Is this planaria?

[nkoyko]

So I noticed my male betta's aquarium was cloudy looking and this is what I saw when looking into his aquarium. I did a 50% wc yesterday and they were not there so this is just in 24 hours. Is there away to get rid of this? I did read the posts about it but I don't want it coming back and I have plants. Would it be best for me to just remove everything and clean everything to get rid of them completely?

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[Fresh2o]

What are you referring to in the pic? Can you be more specific?


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[Gillie]

I believe the OP is referring to the specks on the glass which look like freshwater limpets.

 

[nkoyko]

Those aren't specs on the glass. They are free swimming. I managed to suck some out with a pipette and used a magnified glass to look at them and I'm certain it is planaria. They look like itty bitty white worms.

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[Fresh2o]

Planaria don't swim. They glide along surfaces much like snails do.
The moving "specs" could be copepods, seed shrimp, daphnia, or some type of worm.


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[nkoyko]

Hmmmm. How in the world do those things get into an aquarium that hasn't had anything new introduced to it? I figured planaria because of the fact that his filter was dirty and I cleaned it after it spurt brown crap in his water after the water change yesterday (I did take the filter off and clean it after that had happened).

Well is there any decent way to kill these? The betta is a PITA and won't eat live food so I doubt he'll take care of the problem.

I did do a few experiments to see if I could kill them in the test tube and about 2.5ml of excel killed them and about 1.5ml of ammonia killed them. Anything other than ODing my tank on ammonia that will kill this off? I would take the betta out before adding that much ammonia or excel.

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[Fresh2o]

Bringing in fish or plants can introduce all sorts of creatures. Between my planted and shrimp tank I have had:
Seed shrimp
Copepods
Planaria
Hydra
Detritus worms
Freshwater limpets
Pond snails
I left them alone as they are a part of the macro invertebrate ecology. They did not bother the fish, shrimp, or plants. I do quarantine all new fish so no disease outbreaks in over three years.


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[nkoyko]

Nothing new has come into this tank though. It has sat as is since August with the same plants and betta. I've been doing water changes and just cleaned his filter for the first time. Even his trumpet snails have been in there from the very beginning. Everything in the tank was put in before being fishless cycled. This is a huge mystery. The only thing I've done differently is to use tap water instead of bottled water for his last wc.

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[nkoyko]

I have a professor on campus who might let me use his microscope and I'll see if I can get an image of what is in my tank and that will tell me what I am dealing with. I really don't want them in the tank. They make the water look cloudy.

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[nkoyko]

So tomorrow I will be using a dissection microscope to look at these little things and figure out what they are. I will post pictures of what the microscope shows for those interested!

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[nkoyko]

This is a view of what is in my tank. It is some type of isopod that came from the live sand that was used in setting my tank up. I will have a name for it tomorrow once my professor goes through his invertebrate books.

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[Gillie]

Live sand?

 

[nkoyko]

I used Caribsea Instant Aquarium in the aquarium. It comes in water and is supposed to contain beneficial bacteria (thought it would help cycle the aquarium faster and it did not). My professor said that is the only way he thinks they could have come in. The plants were all grown emersed before being placed into the aquarium and the fish has been with me for about 2 years so he doesn't believe either of those could have brought them in. So he said it was the live sand that they were probably in and now there is an explosion of them because of my filter spitting out detritus when I forgot to clean it out. He's a big aquatic guy so I'm going to have to go with him on this. He studies aquatic plants and invertebrates so he knows his stuff.

I have been googling since I got the image and the only isopod that really matches this is the hoglouse.

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