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Thread: Camallanus Worms - Levamisole Treatment - Experience??

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  1. #1

    Camallanus Worms - Levamisole Treatment - Experience??

    Hello, Several months ago, I had a successful breeding project and now have approximately 75 juveniles, dime, nickel and quarter sized, housed in 65 gallon grow out tank with both a 70 Gallon bio wheel and a 40 gallon HOB filter. I also have three beautiful adolescent sized angels from previous attempts sharing a 55 gallon tank with two full grown angels, two rainbows and three black skirted tetras. The 55 gallon is being filtered by a 75 gallon wet/dry filter.

    My Angel pair is housed in a 25 gallon tall tank with a 40 gallon and 20 gallon HOB filter. The female angel laid eggs religiously every two weeks for the past year. She has uncharacteristically stopped and she's not eating very much. She goes up to the food and then doesn't eat it.

    Now to the title issue.... Prior to her stopping, about two months ago, their eating slowed down and I noticed threads coming out of the pair's anus, three for four from the male. The female just had two threads. (now I know they were worms! )

    I did lots of research on the web and found many discussions about the medication, Levamisole, as the best treatment for this terribly invasive parasite. I also was instructed that ALL my tanks had to be treated, that the worm eggs were microscopic and could live on miscellaneous shared aquarium tools, like nets and siphons. Upon further examination, I did find evidence of a worm coming out of one of the three "adolescent" angels from previous breeding efforts. The others showed no behavioral evidence of having the camallanus worms. My 75 juveniles, located in a 65 grow out tank, showed no evidence and were (are) very active, hungry and other than slow growing, looking very healthy.

    Question: Did the Levamisole treatment destroy the reproductive capacity of my previously active egg-layer. Or... will it take some time after the Levamisole treatment to get my eco system back to the happy days? I was changing water quite frequently, and vacuuming the gravel during the treatment time. As I said, my 75 juveniles seem to be growing very slowly, could their growth been stunted by the levamisole? I'm feeding them three times a day, alternating frozen brine shrimp and flakes.

    The double treatment of the Levamisole (each treatment separated by three weeks) seems to have gotten rid of the worms. Other than the pairing angels in their 25 gallon tall tank, the fish all seem to be behaving normally. I have be in the aquarium hobby for over 35 years. This is the first time I have had angels, yet alone tried to breed them. Lots of work, but a very interesting adventure! I know the 65 gallon tank isn't the long term solution for the 75 juveniles.... hoping to sell or trade with a locally owned aquarium dealer.

    Any insight into this issue of my female no longer breeding after this camallanus or the slow growth of my juveniles, would be greatly appreciated!

    Lucy155

  2. #2
    Question: Did the Levamisole treatment destroy the reproductive capacity of my previously active egg-layer. Or... will it take some time after the Levamisole treatment to get my eco system back to the happy days? I was changing water quite frequently, and vacuuming the gravel during the treatment time. As I said, my 75 juveniles seem to be growing very slowly, could their growth been stunted by the levamisole? I'm feeding them three times a day, alternating frozen brine shrimp and flakes.

    Levamisole is a fairly harsh treatment as it can have a negative impact on internal organs. There are other drugs available that actually kill the camallanus worm, unlike levamisole which only paralyzes it. As your adults are not eating odds are they are still infected.

    You've also mentioned a slow growth with your juvenile angels, keeping around 75 in a 65 gallon tank. Depending on their size odds are that tank is not quite large enough to accommodate steady growth. If you aren't already, you need to be doing fairly large daily water changes. Not only to reduce the nitrates and stop them from building up, but also to minimize the level of hormones in the water that will impede growth.

  3. #3
    Never had any issues with Levamisole save in over-dosage situations; yes it will kill your fish. However, there are other options if you would prefer to explore - Fenbendazole and Flubendazole. Both are just as effective. Barring other factors, it is possible that the parasites caused the slow down in reproduction as well as growth - definitely not unheard of.
    Last edited by terrapins; 01-02-2017 at 02:54 AM.

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