Hi, thanks for your reply! This morning i checked the shrimp tank, and as hard as i tried i just couldnt get a good picture of the tetra... All i have is a small 5MP Camers and the fish keeps moving constantly. The silver angel, which hadnt been eating in the community tank met its maker and got devoured by the shrimps. I threw what was left of her down the garage sink... I looked for any worms which might have escaped her body in the gravel but i couldnt find any... The tetra is swimming normally, but there is a gaping hole in its anus, and the dreaded thin red spines are still sticking out...

yes it's not easy to take photos of fish...i jsut received a good Nikon Camera as a gift and i m still having difficulties in taking good photos. an adult worm is approx 1cm...and if you have gravel it's practically impossible to notice it. The worm is red since it sucks blood from the fish...and yes it looks like spikes..few mm out of the anus....and as u said it hardly moves...the reason is that the spike is just the tip of its tail.......during treatment with leva the worm gets paralysed and loses its grip from the fish's stomach and then it's the fish;s turn to try to expel it out. I spent hours testing the worm separately in small jars. When it;s out of the fish, it does move, but not fast....u can see blood going up and down, by just using a magnifying glass...and can live outside it;s host for 3 days for sure.

Im really getting worried not because of my tanks, but because before i discovered this, i had been using the shrimp tank occasionally to let pregant swordtails drop in them... And a couple of days ago, i gave away a couple of cherry shrimp to a friend, who, of all fish, has discus. I hope i dont kill everything with fins hes got... 

Ouch....check your swords....it;s not easy to check...even when it comes to mollies.....the female guppies are the easiest to check....if your swords are ok the fingers crossed that no larvae were passed over to the shrimps....and subsequently to your friend....i suggest you should inform him.....before it;s too late.....it takes 6 weeks for the worms to show....but since you confirmed that an angel has worms, then 99% even your swords and all other fish in the tank have camallanus.

So these are the tanks. I have a 150 litre community tank, with several plants, synodontis, tetras, swordtails, and 8 angelfish, on which only one i managed to spot worms... Which by the way look exactly like this: 

The photo failed to upload

Although there are less worms on the fish. They have a blood red colour, theyre thinner than a needle and dont really move about or bend the part outside the fish... They just sit there like spikes... Thats why at first i thought a few of the fishs ribs were sticking out...

The community tank i just mentioned has an external 1000l/hour filter which i cleaned out two days ago. It has no peat, no zeolite, no carbon... Just the white felt like material and the white rings the bacteria grow on..

Anyway, then i have a 13litre cherry shrimp tank running on a sponge filter... With over a hundred shrimp. Next to it, theres a 15 litre tank which i use to raise swordtail fry, of which there are currently about 70, and all look fine (for now)... With the fry there are just a couple of shrimp, a corydoras, a sponge filter , some gravel and a piece of driftwood. Then theres a small 10litre tank with some gravel and a mass of java moss and a couple of pieces of moss balls, and a few shrimp, but no fish. Then, theres the 90 litre tank with a couple of crayfish growing in cold water. This tank runs on a 630l/hour hang on filter with nothing but those white rings inside it...

As regards fry, they seem to be more immune to the nematode (in my case). however keep observing since i noticed some guppy fry which had like whitish stool attached...and it stayed there for days....and i assume it must have been the nematode...or infections caused by the worm. Unfortunately i have seen even 1 cm guppies having a 5mm worm attached ! it;s horrible.

Thanks for the link, ill be sure to check it out whenever i can. Meanwhile, ill see if the situation gets any worse... The single angel still in the community tank on which i saw one or two worms looks ok, though the worms are not visible anymore. Its quite strange... Whenever i pick the infected fish to take a good look, the worms withdraw back into the fish... I doubt if its possible to take a good look of them under my microscope...

The worm is intelligent jerome.....dont trust it....if the worms are not visible..it does not mean that they died....they are just inside.....i had guppies who had even 4 or 5 worms inside ! with leva they expelled them within 24 hours ! I The worm withdraws back since its hooks are attached to the fish's stomach and it can move its tail in and out.

This couldnt have come at a worse time. As soon as i get back from the easter holidays were getting a torrent of tests, and i lost many hours of studying because of this dreaded worm... Why, by now, theres quite a good chance that it might be camallanus... Anyway... Thanks for all your help. Ill keep you posted.

Ps i will send you a pm with the source of the fish...

Cheers

Jerome

I can understand you....but your tests are more important...just use your breaks to take care of the fish.....i have 3 kids....so the only time i have is after they sleep......i thank my wife for all the patience.....it;s quite stressful....not only physical.....i used to spend nights on the internet reading about this worm...but i took it as a challenge.....hope we ll manage to eliminate these pests from our tanks.

pegasus

Jerome,

Be careful, do not use those instructions if you'll buy levamisole HCl from Agrimed since dosage might vary. As i said, make sure that it is intended for Aquarium fish before you buy.

If the fish is heavily infested with worms, it is obvious that they lose appetite....the worms suck the fish blood, that's why the worms are red.

As regards larvae, they are very small, and fish might digest them & the worm will develop inside the fish's stomach. I m afriad that the larvae can survive for a couple of days outside the host. If there are no fish in the tank, then I assume they will die within a couple of days (but always ask Charles Harrison, he;s the expert). What's worrying me is that in the tank in which you had the tetra you had other fish...and even though no worms are visible at the moment (and hope they won;t) they can be hiding inside the other fish. Camallanus is such a bad pest that it;s resistable and it doesn't die by itself.  

I had a tank with guppies (adults and fry). In this tank i never saw any worms.....and i was sure that i never used nets or equipment from other infected tanks....to be on the safe side i also avoided to use buckets.,..to make water changes....i used new plastic bottle.....and once used, i threw them away and replaced with new ones. 2 weeks ago i decided to treat the tank with Levamisole HCl, since i saw a couple of fry with whitish stool.....which was suspicious.....everything went fine after treatment....fry had no more whitish material attached....and did not lose a single fish during or after treatment. Then last Sunday to my dismay i saw a female guppy with a worm attached !!! CAMALLANUS AGAIN.....however the worm was protruding and curled....so there is / was a high chance that the worm was dead and was being expelled. Immediately on Sunday eve i used my last dose of dissolved levamisole HCl to treat the tank again. Yesterday eve i tried to have a look at the guppy but could not see the worm...however it was difficult to spot since the tank is planted and the guppies keep hiding behind....i also tried to have a look this morning but could not spot the worm.....hopefully the guppy managed to expel it. Mr Harrison told me that to be on the safe side, i have to wait for 6-8 weeks.....and i have to spend a lot of time everyday to check that there are no more worms.....it;s becoming stressful and boring....at least i have another packet of Levamisole HCl jsut in case the worm raises its head again. Positive news (fingers crossed): no more worms in a tank which was heavily infested..so the treatment worked fine.

Another thing, once the host dies, the worm tries to escape and looks for another victim....so make sure you remove dead fish.....i managed to actually see a worm pushing it;s way out of the victim and wiggling around...waiting for another fish to swallow it...i was lucky enough to pick it on time...and spent days making tests on the worm....it is so resistable that even if dipped in Vermox (which you can buy from pharmacies) to clear any worms in human stomachs / guts.....the worm still survives.....only a high dosage of salt managed to kill it. 

jerome, keep observing your fish 3 times a day and keep us updated pls. If i were you I would still try to buy levamisole HCl from Agrimed just in case.

Pegasus