armadillo

Hi everyone. Tan, looks like am joining your world of invertebrate fun. I seem to have tiny white wrigglies crawling on my tank walls. It's in 2 of my tanks. Harmless to the fish, isn't it? Oh, and how can I get rid of it. Any advice welcome.

COBettaCouple

tiny explosives ton the tank walls. you can let the fish eat them or suck them out with a turkey baster.. you may want to clean those 2 tanks completely out, keeping the spongs and substrata wet while you work on them... oh, and i'd keep the fish wet too.

armadillo

Well if they dont' hurt the fish, then they can stay. No way do I want a huuuge clean-out. The fish eat them (the molly fry), but nowhere near fast enough it seems.

COBettaCouple

they make fun salad toppings at parties!

Gunnie

A good gravel cleaning should help keep them in check. What are your feeding and maintenance schedules?

armadillo

Actually that tank was really filthy, as i'd cycled it fishless by using loads of food. Then I gave it a huuuuge clean-up but could never get to the bottom of it. There would ALWAYS be more filth. I think I'll vacuum again. You wouldn't believe how many liters of water I'd changed in the process of vaccuuming.

COBettaCouple

i find that if a tank is too deep to get to the bottom, all you need to do is drill a hole in the bottom and cleaning is a snap! :

armadillo

That might work!

armadillo

Could it be that I've imported planaria from a piece of driftwood? They really seem to be crawling on that ornament in particular.

COBettaCouple

yea, from the article on them, it seems like they could come in on almost anything.

armadillo

Could you send the link to that article again? Sorry, I was obviously really tired last night when you first sent it.

COBettaCouple

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planaria

armadillo

OK, just read it. They look harmless enough. Scary that they seem verrrry good at reproducing (3 ways).

Butterfly

A good cleaning and a reduction in food will keep them under control
Carol

COBettaCouple

lol.. yea.. wouldn't it be crazy if people were like that. !

armadillo

:P

Carillon

Ugghhh ... I remember these from bio class. We had to watch them swim. Yuck.

Luckily, they're supposed to be easy to get rid of ... just regular water changes and vacuuming like Butterfly said, and less food on the bottom. I've read that aquarium salt (to the recommended dosage only) will help solve the problem, but I'm still not sure about aquarium salt. Some people swear by it, some people hate it. I'm still on the fence.

You should be aware, however, that while planaria are unlikely to hurt your fish, apparently they are toxic to little shrimpies and other invertebrate types. Go figure. Apparently they release toxins to these types only. I'd recommend reading up on it if you have invertebrates, but not worrying otherwise.

Also, apparently if the problem gets really bad, you can remove the fish to another tank temporarily and raise the water temp to like 35 degrees Celsius and just boil the suckers dead! Shouldn't be hard to get rid of them if they aren't too numerous yet, though.

armadillo

Carillon, you're a godsend in these dark planaria-ridden times!

Right, good news is I don't have any inverts. Other good news is I like that it's just a question of maintenance. Also, there seems to be less of them now. One of my fry had ich so I had to use very light meds, salt, and increase the temp (not to 35C!). Perhaps that combination of factors, and the fact that my fry keep munching on them... Things are going good planaria-wise, things are going good.