common among NA
fish?

Charles Harrison, on the killitalk list, has suggested that plants will be
left alone and that if the treatment is changed out of the tanks after about
a week, snails will not be adversely effected by adding an anthelmintic
either. So treat the tank. Toss any siphon tubes and buckets out in the snow
overnight. You do still have snow? ;)

I don't know about Panacur. I have asked a couple of other manufacturers who
didn't list the ingredients on their dewormer. The representative of one
comany did suggest they did have an anthelmintic in their product. I would
think it would be in their best interests, with the talk of anthelmintics
on-line and in local clubs, to mention it.

Discomed from Aquatronics mentions Levamisole on their pink package.

Someone on the NANFA list mentioned that http://www.ftffa.com/ sells some of
these.

All the best!

Scott
Park Forest, IL

Rosario LaCorte. A good native killie class & the Nancy Garcia Award. Lots
of killies and fishheads. The Chicago Killie Show March 20-21 at the College
of DuPage. Please check out http://chika.aka.org/
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