How to Recognize and Treat Camallanus Worms (Camallanus cotti) in Fish

[@pierre4300]

Just got out of the treatment of my fishes, removed a lot by themselves but had to remove the paralised camallanus cotti by hand with clippers ! SO HARD and SAD to see my fishes with this infection, will soon post a video on my channel to explain people why your product is INSANE and EXTREMELY POWERFULL ! Love y'all

[@eSHaLabs]

Great to hear it helped save your fish, that's the goal after all!

[@j0j0kay]

did this end up working?

[@jawbreaker90210]

I believe this is what made me quit the hobby 10 years ago. All my fish died. I believe it came from the guppies. I'm back in the hobby now and hoping this doesn't find me again!

[@eSHaLabs]

Sorry to hear, these are quite nasty creatures. At least you know how to treat it now 🥳

[@skytacos1323]

i put a sick ram cichlid in my new 55 gal with some cool cichlids, (the thing was swimming spinning, spinal bend, Ect), and now both of my tanks are infested with these things, and i need treatment ASAP. stupid me.

[@eSHaLabs]

This has happened to all of us at some point 🫣 Get yourself some eSHa -ndx and let us know if it worked for your case!

[@FRD-HDD]

Your videos deserve a wide audience

[@eSHaLabs]

Thank you, we appreciate that! 😁

[@louierosellosa7210]

I just saw this video and am currently experiencing this parasite in my fishes, sadly the meds you're using in the video isn't available here in the Philippines. Is there any advice you can give me to help treat it?

[@eSHaLabs]

If you can get your hands on levamisole, that should work.

[@Spacey7]

Im having problems diagnosing my female Guppies & have tried esha gdx for the recommended two cycles & fins unclamped & i thought id cured them. But today i have 2 femalesswimming strangely & 1 dead. Ive added some epsom salts & need to know what to treat them with & if the treatment is ok with epsom salts? Im so lost with why my girls are dying. Tank water parameters are ok, ive added crushed coral & seachem equalibrium to improve the kh & ph. Still l8sing my guppies though! Please can you help?

[@eSHaLabs]

Could you please send us some videos of your fish? You can contact us at [e-mail] or through or website eshalabs.com. It is hard to tell what's wrong without seeing your fish and without a microscope unfortunately.

[@rasmusnilsson123]

The information from your biologist here in the comments and your overall coverage is awesome. Becouse,on the forums these discussions is a messssss. I am sorry for my bad English.

[@eSHaLabs]

Thank you very much for your kind words, we try our best! 😁

[@rasmusnilsson123]

What is your thoughts on fenbendazole?:) In Europe their aint any medz with fenbendazole. Only for others animals. You should make a fenbendazole product, like fenbendazole food

[@user-tc1hp9fu8t]

Is the medicine harmful to live plants ? I have a jewel cichlid and I just noticed a Bunch of those worms sticking out of him today.

[@eSHaLabs]

eSHa -ndx won't harm your plants 😉

[@shinemendwoor]

How long does it take to starve these worms to death? Say I had a infestation and i took away all the fish in the tank. How long till tank becomes safe again?

[@eSHaLabs]

Great question! We will be answering this is an upcoming video, but to answer your question: after treating with eSHa -ndx, you syphon the bottom and gravel and remove dead or paralyzed worms and eggs. But because the worms lay eggs, it is wise to treat with eSHa -ndx again after 2 weeks, so that the new worms also die. After that, you can use the tank again after 2 days.

[@janestokes7000]

It’s only my female guppy’s that have this nasty worm . I’ve lost quite a few. I have been treating the tank and I managed to remove the worms. I’ve now added the medicine you said would work. I have a load of fry’s I hope they will be ok. Thank you for your advice x

[@eSHaLabs]

Good luck! Please let us know if we can help you in any way!

[@FreddyBonnieChicaFoxy]

My multiple species of guppies in my tank but all the fish of one particular species have a white object protruding between the fins. But as they are all the same species, I do not know whether it is a genetic factor or a parasite. Please help me!😣

[@eSHaLabs]

Hmm, that's hard to say without pictures. Could you send us pictures of your fish to [e-mail], including all the info you have? Thank you!

