I’m nearly done with the treatment for camallanus worm nematodes in my display tank. One black molly was severely infested and just didn’t seem to be responding to treatment.
Sometimes, even if the worms are dead, the fish cannot pass them from their digestive tract due to hooks on the worms. This molly’s vent had swollen to the point it looked like a localized case of dropsy (scales standing up). She also stopped eating and was clamping fins.
I moved her to a spare 2.5 gallon tank I had in the closet and began a serious treatment program to get her well, but she did not survive. Yesterday morning, I found her dead in the tank, probably from all the stress of being moved and being exposed to medication in her weakened condition.
It happens, even the best doctors lose patients. The good side of this is that as a result, my worm problem is now under control I have to treat the main tank with the second dose of PraziPro on friday and then I’m finished. After that, it’s just monitoring the fish to see if any worms show up again.