remind me about planaria

[ashleynicole]

From what I can find on the web they are not harmful to fish but possibly harmful to shrimp and snails? I noticed them today in one of the betta tanks, and upon further exam I notice they are also in my other betta tank and in the big tank. I have never had planaria before and am somewhat disgusted by them. I am going to fast all the tanks for 3 days, no feeding and daily massive water changes. I've read that meds can also kill snails and I am rather fond of my apple and MTS, so I wont be using meds. Also, I have sand and live plants, so I can't really gravel vac with my water changes. How deep in the sand could they survive?


Is it possible to starve out the planaria with this method and daily water changes? If I feed very sparingly only every 3 days? Are their any other treatments that are safe for both snails and plants?
Thanks,
Ashley

 

[picture_117]

Can you post a pic?
Just reduce feeding, make sure there is no left over food, and do your water changes.

 

[ashleynicole]

My camera phone doesn't take good micro pics and that's all I have right now. I know its planaria. I've seen enough pictures to know, and I am very good at identifying microorganisms. I have always liked studying microbiology and almost made it my career before I decided on nursing.

But in case you don't believe me, I will describe what they look like, They are very small white and threadlike moving along the glass in the tanks...I am hoping if I don't feed the fish but every 3 days, they will also eat the planaria.

 

[picture_117]

Just wanted to make sure
& yes the fish will eat the planaria if there is low feeding, as well as the planaria itself will starve out, they also regenerate
I'm surprised my books don't have much about them.

 

[ashleynicole]

Yeah I know squishing them won't do any good...

I just got done cleaning all 3 tanks. I changed about 90% of the water in all tanks, gently agitating the top layer of sand so I wouldn't disrupt my plant roots. I rinsed and scrubbed and cleaned the filters in fresh dechlorinated water instead of old tank water. Hopefully I removed the bulk of them. I'm going to try to starve them out. Hopefully when the lights go out tonight my fish will eat whatever crawls up the glass.

 

[maxwellag]

I would also gravel vacuum right now because planaria can thrive with excess waste in the gravel... and im pretty sure that planaria do harm snails, because I had a mystery snail, and then I had an infestation of planaria, but my snail's shell became rough and discolored. Then my snail started to sit around all day, and somehow flip itself over so it couldn't get back down, so I had to flip it every day, then it just died randomly one day... the problem may have been the snail's size, though, because it was bigger than a golf ball... (LOL)

 

[ashleynicole]

I would also gravel vacuum right now because planaria can thrive with excess waste in the gravel... and im pretty sure that planaria do harm snails, because I had a mystery snail, and then I had an infestation of planaria, but my snail's shell became rough and discolored. Then my snail started to sit around all day, and somehow flip itself over so it couldn't get back down, so I had to flip it every day, then it just died randomly one day... the problem may have been the snail's size, though, because it was bigger than a golf ball... (LOL)

I mentioned in the initial post that I do not have gravel, I have sand, which I can't vacuum too deep because it will disrupt the live plant roots. So I agitated the top layer of sand the best I could... How deep in sand can planaria survive?

 

[maxwellag]

I mentioned in the initial post that I do not have gravel, I have sand, which I can't vacuum too deep because it will disrupt the live plant roots. So I agitated the top layer of sand the best I could... How deep in sand can planaria survive?

I am not exactly sure, but I think they can survive in all of the sand, regardless of depth. You could also take a cloth or paper towel and scrub on the sides of the tank to get rid of some, but unfortunately, they will come back.

 

[andresdeo]

Hey there! Did you get rid of them? I just found some in my tank. Do they harm shrimp?

 

[ashleynicole]

I still see them occasionally, but they don't seem to harm anything .