# Camallanus worms treatment in Canada



## Lori

Any Canadian's have trouble with Camallanus worms? I had one female guppy die of the worms (which I believe came with her when I bought her from Big AL's). I have treated twice with Tetra parasite control, but my platty has the "sausage -like-white poop" and I fear she/he may have internal worms too. The blue gouramis could possibly also have them, but they are shy and will not come out so I can have a good look.
All the reading suggests using a chemical I cannot get my hands on in Canada.
Any suggestions?


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## bmlbytes

Which chemical can you not find? 

If it is Levamisole Hydrochloride, then look in the bird section. They often sell it for birds as a food additive. 

Praziquantel should do it. It is found in many anti parasite medications.
http://www.bigalspets.com/Hikari-Pr...olor_map,price,size_name&searchRank=salesrank
http://www.bigalspets.com/Tetra-Par...olor_map,price,size_name&searchRank=salesrank


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## TheOldSalt

Those two are good, and Fenbendazole is the other.


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## mousey

Ha Big Al's strikes again!!
I live in canada and have been chatting to a fellow in town here who wants one of my emperor tetras. he says he is having a terrible time treating the callamus worm. He has to do a 30 day treatment to be sure it is gone.

I was in BA's the other day asking where such and such went and they said it was no longer in allowed in canada.
It was a fairly non toxic but very effective treatment for ich. Worked in just a few days and no fish losses.
Too bad the gov't doesn't worry about more than if people go to pet stores to buy antibiotics and such for humans.The manager said people will on occasion by fish antibiotics to treat themselves instead of going to a doctor.


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## Lori

Hi everyone,

Here is the update: On Friday I bought a product from Jungle ?, it was supposed to treat up to 70 gallons, but barely enough to treat my 46 gallons one time. On Sunday I could still see the red little buggers in my gouramis so I bought the Tetra parasite guard again (a little more price reasonable). I have removed 25% of the water (kept out 6 gallons) so that the box of Tetra will treat twice. Now I wait 48 hours. Then change 25% again. I only had a few moments this morning to try to get a glimps of the shy gouramis and I couldn't see much. I am hoping this is working this time. this product first active ingredient was Prezi...? so I am hopeful. There is absolutely nothing else available to treat these little worms here in the North. I have also tried the bird sections and exotic pet stores!
PS. You better believe I am no longer shopping at Big Al's and I have been telling everyone I know about my experience (including the other pet stores!).


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## Lori

Update: Now my honey gouarmis appear to be infected as well as my platty! I am so upset. The money I have spent trying to treat this is ridiculous -- with NO affect. At this point I think I am going to have to let them 'live with it' and if they do die, I will have to bleach it and start from scratch. I love my fish.


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## bmlbytes

BTW, Tetra and Jungle are the same brand. Buy which ever is cheaper, as they are the exact same product.

http://www.spectrumbrands.com/OurBrands/GlobalPetSupplies.aspx

They also make George Formans, Rayovac batteries, Repel bug spray, and Black and Decker power tools.


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## mousey

Lori, if you can afford it i would encourage you to keep up the treatment. I was just emailing with a fellow who lives near me in Canada and he seems to finally be having success with the treaments but it has taken 30 days!. he says he no longer sees any worms and is waiting a couple of weeks before picking up the fish I am giving him to make sure that no new worms appear. He did say he lost some fish during the treatments.


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## Fishpunk

Camallanus is extremely contagious. If you see the red threads, the entire tank is contaminated and you will see a relapse in about 6 weeks. NEVER share equipment with other tanks, even if the net is dry you can spread it.

Camallanus is a nightmare. Treat and be vigilent. Remember, once you see the threads, the water column is infested, and therefore every fish in the tank has them.

Really, don't underestimate the resilience of this parasite.


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## TheOldSalt

These worms are the worst!
You might have to go to the veterinarian and get some serious dewormer if you can't find it on a shelf. "Panacur" should be easy to find at any farm supply type store. It is Fenbendazole, one of the best antiworm meds that you can still buy.


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## Fishpunk

Fenbendazole did not work for me. The veterinary pharmacy wanted over $100 for like 5 grams of Levamisole. Should be able to get a better deal than that on aquabid if anyone has any. I know some people bought tons of it and are selling it off in smaller portions.


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## TheOldSalt

Yeah, when someone discovered that levamisole is useful for treating human cancer, they yanked it off the shelves. It's really frickin' hard to find now, and not cheap anymore. It's worth it, though; there is no better or faster working antiworm med available.

The worst thing about these worms is that they have developed drug resistance thanks to inadequate, halfway attempts to treat it them on the wholesale level. Like any drug, you have to go all-out with treatment or this will happen. Fenbendazole normally works very well, but you might have found a resistant strain of worms. Bummer.


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## superguppygirl

Non of the medications from my local fish/pet store has worked on these worms including PraziPro (praziquentel) I have been battling them over a month, I'm also in Canada, and cannot not find Panacur or Safeguard (horse dewormers), Levamisole is now on a restricted substance list due to drug processors cutting into their cocaine (freaking idiots) I did manage to find a chemical called Piperazine which is supposed to work like Levamisole but only dosing advice I can find online is 25mg added to 10 grams of food but again is advice found on web, greatly appreciate if one with experience with this drug could share


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## mousey

the guy i mentioned to you that used the levamisole with good effect told me he went to his vet and got them to order it since she had a license for it. She then went on line to some vet forum and found out exactly how much he needed and sold him that amount. He said it took 21 days but he got the problem resolved. Do you have a vet you could contact?


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## Fishpunk

Fenbendazole is sold in the U.S. under the brand name Safe-Guard as a dog dewormer. You might try looking in the canine section. This is extremely difficult to dissolve, though. Trying to mix it into the food is also problematic.

You might be faced with the solution I had, which was euthanizing over 60 fish. Was not one of my happier days.


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## superguppygirl

I tried the Piperzine (piperazine dihydrochloride) I mentioned and it was slowly killing them off, it is a poultry dewormer and was using 1/4 teaspoon to 4 inches of water and soaking their food in it (medicated food for 3 days, 5 days no medicated food and daily gravel vaccuuming) and it was working had only 3 fish with signs of the worms left out of 60, levamisole is what I eventually did after 3 weeks of dosing with piperazine because I got impatient so maybe this is an option for you, it is a non prescription dewormer


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