[@kellycasperhanson4426]

Excellent video! Great information with exceptional images. I just found a a small clump of red worms in my tank. I looked at them under magnification and saw eggs in some of them. Do they have a phase where the female has eggs before they become larvae internally? None of my fish are losing weight and I haven't seen any worms protruding from their bodies. I breed bristlenose plecos and I need to be sure if they need treatment because I sell them to local fish stores. Thank you!

[@eSHaLabs]

We are extremely sorry for not answering your question! To answer it: it could be that you have oligochaeta aquatic worms in your tank. Please Google it and see if this is what you see in your tank. If your fish are not affected by the worms, it is not necessary to treat them, because these are not parasitic. If you can, please send us pictures of the worms via our website: www.eshalabs.com/contact/

[@kellycasperhanson4426]

@@eSHaLabs Hey, I'm sooooo impressed you were able to reply at all! I'm sure you're quite busy! Thank you for the information👍. I did conclude the worms were not the parasitic kind, thankfully!!!! I spent LOTS of time observing fish bellies, looking for those nasty worms. They certainly are a scourge to fish keepers and I didn't want to have afflicted fish 😡. I sell bristlenose plecos to local fish stores and did NOT want to be selling disease carriers! Fortunately, my babies are healthy, fat and sassy💗. Thank you so much for your time and knowledge!

[@kellycasperhanson4426]

@@eSHaLabs I forgot to mention that I will try to get those pics sent to you. Thanks again!

[@camillamoen7530]

Many people say you need medicated food to get rid of internal parasites, what’s your opinion on this?

[@eSHaLabs]

It can certainly work, but eSHa -ndx/ eSHa gdex / eSHa alx proof you don't need medicated food to get rid of internal parasites 😉

[@GG-mu4wg]

Great info! Will the paralyzed worms re-infect fish if they're eaten back up?

[@eSHaLabs]

The paralyzed worms will eventually die, so normally they will not re-infect fish. Eggs on the other can hatch after a few days, that's why we advise to repeat the treatment after 14 days.

[@liselottragnar8391]

Hi! Great information👍🏻 Would it help to raise the temperature and add some salt to complement the treatment?

[@eSHaLabs]

Good day, it is not recommended to change the temperature during treatment, because fish are stressed from the treatment already, so increasing temperature would only make them more uncomfortable. There is also no need for salt.

[@liselottragnar8391]

@@eSHaLabs Thank you!

[@DennyMK007]

Watching this video, I was like, here is another seller that just wants to grab your money, but after reading your answers in the comments I realized I was so wrong! You’re trying to help people who didn’t buy your product which changed my first opinion instantly. After reading the long elaborate about the camallanus life cycle, I’d buy the product to show my appreciation of your knowledge with viewers trying to help them save their fish. My greatest respect and appreciation! Unfortunately I can’t find your product here in the USA 😢 . The least I can do is to subscribe to your channel (which I just did) ❤. I also have a few questions : 1. I’d like to mix levamisole in fish food along with treating the water with the same product. What would be the ratio of levamisole to fish food? I’ll also use a binding agent (Seachem Focus) so that levamisole binds to the food. 2. Should I wrap the aquarium in tinfoil while treating it with levamisole to darken it completely because of photo sensitivity of levamisole, or just turning the light off will be sufficient? 3. I have two planted tanks with cross contaminated fish (only one fish has worms showing out its butt) and thinking of removing the substrate and plants to treat the fish in bear bottom tank to easily remove the dropped off parasites. Is it really necessary? Thanks in advance! ❤❤❤

[@eSHaLabs]

Thank you for the kind words, we try our best! We are a small team, working hard to properly inform fish keepers and at the same time providing solutions to their problems. We think it is best to keep in touch with our audience, because they learn from us, but we also learn from them. Regarding our products: we are working on entering the American market, but it takes time unfortunately. Regarding your questions: I will forward them to our biologist.

