This was brought up on the apisto list recently-I currently have a
couple of dwarf cichlids infested with these monsters. I'll cut and
paste responses that I received at the time...I'm too tired to
paraphrase! Here goes:
> > Dear Tracie,
> > Fibres sticking out of the fish, sounds like the nematode worm
> > "Cammallanus" When the fish moves forward look closely and you may see
> > them moving back up into the fish. I have succesfully treated this in the
> > past using a drug called Levamisole Hydrochloride recommended by a vet.
> > It is actually a cattle worming drug. In the UK at least you can purchase
> > it without prescription from farmyard suppliers.
> >
> > Ken.L
> >
> >
>
> Ken and anyone else out there,
>
>
> This topic came up in Seattle about a year ago. The rec. treatment then
> was piperzine ( levamisole was on the list as well).
> I was told this is actually spread or can be caught from feeding live
> tubifex. Do you know anything about this.
>
> I have heard over and over not to feed live tubifex to Apisto's, never
> have fed them at all, but curious what everyone else's experience is.
>
> I know David Soares does not like to feed them at all.
>
> Thanks
> Kathy
AND:
Kathryn Knudsen wrote:
>What is cattle drench?
Any liquid used to treat ruminants for pests or deficiencies of some
kind!.
Originally products used to coat cattle hides for flies, the term now
gets used for mineral supplements given to giraffes.
Ken Laidlaw wrote:
> I have never fed tubifex because I was always warned of the disease risk.
I'm not sure about nematodes but you can get just about everyting else
from tubifex. Ken's right, why risk it. Then again the only frozen blood
worm I can get come from Hong Kong- Great food but I'm suspicious,
comments anyone?.
<snip>
> guess better quarantine could have prevented this but they are easy to
> overlook.
There's an understatement, sometimes takes a month or so to become
obvious.
In the end secondary bacterial infection kills your fish (bloat).
> As for Piperazine,
Look to where the money is. The aquarium trade is miniscule so theyr'e
still selling stains as anti-microbials :(. Humans don't get tapeworm or
nematodes often so theres not much investment. However pastoral
agriculture's got a multi-billion dollar problem. There's where to find
the product.
<snip>
> I thought this had worked but the worms came back after a month or so. I
> guessed that the larval form (eggs or young in the water/gravel) survived.
Sounds right to me. This is also the problem with fenbendazole
('Panacur' and dog/cat wormers) and oxfendazole ('Systamex' -metabolises
to fenbendazole giving more lasting availiability). Unless the active is
water soluble it seems you're bound to get another attack. I've seen
Ivermectin suggested but it's too toxic for my comfort.
> The levamisole really did the trick though.
> I had no information on adding the powder directly to the water.
No money in aquaria :(. About 5ppm levamisole worked for me. With all
these treatments assume your fish are going to die anyway, add a little
and if it doesn't work, try some more!. Thats why these lists pooling
knowledge are great.
Levamisole itself isn't soluble so get the hydrochloride if you can.
If you can't buy it as the active "Nilverm" is your next best bet. Some
of the generic formulations aren't so great. Nilverm comes in a few
flavours,
with/without mineral supplements, 4% or 20% active etc., get it plain if
you can.
Some vet in Nigeria even fed the stuff to village children as a tonic
once, apparently it worked a treat!. I'm an industrial chemist and once
worked for the local manufacturers. They (I hope) can't sue me too
easily any more so here's a little disclosure from memory.
It also contains: dye(obviously)-nothing to worry about here. Thickeners
are Xanthan gum, Methyl Cellulose, and PolyVinylPyrollidone. These
should give your fish an excllent slime coat, they're found in several
aquarium products for this purpose. The buffer is Citric acid/Sodium
Citrate (pH ~4.5) -not enough to affect those apistos. Antioxidants are
sodium metabisulfite (dechlorinates the water too!), NaEDTA (should help
to get the iron level up a litte for your plants) and ascorbic acid (aka
vitamin C, A.Thiel sells this as a tonic for your fish, and its a
supplement in most good flake. Clouds the water slightly though). As I
recall the rest is water (kills more people than any other chemical :)).
In short Nilverm may as well have been formulated especially for
aquaria.
Fishes for all!
Toado.
Sorry for the length...hope it helps. (also had someone suggest
Fluke-Tabs, FWIW)
Tracie