Yemminie

Hi everyone!

I seem to have a planaria problem. I've had my 10 gallon tank set up for just over a month now. It has 3 gold twin bar platys in it. It's nearly finished cycling - ammonia is at 0, nitrite is elevated, and I'm starting to get nitrate readings - and my 3 fish are doing nicely. I've been feeding them what I thought was a modest amount twice a day, and I've been doing 3 gallon water changes + gravel vacuumings at least once a week without fail. In so doing, I have never vacuumed up lots of old food, so I thought I was doing well on the amounts that I was feeding. However, earlier this week, I discovered tiny hair-like things in the water, and I thought maybe I just needed to change the filter, but then I saw one wiggle. Turns out I have planaria - at least, that's what it looks like from my frantic "worms in fish tank" google searches. So I did a 3 gallon water change on Wednesday and a 1.5 gallon change today. Today there were even more worms than on Wednesday. I have continued feeding twice a day, but in smaller amounts. I know that I need to make sure that I don't overfeed them, and continue to do regular gravel cleanings, but seriously, tonight there were a ton. So many got sucked out of the gravel that the water that came with them was practically writhing. Should I take the gravel out and rinse it with dechlorinated water? Should I do water changes 2x a week from now on? Should I start skipping days of feeding until they die off? Also, I should mention, I have a 3 gallon tank with platy fry in it, and there are planaria in there too. I think they got in when I moved a handful of gravel from the big tank into the fry tank - the big tank was further along in the cycle, so I thought (perhaps foolishly) that that might help things along in the little tank, since I've read that a good way to help cycle a tank is to get gravel from an established tank. At that point, there was no sign of a problem at all, and I had never heard of planaria. Live and learn, I guess, but never again. Enough rope to hang myself with, right? So anyway, elbow grease I can do, but I'd appreciate any tips that anyone could give me on getting rid of the things. It's kind of grossing me out.

Also, (and maybe this is a stupid question, but I don't want to mess with worms) is there any chance of a person "catching" planaria from a fish tank? I doubt it, and of course I wash my hands after doing water changes and clean up any drippings, but I have not the first interest in having a parasitic infection myself, so I'm asking. I'm having horrible mental images, and I couldn't find anything about it online.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Sarah

armadillo

Sorry to hear that. That sounds awful. You did exactly what I would have done (gravel transfer). I am sorry I cannot help, but I'll eagerly await an answer from a more experienced aquarist, as I wouldn't know what to do either. I guess this post just to show sympathy. Sorry I can't help, but I am sure someone will respond really quickly.

COBettaCouple

you could wear the disposable gloves that you find in boxes of 50 or 100, etc in the pharmacy to put your mind more at ease and wash really well with hot water and antibacterial soap after finishing. I don't know much about planaria, but it's a good process to follow when dealing with sick tanks.

did you add anything to the tank? new water source? new food?

poppet

Hi here is a little info i found.

The only real way to get rid of them is to remove their food source, striking at the root of the problem. To do this you'll need to do the following things:

do 15-25% water changes every day for the next week
Make sure you use a gravel vacuum when doing water changes so that you know you're getting it clean. If you never use a gravel vacuum, that's part of your problem.
You may have too much gravel in your tank. If this is the case it is providing too much space for food/waste to decay in. That makes it harder to clean during water changes and harder for the filter to suck out particles. You should never exceed 1/4 of an inch of gravel on the bottom of your tank. If you have more than that, you'll need to get rid of some.
Adding aquarium salt can help in some cases also. (Do not exceed 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons of water). However, if you keep invertibrates or scaleless fish in your tank you should skip on the salt as it can hurt or kill them.
Test you ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels every day to ensure that they go down and stay in safe levels.


Hope this helps

Gunnie

Planaria is harmless to your fish, & is a good indicator of poor water quality (just for future reference - I know your tank is cycling right now). Make sure you vacuum your gravel well, but only vacuum 1/2 or even just 1/4 of it at a time. This will give your bacteria a chance to build back up. It's gonna be a little tricky doing this in a cycling tank. Also, cut your feedings back to once a day for now. Your fish will actually probably eat the planaria. It's a special treat for them!