[@eSHaLabs]

Regarding your questions: 1. Unfortunately, we do not have any experience mixing levamisole with fish food. We also are not sure how levamisole would react with Seachem Focus, so perhaps it would be best to contact Seachem about this. 2. eSHa -ndx is also a levamisole product and our research shows no differences in the effect of levamisole with the lights on or off. 3. It would be great if you can remove everything from the tank, but the treatment should also work if you don't. Just make sure you clean the bottom and treat again after 14 days. The absolute best would be to put your fish in a quarantine tank, if you have one.

[@DennyMK007]

@@eSHaLabs I'd be among the first ones to buy your products if you make it to the USA market. Make sure to implement the American measuring system: US gallons, fluid ounces, etc. along with the metric. ;)

[@DennyMK007]

Thanks for the very fast response! Thank you so much! I was watching your videos and almost watched every single one of them (~95%) 😉. Love the videos, especially the microscope ones. This channel is so underrated and deserves much more subscribers and likes! 1. Too bad you don't have experience mixing levamisole in fish food 😞 . Copied from Seachem site: Focus is an antibacterial polymer for internal infections of fish. Focus is primarily intended to be mixed with food and/or other medications to make them palatable to fish and greatly reduce the loss of medication to the water through diffusion. Active ingredient: polymer bound nitrofurantoin (0.1%) 2. I have Fritz Aquatics: Expel-P which is levamisole hydrochloride. In the directions they say: "Standard Treatment: Use 1 packet Expel-P per 10 gallons (38 L) of water. Perform a 25% water change taking care to remove excreted worms/parasites after 24 hours. Repeat the treatment one week later to prevent reinfection. Repeat weekly treatments as necessary." "The active ingredient is light sensitive; turn off aquarium lights during first 24 hours of treatment". I kinda like your approach better, e.g. dosing 3 days in a row. 3. I will definitely remove the substrate and plants to live the tanks bear bottoms. But this begs another question: 4. How do I disinfect the plants that I'm going to remove from the tanks since the camallanus larvae is impossible to kill?

[@eSHaLabs]

@@DennyMK007 In our experience eSHa -ndx is not light sensitive, but we can't give you a definitive answer for products from other manufacturers. It would be best to turn the lights off when in doubt. Regarding the plants: you could leave the plants in and treat them as well. The larvae will hatch after 2 weeks, so if you do another treatment then, you should get rid of all of them. In special cases (e.g. if problems persist) the treatment can be repeated after another 2 weeks.

[@joeyskinner8366]

So it doesn’t kill the worms??

[@eSHaLabs]

eSHa -ndx does eventually kill the worms, but first they get paralized and fall to the bottom of your aquarium. The reason we mention to siphon the bottom is to get rid of the dead worms, but also the eggs. If you wouldn't siphon the bottom, there is a chance your fish get sick from pollution of the water.

[@Hala_And_Reem]

Hi I bought a small fish and I noticed that there is a red thread sticking out of it from under each minute the red thread grows longer and longer and when I remove it another one grows back idk what’s the issue can u help?

[@eSHaLabs]

It might be internal worms, could you send us pictures or a video through our contact form? You can find it here: eshalabs.com/contact/

[@Hala_And_Reem]

I’ll try

[@Hala_And_Reem]

Hi I tried to open the link but it’s not working

[@Hala_And_Reem]

Can I post the picture on my yt channel?

[@eSHaLabs]

@@Hala_And_Reem Please email us at [e-mail].

[@emmathecabbage]

been waiting for this video! although i have a question. ive been going through all my vet and parasite books and loadssss of articles about these worms but i cant seem to find the details on the timings of the life cycle. like how long does it take for the worms to mature throught the stages. i got some wild guppies with some wild shrimp/snails. the guppies got camallanus (cotti specifically i believe) so i was going to move them into a quarentine tank for 3 weeks of medicated food treatment (fenbendazol) then move them back in the original tank. but will the shrimp/ crustations still be carrying the worm or the worm be free-living in the tank when i put them back 3 weeks later? basically how long can they live without a fish host present? and can the spread vertically (ie from crustation to crustation?)

