Urgent Help

[Fay]

I have been having fish die in my freshwater tank found the problem this morning like red worms sticking out of vent how do I kill these little pests

[Caryl]

My book suggests Camallanus worms (when the fish remains stationary red or brown worms hang about 5 - 10mm out of the anus which is dilated).

Treatment:

Methylene Blue: 1ml stock solution to 1 litre water. Remove any carbon from the filters first.

[Fay]

Thanks for that I will get on to it.

[Fay]

Ive got blue circle white spot cure (dose 2 drops per ltr) is this the same stuff as meth blue.

[kim]

no its different stuff.

could try it.... and putting some tonic salt in your tank

[Warren]

You need something better than meth blue. You need Levamisole (cattle and sheep drench). You can get small containers at places like farmlands for a few dollars. Make sure it is unmineralised. Use enough to get about 15ppm concentration in your tank. Within 12 hours of adding it the worms will be all gone. It kills any worms inside or outside the fish and breaks the breading cycle so usually only one treatment is necessary. After 3 days, do a 50% water change and add carbon to the filter.

It doesn't kill your biological filter either (unlike Meth Blue).

[Alan]

I thought it was you that knew about that Warren

Have you ever heard of akrflavine being used to hold killi eggs from hatching??

In other words, getting all the eggs to hatch on the one date.

Alan

[Fay]

My tanks 200ltrs how much levamisole should i use i dont understand what 15ppm is and should i also use arkrflavine

[Midas]

You will need 3 grams of levamisole for 200L (15 ppm = 15mg/L, therefore 200 * 15mg/l = 3000mg = 3g), thats assuming you can get hold of the active ingredient (ie pure levamisole as opposed to in a drench etc). Otherwise you will have to work out how much drench to use to give you 3 grams of levamisole.

Also read this thread for a bit more info:

http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?t=281

[Warren]

No, never heard of it Alan.

Cure-Ex (Masterpet) work pretty well also. It comes in a 50ml bottle and has good directions. It takes a lot longer to work (2-3 days) but it still gets the job done. I would have told you about it earlier but I forgot what it was called and had to go look it up...

[Wayne]

I'm not a farmer but as far as i know, levamisole drenches are insoluble in water.

But using an anthlemintic/dewormer is definitely the way to go, and levamisole is definitely a safer n effective drench for fish, as opposed to the avermectins or benzimidazoles.

U should b able to find a bird wormer product from most petshops in NZ-- think it's called Avi something. a blue solution. active ingredient Tetramisole. This one's definitely soluble in water.

U don't have to tx the entire tank. just immerse the fish in a seperate solution( using levamisole dose rates, supplement O2 and leave for 8hrs or so. Repeat the immersion at mthly intervals for say 3-4 tx total. that shou;d rid camallanus and even capillarial worms.

[Alan]

WHISPER

If you get some flake food,

mix the Levamisole into it to make a mixture like putty,

then make into pellets the size of aspros.

Fish get a feed and a dose of medicine.

Works a treat.

Alan

[Warren]

I've used standard non-mineralised animal drench a couple of times in the past. The stuff I've used has always mixed up well with water.

[Midas]

The bird wormer that comes in a tube, doesn't get you that much active ingredient (tetramisole - (which is a isomer of levamisole)) for the cost of it.

If you are going to mix it up with food make sure that all the fish eat it. The worst affected fish will probably eat the least (as they will be the ones that feel the least like eating). I find it much easier to put it in the water.

If you can get some levamisole I would still recommend that this is the way to go. Much less stress on the fish than removing them etc, and much easier too.

Also levamisole drench should be soluble in water. Levamisole itself is soluble, however I have read that it is best to make sure your tank has a neutral tio acidic ph in order for the levamisole hydrochloride to dissociate properly.

[Fay]

Thanks for the help, problem solved got the Levamisole from the vet in Pukekohe all worms gone.Thanks again

[Warren]

Good one! 8)

[Aftaburn]

You need something better than meth blue. You need Levamisole (cattle and sheep drench). You can get small containers at places like farmlands for a few dollars. Make sure it is unmineralised. Use enough to get about 15ppm concentration in your tank. Within 12 hours of adding it the worms will be all gone. It kills any worms inside or outside the fish and breaks the breading cycle so usually only one treatment is necessary. After 3 days, do a 50% water change and add carbon to the filter.

It doesn't kill your biological filter either (unlike Meth Blue).

Would this kill planaria & be harmless to plants? Looking at bath options biologial filter cleanout etc... (ammo zorb & other day water change programme for 4 weeks plus "cycle").

[Warren]

I don't know about planaria but it didn't effect my plants. The treatment is only for about 34 hours anyway. As long as levamisole doesn't destroy part of the plant's cell structure it shouldn't have much effect.

[Aftaburn]

I'll wait till the microscope turns up before I try anything too drastic & let you know the findings.

Should help.

I figure cellular disruption has to be the best way to deal with the planaria & thier eggs. Might need to play around with things for a bit. I've got some good lab reference stuff to work with which'll help, big job tho.

[Gila_fish]

Im not sure about planaria but it doesn't seem to effect the plants (to my knowledge that is). but its a short treatment...no longer than 2 days if im correct.