[lookimawave]

I've had a healthy tank for about a yr now. About a week ago I added some new plants, some khuli loaches, and a goby from my LFS, and some bettas from Petco. Thurs I noticed the bettas had some white spots and started heat/salt treatment for Ick, my platy is also looking kinda bloated and clamping fins, and some of my fish have kind of a golden sheen, so maybe I have velvet also. I figured while I was already treating, it would be a good time to add more. So on Fri I picked up what I thought was 2 golden rams, from 2 diff tanks at Petco. It turns out it's actually 1 Golden Ram and 1 Red Chromide. Late Sat night, while I was researching I realized that the Golden Ram might have Camallanus worms!! :icon_eek: So the infected fish was prob in my tank for ~36hrs. I took him out and put him in a little one gal by my radiator so its about 75 degrees.

I don't know what to do about the rest of the fish

Should I put the Red Chromide in quarantine with Golden Ram? They were housed in diff tanks in the shop but they came home with me in the same bag. Chromide looks healthy and really inquisitive and I really like it, but I also learned that it's a brackish fish and since I have plants and a pleco, I can't really add salt. I don't want to unnecessarily infect the Chromide if it's prob not already infected but maybe I should return it anyway bc it's brackish?

Now the big question. Should I treat my whole tank for Camallanus now? Or wait and see if anything develops? Treatment sounds really harsh and I don't want to do it if I don't have to, but if 36 hrs is long enough that my tank is def infected, it's better to do it now and nip it in the bud right? Also I'm already doing daily sand vacs for the ick and velvet so maybe this will help get rid of the Cmallanus.

Also, I'm not sure if this is related, but last week while I was switching from gravel to sand, I saw a red worm about 3/4 of an inch long at the bottom of the tank. At first I thought this was from the frozen bloodworms I'm feeding, like maybe some eggs got in the tank and hatched. One of my killies at it. Now i'm worried that was actually a parasite. However, none of the other fish have butt worms, just the new guy.

Heeeelp, my tank is falling apart :icon_cry:

Tank is a 20 gal with bettas, rummynose tetras, platys, killis, khulis, goby, pleco, nerite snails, and red chromide

 

[Ashnic05]

If it were me, I wouldn't bother quarantining the chromide and just treat the whole tank for everything to be on the safe side. Don't mix medications though, that will cause more problems. The petco near me has a horrid reputation for transferring illnesses to home aquariums so if you can shop elsewhere, I'd highly suggest it. IMO since the Chromide is brackish, I would find someone with a brackish tank and rehome him. You want him to have the healthiest life possible and if that's not in your tank, you can at least make sure he goes to someone who is committed to a healthy aquarium. Good luck!

 

[In.a.Box]

Why add more problem when there already problem?
Always look at the fish before you buy it. Also QT new fish for 1-2 week before you add them to.the.main tank.

 

[lookimawave]

Ick getting worse

Thx for posts. Ya, I don't have a decent setup for qt tank, guess I really should get one.

For Camallanus, I would really like to avoid treatment if all possible, not only does it require a rare chemical, but it also involves 4 100% water changes. As my fish are already not well, I doubt they would all survive the water changes.

I would really love to be pointed to someone who has a lot of experience with Camallanus.

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Ick has gotten worse, not better, since I started heat/salt treatment on Friday (it's now Sun night). I've read all sorts of dosing, from 3tbsp/gal to 1tsp/10 gal and temps from 80-88. I have my tank at 82 and using 2tsp/10gal since I have plants, a pleco, and kuhli loaches. Do I need to up salt/temp? Or do things usually look worse before they get better? :icon_conf

 

[austinramirez]

It was explained to me once that raising the temp doesn't kill off the ick immediately, but speeds up the life cycle so it dies sooner. That might be why you are seeing more ick.

What makes you think the ram has camallanus worms?

 

[rileynapalm]

Having inverts in your tank is definitely going to complicate things. Coppersafe is usually recommend for velvet outbreaks, but that's not gonna work with your snails or loaches. You can probably use acriflavin... But I hate that stuff. It can stain your gravel to be a yellow/greenish color. You definitely need to keep your tank from getting any sort of light. Those parasites need light to function. Also bump your heater up to mid 80's. SLOWLY of course... Do a few degrees in the morning and a few in the evening. This will speed up the lifecycle of the parasites. You can also treat with a saltwater mixture if you're concerned about using a harsh medication.

Here's a good link that probably be more specific than anything I could write up.
http://www.fishchannel.com/fish-health/freshwater-conditions/velvet-disease.aspx

Give it a read and see if it seems like something you'd feel comfortable trying. But you should definitely have to treat the tank. The parasites can be on everything. Plants, rocks, filter media, EVERYTHING! Best of luck and let us know what you decide on!

 

[rileynapalm]

Also a good parasite cure is metro ms. I love that stuff.

 

[lookimawave]

It was explained to me once that raising the temp doesn't kill off the ick immediately, but speeds up the life cycle so it dies sooner. That might be why you are seeing more ick.

What makes you think the ram has camallanus worms?

It's got little red hairs sticking out of its butt... Apparently it could be one of 2 diff nematode parasites but the treatment is the same. Could be Capillari too or something like that. I've never owned a Ram before but maybe he's looking kind of sluggish too?

 

[wkndracer]

I would really love to be pointed to someone who has a lot of experience with Camallanus.

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http://www.inkmkr.com/Fish/CamellanusTreatment.pdf

 

[lookimawave]

http://www.inkmkr.com/Fish/CamellanusTreatment.pdf

Thank you I actually emailed this guy already on Sat night but so far no response

I think it's prob prudent to just go ahead and treat the tank with the chemical he mentions and sells, but I wonder if I should treat at the same time as the salt/heat for the ick or wait until the ick clears up?

 

[marko d]

He will get back to you. Took a couple days for him to get to me but he did, and he had the levamisole shipped before I had even sent my PayPal.

I would treat for everything else before starting levamisole. I'm not real experienced or knowledgeable about levamisole/camallanus worms, but I have used it once. Some fish take it better than others, but all the fish I've seen exposed to it were acting strange or not acting much at all, and chilling at the bottom. Just make sure you treat for 72 hours or whatever it says. It can be hard watching your fish, but in the long run, best to let it all run the course it needs to!

I might get to go thru the whole ordeal again, 1 of the 2 blue rams I just picked up seems to have the clear, stringy waste. Thanks, PetSmart.

Good luck!