Possible camallanus worms - Treatment?

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Proximus

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Sep 13, 2009
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Norway
Hi,

Just brought in a new wild caught stingray, and today i noticed some long brown/red worms coming out of it`s vent. From looking at pictures online i am pretty sure they are camallanus worms.

All my other tanks where treated with Sera Tremazol not long ago, and i have some left that i was thinking to use on her. Would that work? Sera also have a product called Nematol that kills off different types of parasites, would that be a better choice?

I know that Tremazol is safe to use on stingrays, but i have not found any information about Nematol(?).
 
You need to find the actual names of the active ingredients. Camallanus are nematodes so you need fenbedazole or levamisole.
 
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Tremazol looks to be for flukes and tapeworms. Not sure about callamus worms or nematodes and it’s use.

Can try levamisole and repeat the dosing (x2).
 
Tremazol is probably praziquantel which treats cestodes and some trematodes.
 
Yes, Tremazol contains praziquantel. Though so far i don`t seem to find any specific information about the Nematol, other than this: "It is based on a patented Emamectin/solvent complex, highly effective and easy to dose. sera med Professional Nematol is particularly effective against Camallanus and round worms of the genus Capillaria".

I found someone that sells Levamisole on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/25-Grams-P...ium-De-Wormer-Parasite-Medicine-/122288600989

So i should probably go for that. In addition to you mentioning it, i also just saw that Levamisole is listed on the "list of medications that are safe for stingray", at the sticky thread section of the forum.

Going to do a bit more research on Sera Nematol first, and hopefully someone here may have experience with this medication too.
 
Managed to take pictures of it just now. As the ray was taking a dump they went even further out of the vent. From what i read Camallanus only reach a few millimeters in size, but i just measured the biggest one to be about 4 cm long. And thats obviously only the part one can see.

Heck..

Worm (2).JPG



Worm (3).JPG
 
Look a little different than callamus worms. Maybe a dead one. Would still treat it as is.
 
Treat for nematodes first then cestodes. It's one or the other.

I know enamectin has been studied for use in fish but wasn't aware it's being used in a commercial product.

Fenbendazole is probably the safest but it has to be fed orally so I blend it into gel food when it's being made. That encapsulates it quite well so it doesn't wash off in the water. It also makes it more palatable. Praziquantel (for when you deal with cestodes) is very bitter and I've had trouble getting pets to consume it unless encapsulated in a gel food.

There are some safety concerns with levamisole. There were also some doubts that it would work at pH > 7.
 
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I have finished two treatments with praziquantel (Sera Tremazol), and next in line is the levamisole. I decided to checked some fresh poop today as i was finally able to find some, two hours after i mixed in the levamisole. Placed it under the microscope (probably should have done that before i treated with prazi too, to possibly get a clue), and check this out:


I have looked at a lot of stingray poop (not very knowledgeable when it comes to identifying what i see though)... never seen anything like this. Tell me that is not eggs. There where no movement in there, no worms crawling around.

By the way the poop was extremely bad-smelling, even though it was fresh.
 
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