hello,
in two otherwise healthy tanks (that are connected), I've lost a swordtail and a guppy, and a molly is currently not looking good. The only thing I notice out of the ordinary (apart from listless behaviour)is some tiny red needle-like hairs emerging from their anal opening.

Is this a parasite I'm seeing? Please advise!

...update... I did the research, it is a bad infestation of camallanus, and now the burning question is... where to get levamisole. It seems to be unavailable at all the major pet supply sites.

It's very distressing to see the molly in this condition... and to picture the rest of my fish ending the same way.

Thanks!

Hey Brooklyn,Jungle makes a product called "Anti-Parasite,Medicated Fish Food".It has; Metronidazole 1.0%,Praiquantel0.5%,Levamisole 0.4%.

It took me a couple of days to get the Jungle product (it's a special-order type deal), during which time the biggest of the infected fish died. It seems to affect the bigger fish first, or perhaps they've just been infected longer.

I did two rounds of treatment (3 consecutive days on, 4 days off, with the last treatment day being last Monday) for ALL my tanks and have just noticed yet another swordtail with visible worms... in a tank with two of my favorite guppy mothers.

Yikes.

I think I need to move ALL the fish to a completely clean, bare tank and really make sure there are no parasite larvae in the older tanks. Any thoughts? This is making me crazy.

- Mirem

I've just ordered Worm-Enda poultry wormer, which you can only get from Australia (through a Canadian distributor), apparently. It will take some time to arrive so I'll keep going with the Jungle product in the meantime, but I'm not hopeful.

Anyone?

I have used the Jungle product before and it worked for me .I also use a DE-WORM FLAKE food that I buy from Florida Guppies-Plus. I feed this flake food to all my fish once a month. This flake has Fenbendazole 1% in it.

Sorry for being a pest. The fish that is currently showing symptoms isn't eating the Jungle product. I keep putting it in the tank anyway, and doing full water changes every day since there are worms in the bottom of the tank... but there are more worms sticking out of her vent. I tried feeding flake food mixed with minced garlic - all the other tanks loved it - she didn't go near it.

I ordered the Florida Guppies product and spoke to Luis for a while - it sounds promising - will report on results.

Thank you!

I like to grind the Jungle product to a fine power.Then I feed it to my fish, most livebeares like to feed on the surface.My fish just suck it right off the surface.