[@eSHaLabs]

Hello Emma, great questions! We will try to find out and get back to you as soon as possible!

[@emmathecabbage]

@@eSHaLabs thank you so much! I look forward to your response!

[@eSHaLabs]

@@emmathecabbage Hi Emma, thank you for your interest. The answer from our biologist: According to literature, the duration of development of Camallanidae larvae ranges from 1 to 8 weeks and directly depends on the water temperature. At a water temperature of 20-22 ° C, the development of the Camallanus lacustris larva in the intermediate host is 10-11 days. Free-living larvae of Camallanus cotti are able to survive in an open environment outside the host for more than 3 weeks, according to some sources up to 3 months, but the older the larva, the weaker it becomes and its infectious activity decreases. In other works we found information that the larvae of Camallanus Cotti are able to infect fish (the definitive host) without participating in the development cycle of an intermediate host (arthropods). The prepatent period, that is, the period during which the larva in the definitive host grows into an adult sexually mature individual, is also about 3 months. There is no vertical distribution from arthropod to arthropod. But, if the intermediate host was eaten by the facultative host and then the facultative host was eaten by the definitive host, the survival rate of the helminth larvae is drastically reduced. Therefore, any fight against this parasite should consist not only of the removal of adults from the body of the fish, but also the destruction of free-living larvae, in compliance with the timing of their development. Reference: -Transmission Ecology and larval behaviour of Camallanus cotti (Nematoda, Camallanidae) under aquarium condition. Arne Levsen, Aquarium Science and Conversation 3(4): 301-311, 2001. -Nematodes of freshwater fishes of the Neotropical region. Frantisek Moravec, 1998. -Parasitic Nematodes of freshwater fishes of Europe. Frantisek Moravec, 2013. The question and answer in plain English: Q. How long will Camallanus survive in an aquarium without fish? A. Camallanus can survive in the aquarium without fish for at least 3 weeks and maybe 3 months Q. Can Camallanus survive and spread amongst shrimps or other crustaceans A. Some Camallanus need shrimp(or similar) to develop but do not spread amongst them. These Camallanus spread when the shrimp are eaten by fish, and then the fish is infected. How to get rid of Camallanus? Treat the aquarium because they can be everywhere. Our product eSHa-ndx, which contains Levamisole*, can be used against Camallanus and other nematodes. The standard treatment works sufficient in most cases. For egg laying nematode worms repeat after two weeks. (Read leaflet before use) Several companies offer products against nematodes for sale in aquarium and pet shops in the UK. *In the UK fenbendazole for ornamental fish needs a vet prescription, levamisole products are available in pet shops without prescription. (VMD approved actives list as in force at 2022 01 26)

[@emmathecabbage]

@@eSHaLabs oh my goodness. You guys are absolutely amazing! Your biologist (and you) have my greatest thanks. You’ve cleared up my confusion and curiosity so much and so well. You have no idea how many hours I’ve spent reading articles and going through books only to go in the same small circle of information and get nowhere. I really appreciate you guys for answering my question so well and look forward to all your future videos. Thanks again Emma.

[@eSHaLabs]

@@emmathecabbage You are very welcome! 😁

[@mennocomfurius7980]

Thnx doe The Good help. It’s amazing!!!

[@miriades]

Hi, thanks for your work against these parasites! Some of my fishes got callamanus cotti. I also have a lot of shrimps and neritina snails in the planted tank. Is Esha-Ndx safe for the shrimps and snails ? If not, how to manage the treatment when there is also invertebrates in the tank? The tank is 450 liters. Thanks

[@eSHaLabs]

Good day! Good question! eSHa -ndx can be used with snails and shrimp (freshwater). You can find a compatibility list on our website: www.eshalabs.com/compatibility/

[@miriades]

@@eSHaLabs Thank you for your reply. I have neritina snails. They are used in fresh water aquariums but also can live in salt water, especially when they have to lay eggs. Does this make them considered salt water snails?

