Camallanus infection

Duncansultan

Hi,

I'm trying to get my hands "wet" in Aquaponics with a small 10 gallon setup.

I've had 4 Platy fish slowly weaken and pass away. I noticed that they have small red threads protruding out of their anus. After doing research I believe I'm dealing with a Camallanus infection. It appears the fish are directly infecting each other as even the Juveniles are infected. This would indicate Camallanus Cotti.

From my research there are two possible treatments to cure the nematode infection, Fenbendazole and Levamisole. However, looking up these medications reveals they may not be good for human health. Since I'm growing herbs and vegetables in the grow bed I'm concerned that any medication used in treating the fish will end up in the produce.

I read that Camallanus Cotti is viable for 3 generations. Does that mean that the nematodes will eventually breed themselves out of existence?

The corydoras hasbrosus don't appear to be infected. Although, I have noticed some occasionally flashing. Are they immune to the parasite?

There is precious little information available online on how to treat these nematodes in an aquaponics system.

Does anyone have any experience or advice that could be of help?

Thanks so much for your help.

Here is the exact setup:

Tank: Brio 35 http://www.brioaquaponics.com/brio35.htm

Stock:
-- 2 Platy adults and 8 Juveniles
-- 6 Corydoras Hasbrosis
-- 1 Female Betta
-- 4 Amano Shrimp
-- 4 Cherry Shrimp
-- 1 Nerite Snail

Aquarium Plants:
-- Jungle Val
-- Water Wisteria
-- Anubias
-- Christmas Moss

Grow-bed Plants:
-- Sweet Basil
-- Oregano
-- English Thyme
-- Lemon Thyme

Water Parameters:
-- Ammonia: 0ppm
-- Nitrites: 0ppm
-- Nitrates: 20ppm
-- Ph: 7.8
-- Phosphates: 2.0ppm
-- Temperature: 78 F

skeggley

Hi mate, whenever I introduce new fish into my system I try to quarantine and heavily salt to remove parasites. I set up a system solely for this purpose when I was running trout. Unfortunately only celery thrived in this system. Fortunately the celery was deliciously salty..
Not sure how the nematodes could be controlled once in the system though.

Mgessert

Those are some ugly worms. I have a few observations based on what I’ve read. If you medicate the pet fish, I would move them to a treatment tank so as not to expose the edible plants to the medication. Also, I read that the infectious larvae can survive for three weeks in the water, so I would leave the fish out of system for that time. Fish can live with a small number of parasites if their immune system is strong, which requires healthy water, plenty of space, and good food and, unfortunately, quarantining fish doesn’t necessarily insure that they don’t have internal parasites. I couldn’t find any drug treatments that are approved for use in food fish in the US, but you could check with a commercial fishery. I’m just a retired farm veterinarian who has become interested in fish, and I’m sure others on this forum have more knowledge on the topic than I do.

Mgessert

I see that the meds are toxic to snails and shrimp so I wouldn’t treat them. And crustaceans can carry the parasites. Here’s a good article, even though it’s on a commercial website.

https://petcentral.chewy.com/how-to-tre ... rium-fish/

MariusMarinus

you almost have to separate the fish and treat in a "hospital tank". I actually have the Brio35 too never heard or seen anybody else have one ;-)

I love it

mostly the shrimp and snails wont be affected by the same parasites than the fish are. So maybe safe to leave them in the brio, then treat the fish in seperate tank and while doing this treat the brio with 3g/litre salt for the duration hoping that by the time you put the fish back the parasite "starved" in the brio as no hosts in there and struggling with salt. Amanos wont like it too much and certainly your plants wont.
if you are worried about food safety of an aquaponics system salt is really the only option i know of.

I am not an expert but maybe it helps you...

Aufin

You and I have/had a similar situation. Instead of the critters being infected, my situation involved rootknot nematodes, which infest and kill the plants. I tried for 2 seasons to rid the beds of the RKN's by "pecking around the edges" of the problem........I didnt want to start over. My system is 800 gal FT supporting around 40 adult tilapia, feeding 4 growbeds filled with sand. I finally gave in and sacrificed all the plants and moved the fish to a temporary tank so I could treat them differently while I heavily dosed the sandbeds.. Since your system is a small desktop size system, I think your best plan of attack would be to move the fish to a temp home where they can be treated, and replace everything porous in your system that can provide a place for your invaders to hide. ...those clay balls make great hiding places. It might cost a few dollars, but starting over with clean components will save you lots of time and anguish, and give you peace of mind that you're not ingesting some kinda evil chemical that you shouldnt. And, I would still treat the fishless tank and empty growbed aggressively with salt or a diluted bleach solution to kill whatever is hiding in the nooks and crannies of every system. If you call some of the reps who deal with the chemicals you're finding, you will soon find that aquaponics is something quite foreign to them and I doubt you will get a definitive answer, so AP operators are pretty much on their own when it comes to these issues. Starting over clean seems, to me, to be the quickest and easiest way to solve your issue .

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