# Annabelle's Worms



## edmlfc1 (Feb 24, 2008)

This is the long story short version. I sent Lupin the whole story. 
Pictures of when I first got her:



















Annabelle lives in a 125 gallon tank. There are some guppies in there with her. They were in the tank for 8 months before I received Annabelle. All this started with a cloudy eye. I treated her with melafix and primafix. Within a few days the cloudy eye cleared up. During which time she stopped eating. At that time I noticed a very lumpy belly, which was usually full, nice and round. After not eating for 5 days it should have been flat. Instead it looked like this:



















I then begin to treat her tank with epsom salt and prazipro. She ended up passing about 30" of tapeworm. She had not eaten for almost 3 weeks, I purchased finquel, knocked her out and tube fed her. After that she started eating again. I then begin to treat her with gel-tek ultra cure px, beacuse I had seen more worm and wanted to make sure I got it all. 

After all that, the last few days I've seen this : 









Last night I caught her and this is what I saw:


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## edmlfc1 (Feb 24, 2008)

I found Lupin's article on fish disease, I contacted him though this site and this is where I am now. I have also found an aquatic vet about 1.5 hours from my home. I'm waiting to hear from them. I emailed them pictures along with Annabelle's history.


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## lilgirlkat (Jan 18, 2009)

I think there's an MBU at my LFS with this problem. He looks exactly the same. Has a super lumpy belly and is rather thin. I attempted to get pictures of him today, but it didn't work. 

hope everything works out.


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## willow (Sep 9, 2006)

hello and welcome to you.
gosh the poor thing,looks awful.
i hope the aquatic vet can help you.
fingers crossed,please let us know as soon as you find out.


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## jeaninel (Aug 24, 2007)

That looks like camallanus worms. The poor thing, she's been through a lot. First the tapeworm and now this. I hope you can treat her successfully. It sounds like she gets lots of love from you. Good luck with her.


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

lilgirlkat said:


> I think there's an MBU at my LFS with this problem. He looks exactly the same. Has a super lumpy belly and is rather thin. I attempted to get pictures of him today, but it didn't work.
> 
> hope everything works out.


 It sounds like internal parasites to me.:-? Unusually thin fish with distended abdomen, that's it. Let them try metronidazole and praziquantel combo if they really care for their fish.

Lissa, what are the active ingredients of Ich Attack? What's the follow up towards ich so far? I wouldn't try mixing Ich Attack with any dewormers. A lot of dewormers are too powerful and they can render lack of appetite for fish which can bring them down quicker by stress from ich. Ich just aggravates stress unless the fish's immune system is built up to allow it to battle ich effectively.


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

jeaninel said:


> That looks like camallanus worms. The poor thing, she's been through a lot. First the tapeworm and now this. I hope you can treat her successfully. It sounds like she gets lots of love from you. Good luck with her.


 It is indeed camallanus which is the most difficult internal parasites to get rid of.


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## edmlfc1 (Feb 24, 2008)

*Ick attack: *This is what it says on the website, when I get home I can check the bottle. It's suppose to be organic. That's the only reason I'm using it.
*Active ingredients:* 5% active ingredients (multiple natural herbals containing Naphthoquinon)


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## edmlfc1 (Feb 24, 2008)

Also I have been soaking her food in vitamins, extreme garlic, beta glucan (100mg) and gel-tek ultra cure px (for the worms).


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## edmlfc1 (Feb 24, 2008)

Beta glucan is suppose to help her immune system.
Also have been adding vitamin c to the tank.


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

Looks like you're on right track so far. I'll wait in chat.


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## lilgirlkat (Jan 18, 2009)

not to be slightly offtopic, but I linked my LFS to all of Annabelle's threads. 

I hope they decide to help theirs, like you're trying to help Annabelle.


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## edmlfc1 (Feb 24, 2008)

Just got word from the vet she was no help. She suggested a uv light. She also suggested using praziquantel, this is what Lupin said about it: 

*Camallanus worms are not very easy to destroy. I've gathered several information and reference files and praziquantel and metronidazole don't prove lethal for camallanus.*​
This makes me think she really dosen't know anything about camallanus worms.







She did get one thing right, she said I would have to treat the tank, this I already knew.









I know a uv light may be a good idea but it's not going to kill the worms that are already in Annabelle. I don't think I'll go with the uv light. Not right now anyway.


*Lupin, *after speaking to someone else with experience on puffers he suggested I go with your other suggestion. This was his experience:
*My puffers acted as if it was burning their skin off for a while, then sank like stones to the bottom of the tank by the end of an hour, off color and having trouble breathing. Did an 80% water change, and they got a bit better, and went totally back to normal after another 80% the next day.*

I'm going to try the flubendazole instead. I don't want to hurt her.


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## edmlfc1 (Feb 24, 2008)

I wanted to wait to treat Annabelle when I had a few days off and could keep a close eye on her. I started the treatment on Sunday morning. 2/22/09.
Here's a picture update.


Picture updates. I caught Annabelle to get a picture of the progress. She was "MAD" but I got the picture.  
*Taken Feb. 9, 2009*








*Taken Feb. 10, 2009*








*Taken Feb. 17, 2009.*








*Taken Feb. 23, 2009*








I know I'm probally asking for a miracle here but it looks like they have really thinned out. 


Just a little closer inspection, I think they are turning white.  From what I have read that's a good sign! That means they are dying!









I'll try to get another picture tomorrow and see if there is any change.

*Picture taken Feb. 24, 2009*

48 Hour update, She ate like a pig and was begging for more! I soaked her food in vitamins and added beta glucan to it also. Beta glucan is suppose to boost the immune system so that she can fight off all the nasties.


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