how to get rid of planaria?

[maxwellag]

I have planaria in my 10 gallon and 5.5 gallon tanks. How do I get rid of them? They are harmless, but they are getting so dense that you notice them before you notice the fish.

 

[Hondatek]

Cut back on the amount of food. Water changes water changes and more water changes lol

 

[Vircomore]

Planaria are an indication that your substrate has become overly waste-filled. You should perform a thorough siphoning of your gravel and get as much waste out as possible (even move decorations and such).

 

[LyndaB]

+1 to both posts above......

Your fish may also consume the planaria and that's fine, it won't hurt them. How much do you feed? And also, what is your typical tank maintenance schedule?

 

[seanyuki]

You can try this product.....No Planaria

• No-Planaria - worm disinfectant
• Keep Planaria away without harming shrimp, fish, and plants.
• Safe and biodegradable.
• Planaria control in 72 hours.
• Made from Betel nut palm extract.

No Planaria | Green Leaf Aquariums

 

[Km84]

I'd be interested to see how that worked. I think my 55 might have a very mild case and I would like to get it under control ASAP

 

[Jasonator]

Check out you tube. search planaria trap.

boo yaa!!

 

[hippy guy]

You can use dog dewormer.. there's a certain brand, but apparently i t kills planaria, hydra, and other such critters, but not skrimps n fishys

 

[LyndaB]

Keep in mind that using a product to get rid of planaria is like putting a bandaid on a broken leg. There's a reason your tank got planaria. If you don't change whatever habits brought it on in the first place, your tank will be susceptible to it again.

 

[hippy guy]

Yeah, forsure lynda I feel like the main cause is almost always overfeeding.. that's an easy one to prevent, once you stop thinking all your fishies are starving, when they aren't lol

 

[maxwellag]

I gravel vacuumed all the dirt possible in each tank. It took 45 minutes for the ten gallon and about 15 for the 5.5 because it didn't have nearly as much dirt. I have been doing pwcs on both tanks every two weeks. Should I do them more often?

 

[Km84]

I went on vaca and left them to a friend lol

 

[maxwellag]

I went on vaca and left them to a friend lol

Ok? That was kind of random... but ok.

 

[LyndaB]

I have always done weekly 50% water changes/gravel vacs. There are many schools of thought on how often they should be done.

Oh, and I feed my tanks every 2nd or 3rd day. It helps keep my fish and my tanks healthy. Fish can live quite a while with no food.

 

[maxwellag]

I have always done weekly 50% water changes/gravel vacs. There are many schools of thought on how often they should be done.

Oh, and I feed my tanks every 2nd or 3rd day. It helps keep my fish and my tanks healthy. Fish can live quite a while with no food.

I will start doing weekly wcs then. I have been looking for different stuff to feed my fish. Right now their main diet is flake food. Should I get some frozen food of some kind? I also have freeze dried blood worms, freeze dried brine shrimp, and freeze dried krill.

 

[LyndaB]

My fish get flakes, freeze dried bloodworms, shrimp pellets, algae wafers, frozen mysis shrimp and frozen plankton. The flakes and bloodworms get soaked in Garlic Guard and Vita-Chem prior to me feeding the fish.

 

[cuulblu]

I want to start by saying over feeding is not good. I can not say that over feeding doesn't contribute to planaria. I'm not trying to give anyone grief or cause an argument. I just want to add my 2 cents.

I have two tanks. A 20 gallon tank with fish in it. I also have a 10 gallon tank with no fish in it. It has never had fish in it. I have never had any reason to put food in it. The purpose for this tank is to prep water changes for the larger tank. That way the temperature has reach room temperature and all chlorine has had time to dissipate after adding tap water conditioner. But, the 10 gallon tank has planaria in it. There must be many causes of planaria or I wouldn't have them in the 10 gallon tank.