[@eSHaLabs]

@@miriades eSHa -ndx is safe to use with Neritina snails. For ease of mind you can always have fresh active carbon on standby to add to the filter, if you see anything out of the ordinary.

[@miriades]

@@eSHaLabs thanks. I will make some tests.

[@Hala_And_Reem]

eSHaLabs the link is not working

[@eSHaLabs]

What link? Just copy this into your email: [e-mail]

[@super12g07]

Can I add another dose after a 50% water change after the first 24hr period if there are still worms in my fishes bums? Thanks.

[@eSHaLabs]

Are you sure that these are worms? Did you treat the aquarium for the right volume? Normally we advise to do another treatment after 2 weeks because of hatched eggs. It is quite rare that these worms are still there after the first treatment. Perhaps you could send us some pictures (eshalabs.com/contact) and we can take a look!

[@thehelpfulhobbyist5355]

Hi. Please do a video on Detritus worms?

[@eSHaLabs]

We'll add it to the list!

[@lindseypie9771]

Is this treatment safe for snails and shrimp

[@eSHaLabs]

Yes 😁 but only in fresh water aquariums

[@diddyxgi]

Wiped my guppies! Horrible disease! Does it affect the fish fry?

[@eSHaLabs]

Unfortunately yes, Camallanus can affect fish fry.

[@mm-bt5dq]

Hi, I think I have this worm. I didn’t know about your product, so I already purchased "panacur” doggy dewormer. Is it safe for fish, shrimps and plants? It says it contains 222mg/g of fenbendazole. How much of this should I put in the fish food? I heard it won’t dissolve in water so it won’t kill larvae in the water? Sorry for such a lot of questions! And thank you for the informative video!

[@eSHaLabs]

Good day, unfortunately we can't tell you if this product is safe for fish, shrimp and plants. We do not know the exact contents of this treatment, so even although it contains fenbendazole, we do not recommend using it with fish, because it is probably not tested on fish. Please be careful.

[@user-su2gf9fe4h]

Im disheartened just found out one of my fish got infected with camallanus worms

[@eSHaLabs]

In what stage is your fish? Is most cases it is perfectly treatable.

[@watervaampire2]

So I think that I have this in my tank. However it's popped up a few times and I treat each time and after each treatment it seems to go away. Here's my question though, I only notice it on my female guppies. No other fish that I can tell are infected or have symptoms and the females don't last long after I see the little red worms protruding. Is it possible that I have a different infection or something happening in my tank that are effecting my female guppies?

[@eSHaLabs]

Hello, good question! First of all - although rare - it is possible that the Camallanus worms prefer the guppies. It could be that your fish are also infected with egg-laying Capillaria, so we recommend to always repeat the treatment after 2 weeks, when the eggs hatch. To determine what your fish suffer from, we recommend to do an examination with a microscope of the fish itself or the feces, but we understand this might be difficult. It could also be, for example - there are other possibilities - Capillaria. Can you take some photos of your fish and send them to us through our website? Please use our contact form: www.eshalabs.com/contact

[@pencilsketches5556]

I have this on only females also. Does this just effect the female fish because in the video he mentioned that they were female guppies

[@terrylapierre5057]

My guppy died from a red worm, but it was either attached or protruding through the center of the stomach area, not through the anus. Can this still be a camallanus red worm? The guppy died because I tried to remove the worm and my surgical skills weren't good enough.

[@eSHaLabs]

Yes, this could certainly be Camallanus. The fish probably didn't die from you trying to remove the worm, if we had to guess, the fish was full of worms at this point already. They can break through the stomach if there are too many of them in there.

[@AnnaVentris]

I’ve just noticed my albino bristlenose pleco with these red hair like strings sticking out from her anus. This is incredibly helpful thank you! She is a part of my community tank, so you recommend to treat with the medication in isolation or the whole tank?

[@eSHaLabs]

You can try to treat it in isolation and hope that only this fish was infected, but chances are you have to treat the whole tank.

[@JyajAquaticPlants]

Very deadly and nasty parasites worm