Camellanus Worms

[Lucid]

Hiya,

A friend of ours has a suspected case of Camellanus worms and is in two minds about what to treat with. He has been told Levamisole is best to use to kill them but a well known fish shop has said to use Praziquantel, even though all research on Prazi points to it only paralysing the worm and not actually killing it. The second half of the dillema is that he has an eel and a ghost knife in the tank that needs treating and no one can tell him if levamisole is safe for scaleless fish. He would like to treat and be done with it until the following water change and second treatment, but the fish shop has suggested dosing levamisole at half strength and watching the tank like a hawk for stress or abnormal behaviour, in which case a massive water change would be needed, something he would prefer to avoid if possible. 

Anyone had any experience in this area who would like to weigh in and perhaps provide a bit of direction for him. We are not sure ourselves as it is not a situation we have had to deal with.

 

Lucid

Edited August 10, 2016 by Lucid

[alexyay]

I'm so sorry I missed this post!

 

Levamisole and Praziquantel are both completely safe for scaleless fishes, and can be used in conjunction. You want Levamisole for Callamanus, but Praziquantel can be handy to use at the same time. With Levamisole, it might take up to (or more than) 4 weeks with several doses (once every 3-5 days), and you'll want to siphon the substrate as much as possible. Callamanus are really tricky to get rid of, and so they can (unfortunately) require a fair bit of vigilance to treat.