# Worms sticking out??



## rsheets (Oct 25, 2009)

One male guppy has had a big belly for a while but tonight I see what looks like worms coming out of his rear. He is acting fine but, I'm sure this can't be good. Does anyone know how to treat something like this? I remember a long time ago, I had a tank with fish with this problem, and the ones that had it died. 
I have tried to search the past posts but I couldn't come up with anything. I'm not too successful with searching here on this site.


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## jeaninel (Aug 24, 2007)

Are they kind of reddish in color? Might be Camalanus worms. Try googling it and see if that's what they look like.


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## rsheets (Oct 25, 2009)

Yea, that's what it looks like. I think that's what it is. I'm going to try and find some levamisole. I'm just not sure of the dosing. Does anyone know?


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## Mikaila31 (Dec 18, 2008)

I can help you with the lemaisole, I use it on almost all my new fish in quarantine. Depending where you live Fleet Farm sells the powder. Or you can order a bird dewormer called Harka Verm which will also work, I can give you doseing directions later when I'm not on a phone. I think it might of been 1.25ml to 10gal, but I not sure on that.


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## rsheets (Oct 25, 2009)

Thanks. We don't have one of those store but we do have some others that may have it. I see in some reaserch that it is suggested to dose at 2mg/L. I will appreciate the help.



Mikaila31 said:


> I can help you with the lemaisole, I use it on almost all my new fish in quarantine. Depending where you live Fleet Farm sells the powder. Or you can order a bird dewormer called Harka Verm which will also work, I can give you doseing directions later when I'm not on a phone. I think it might of been 1.25ml to 10gal, but I not sure on that.


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## Mikaila31 (Dec 18, 2008)

well if you find the powder form that I use it will be a very small amount 18grams for about $16, this will be much more than you will ever need until it expires. 

Here is a link. For powder it is about 0.1gram for 10gal. I can understand the difficulties of using the powder for most, it is a very small amount you need. I have a digital scale for my EI ferts, so dosing this way is not a problem for me. 

Following the doseage on the site above, I determined to be 1.25ml per 10gal for the Harka Verm. Since it contains 80mg/ml of the med. This would be the same as dosing with the powder. 

Be aware the this is a very fast working med. It can kill fish that are heavily infected. My thinking is this. The worms dig into the intestinal wall, lots of worms can do lots of damage. Sudden removal will leave lots of open wounds. Which can be fatal to a fish that is already weakened. Also the med either works or doesn't, if you half dose it will have no effect at all.


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## rsheets (Oct 25, 2009)

OK thanks. I will try and find this somewhere tomorrow. What happens if I don't get all the worms out of the tank and they come become unparalized? I guess they infect the fish again?


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

Levamisole hydrochloride should kill the nematodes. Vacuum your substrate when you do your water changes while your tank is undergoing treatment to eliminate possible breeding grounds. Do not leave organic matter accumulating around your tank.

Your other choice in the absence of levamisole is fenbendazole or flubendazole. Jungle Antiparasite foods also help as it contains levamisole aside from metro and prazi.


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## rsheets (Oct 25, 2009)

OK good I was thinking it would only paralyze them. The feed store in town has fenbendazole too so that's a good alternative. Thanks for all the help.


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## rsheets (Oct 25, 2009)

OK, I looked and called everywhere and no one even heard of levamisole. So, I had to get the fenbendazole. My problem now is what is the dosing requirements? I bought the liquid version instead of the paste, because I figured it was going to work better in the tank. It says it is a 10% solution (100mg/mL) My question is how much do I need for 160 gal of water? 
I hope someone knows.:/


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## rsheets (Oct 25, 2009)

*Help on dosing fenbendazole*

I need help on dosing fenbendazole. I have the liquid version called safeguard for goats. It is a 10% solution. I have included the original post below.
For now I have mixed a little bit with water and soaked some food in it then feed the fish with the medicated food. But, I need to be able to treat the whole tank population.



rsheets said:


> OK, I looked and called everywhere and no one even heard of levamisole. So, I had to get the fenbendazole. My problem now is what is the dosing requirements? I bought the liquid version instead of the paste, because I figured it was going to work better in the tank. It says it is a 10% solution (100mg/mL) My question is how much do I need for 160 gal of water?
> I hope someone knows.:/


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## Mikaila31 (Dec 18, 2008)

post the volume(mL) of the solution and the grams of fenbendazole that are in it. It should have both of these things on the label. The 10% thing is confusing me, but it is midnight......

actually I was just browsing google and found this according to that, treating the whole tank with fenbendazole will have no effect as the med must be injested by the fish. 

I probably should of mentioned no one would know what you where talking about w/ the levamisole. Just go to the farm animal med section of stores and read the active ingredients of every dewormer. I don't think you will find it in dog/cat sections. Usually its a med that is best ordered online.


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## rsheets (Oct 25, 2009)

It says it is a 10% solution (100Mg/ml) 
There seems to be a difference of opinion about the treatment effectiveness of dosing the water. I see there that it must be ingested, but then I found another forum post that says it does work like that. I don't know!


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

Give waterborne treatment a try but you could always combine fenbendazole with foods. Ingestion is the best way to kill nematodes though. Were you also able to get Jungle Antiparasite food?


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## rsheets (Oct 25, 2009)

I did not get the jungle food. I have the other jungle food and they won't eat it so I just saved the money and bought the other stuff. I do soak the bloodworms and other food in it though and they do eat it. So, I'm hoping that the fish get it one way or the other. I dosed the tank with 12mL of the safeguard this morning (based on what I found on another forum). Everyone is still doing good and even more lively I think. I still see worms though so I guess it doesn't work as fast as the other stuff. I will dose again in 3 days then again 3 days after that. That is unless someone with knowledge about it can tell me something else.


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

What other Jungle food do you have? Antibacterial? That stuff is not going to work.

Do daily water changes with thorough vacuuming of substrate to remove all breeding grounds of nematodes. Redose med per water volume changed.


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## rsheets (Oct 25, 2009)

Yes, but I wasn't trying to treat parasites with bacteria meds. I was trying to just increase overall health a while back, but they wouln't eat it.
Thanks for the help so far.


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