Callemanus?

Question
INFO: I have a 75 gallon; set up six months; 27 fish (odessa, aurilus, tiger, black ruby barbs and rummy nosed tetras); 2 mystery snails; canister filter; ammonia 0, ph 7, nitrite 0; change water weekley 10% with RO water and added buffers;

Question: I have been battleing a parasite that i believe to be a nematoda or Callemanus? I have the following symptoms: glancing off ornaments and rocks, swollen anus, stringy poop, red or white worms hanging from anus which disapear into fish, but can still be seen a little. I have tried anit parasitic food, general cure (2 doses); anit parasitic med by jungle labs (2 doses), and an anitfungal by junglelabs (one odessa barb also has a white spot, growth?, on top lip). All to no avail. They will poop out a worm, but some still show signs and it seems to never go away. I take out the snails when treating the tank and put them back in after. Could they be carriers? anyway, any advice would be GREATLY APPRECIATED! all fish seem to be okay otherwise, eating pretty good...

Thank you,
Danielle

Answer
Hi Danielle;

It does sound like Camellanus worms. I've never actually seen a case of it in my fish so I really don't know much about treating it. From what I have read, Levamisole seems to be the medication of choice. There are usually serious fish losses though because of the internal damage the parasite causes. Snails can be a host for it too but they usually refer to the "pond snails". I don't know if yours are hosts or not. Here are some links to articles and forum posts to help you know more, and I will be reading more as well;

http://inkmkr.com/Fish/CamallanusTreatment/experience.html

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

The owner of the above site sells levamisole too;

http://inkmkr.com/Fish/ItemsForSale.html

More info;

http://www.guppylog.com/story/2006/4/29/164717/627

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-98302.html

http://ausaqua.net/forum/lofiversion/index.php?t1548.html

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/rss.php?p=795869

Those are all I've had time to research for now. I hope they help you more than I have been able to. Off to study this more...

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins