Flat worms in tank!

J

Jwoody

Medium Fish
#1
May 14, 2010
77
0
0
#1
Hello,
I got some plants from a fish store today and i brought them home and as i was rinsing them off i noticed that there were some very small flatworms on them. i am 99.9 percent sure that i got all of them off but i just wanted to know if they would be any harm to my tank if some got in, which they probably did so in this case how to get rid of them? They are very small so its difficult to get a good picture so ill just attach a link of what they look like. and i am really hoping there not parasitic... cause that would be bad.

Thanks!!


This is probably not them but its what they look like

International Research Team seeks to Unravel Flatworm Regeneration
 

J

Jwoody

Medium Fish
#3
May 14, 2010
77
0
0
#3
Thanks!

it makes perfect sense that they are planeria but i just wanted to make sure, and yeah i think your right because the tank that they came out of at the store didnt exactly look great and the plants were COVERED in snails,
 

nanu156

nanu156

Large Fish
#4
Mar 8, 2010
745
0
0
Detroit, Mi
#4
Yeah so snails.... that could be a problem...

For future ref, avoid any plant that comes from a snail infested tank... you will end with an outbreak :( If you have snail issues post your stocking list and we will tell you how to get rid of them...
 

J

Jwoody

Medium Fish
#5
May 14, 2010
77
0
0
#5
i really made sure that i didnt miss any, i rinsed them like 4 times and checked with a high intensity light before i put the plants in. Just wondering though what would an outbreak of snails do to a tank? besides make it look bad?
 

nanu156

nanu156

Large Fish
#7
Mar 8, 2010
745
0
0
Detroit, Mi
#7
yeah so short story on how small snails can really bum you out....

So I bought a used 30g tank to grow out some fry.... I have a pleco problem... So I picked up some smaller plecos that I hadn't previously been able to keep because they max at 4" (most of my other plecos are quite large, btw I have decided that it is untrue that little plecos can't go with big ones since this time)

So tank looked good, threw an aquaclear 50 on the tank and used the gravel (terracotta colored) that was already in the tank. I boiled the gravel in a gigantic pot on my grill before i put it back in the tank. At that time I noticed some pond snails floating I picked them out and went through the gravel.... to find them all.....

So flash forward 2 days.... I go to turn on the lights and feed my tanks in the am.... my brand new peppermint pleco is dead.... (only pleco I have ever killed) when i scoop her out i notice that her underside looks bloody inside(skin on the bottom is transparent) I freak out and test the water... HOLY hell my ammonia test is almost black!!!!!!!!!! (I started with established media from another tank, and tank water from another tank as well)

So I remove the fry, as well as the other 2 or 3 plecos (can remember exactly what was in there now)

What happened was there were hundreds of pond snails in the gravel.... I didn't see them as they were the same color as the gravel, but in 2 days they took the ammonia from not registering to black

snails are evil
 

W

webgeek

Small Fish
#10
Feb 9, 2011
37
0
0
#10
I had a similar problem but the worms in my tank are think and long and are really really flexibile in getting spirally round. I guess they are nemetodes. Read that lack of enough oxygen in the tank is the reason. So am experimenting using more of air filter and less of internal water filter.
 

Kiara1125

Kiara1125

Superstar Fish
#11
Jan 12, 2011
1,142
0
0
Florida
#11
Sponge Filters (especially Hydro Sponge Filters) work good because as they suck up stuff, they also emmit air from the bull's eye. So the bubbles go up through the tube and to the top of the water. Creates a gentle moving surface and more oxygen in the tank!!*crazysmil
 

J

Jwoody

Medium Fish
#12
May 14, 2010
77
0
0
#12
that sounds interesting, im almost positive that mine are planaria because i have dealt with them before and they look the exact same.

Code: 
I had a similar problem but the worms in my tank are think and long and are really really flexibile in getting spirally round
i dont know if i used the right thing to quote that, but if you are saying what i think you are, planaria are excellent at changing shapes, one minute they will be really long and stretched out (usually when they are moving) and the other they will be in little balls in the corner, which is why sometimes they are a little harder to spot.
 

nanu156

nanu156

Large Fish
#13
Mar 8, 2010
745
0
0
Detroit, Mi
#13
yeah, the problem was dead snails in the gravel, the story illustrates that even if you kill all the snails in your tank (snail away for instance will kill them fast) you still have a snail problem, it is just a dead snail problem as opposed to a live snail problem.

Pond snails are a nuisance, great care should be taken to ensure you don't have a snail explosion.
 

Dan Steveo

Dan Steveo

Large Fish
#14
Apr 1, 2006
707
0
0
33
South England UK
#14
Hmmm... I've had a plant or two that may have picked up a snail from the store.. i did check them over though... i'm guessing there were some eggs in the roots.

I haven't seen that many recently, only had a few shells on the gravel where they're growing.. I'm guessing that my clown loach are having a good time with them...

Very clever though.. one of them was using my kribensis cave to hide from the other fish, like they were guarding him lol
 

W

webgeek

Small Fish
#15
Feb 9, 2011
37
0
0
#15
In my case i blame few shells that i collected from the beach to be the possible problem. I am doing water cycles more often and more filtering. The mollies are eating the worms but the worms seems to be still in there.
 

nanu156

nanu156

Large Fish
#17
Mar 8, 2010
745
0
0
Detroit, Mi
#17
yeah mine were just dead, i bought the tank used and it was dry, they were the same color as the gravel, there were snail guts in the shells that is what fouled up my water.

The planeria will go away if you keep a cleaner tank and feed less.
 

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