Potential Planaria since adding some live plants & snail?

[Krstnzz]

Hi everyone!

I noticed tonight after feeding our betta after he'd missed a piece a small worm came crawling out of the rocks to eat it - we added a zebra nerite snail yesterday as well as some new plants I bought from someone locally. I have been obsessively googling them and have read they're fine for the betta but not our snail. I have also sat and stared at the tank tonight a lot more than I would like to admit lol. I have not seen anything else move - is it possible we only had 1 and I found it and got rid of it or are we potentially in trouble here for our new snail? I am really unsure if it came with the plants or the snail.. I took some screencaps from videos and I feel like I see the cross eyes and triangle head google talks about when I zoom in.

I read about the dog deworming pills or no planaria but wasn't sure what to do with our snail if we were to go that route? We have a tank we are working on cycling, but, it has the same plants in it so if they came in the plant likely it is in that tank too .

Thank you!

 

[86 ssinit]

That is planaria. To see how bad you have them. Take a water bottle and a pin. With the pin put about 20 holes in the bottom of the bottle. Put and algae wafer in it with a weight to hold it down. Sink it and put the cap back on. Have it standing up with the bottom on the gravel. Leave it overnight. Next morn see how many planaria are in it. If there are lots in it you will need no planaria to kill them off. If only a few you can just try catching 2 nights a week and see if they go away.

 

[Krstnzz]

That is planaria. To see how bad you have them. Take a water bottle and a pin. With the pin put about 20 holes in the bottom of the bottle. Put and algae wafer in it with a weight to hold it down. Sink it and put the cap back on. Have it standing up with the bottom on the gravel. Leave it overnight. Next morn see how many planaria are in it. If there are lots in it you will need no planaria to kill them off. If only a few you can just try catching 2 nights a week and see if they go away.

Perfect thank you! We don't have any algae wafers so I will grab some tomorrow and give this a try. I appreciate your advice!!

 

[86 ssinit]

You can try any large sinking food. Granules or sticks will work too. Any thing but flakes.

 

[Krstnzz]

You can try any large sinking food. Granules or sticks will work too. Any thing but flakes.

Thank you!!

 

[Krstnzz]

That is planaria. To see how bad you have them. Take a water bottle and a pin. With the pin put about 20 holes in the bottom of the bottle. Put and algae wafer in it with a weight to hold it down. Sink it and put the cap back on. Have it standing up with the bottom on the gravel. Leave it overnight. Next morn see how many planaria are in it. If there are lots in it you will need no planaria to kill them off. If only a few you can just try catching 2 nights a week and see if they go away.

So I did as you said with the water bottle and grabbed some algae wafers - it sat for about 12.5 hrs overnight while I was at work and 0 were in the bottle this morning unless they were so small I wouldn't be able to see them! Could that mean I got incredibly lucky and actually only had 1 and found it? It came out the second that piece of food hit the bottom of the tank before so I feel like I'd notice similar again but not sure!

 

[86 ssinit]

I’m with you don’t have many. They can’t get out of the bottle once in. They are big enough to see. Thing is in a month do that test again. If you start seeing them it’s time to use the no planaria.

 

[Krstnzz]

I’m with you don’t have many. They can’t get out of the bottle once in. They are big enough to see. Thing is in a month do that test again. If you start seeing them it’s time to use the no planaria.

Thank you I will definitely repeat it! I appreciate all your help

 

[StarGirl]

The only thing you have to worry about the worms is if you have shrimp. Yes the no planeria or dog wormer will hurt snails.

 

[GouramiGirl100]

Just to add: it’s unlikely that the planeria will be able to kill a nerite or a mystery snail. If you don’t have shrimp or small fish fry I don’t bother getting rid of them

 

[86 ssinit]

Just to add: it’s unlikely that the planeria will be able to kill a nerite or a mystery snail. If you don’t have shrimp or small fish fry I don’t bother getting rid of them

Thing is planeria will mass produce in the tank. So just finding one is time to get rid of them!

 

[Krstnzz]

The only thing you have to worry about the worms is if you have shrimp. Yes the no planeria or dog wormer will hurt snails.

Thank you!! I haven't seen any others at this point and tested the other tank as well so I have moved the betta and snail(unrelated to this, we just decided to upgrade him to a bigger home in a busier area of our house since he seems to enjoy the interaction!) to the larger tank we have cycled and I kind of want to change the substrate on the smaller one anyways as I was debating trying a shrimp tank - I definitely don't want to put them at risk though. Do you think removing the substrate and replacing it would be enough to be 100% sure that they are not still there? Or I guess even now may be a good time to just deworm the tank to be safe since there isn't anything living in it now other than plants? Thanks for your response!!

Just to add: it’s unlikely that the planeria will be able to kill a nerite or a mystery snail. If you don’t have shrimp or small fish fry I don’t bother getting rid of them

That is good information to have, thank you! I did plan to use it as a shrimp tank some time however will be sure they are all gone + it is still cycled after changing up some things prior to doing that. Thanks for your help!

Thing is planeria will mass produce in the tank. So just finding one is time to get rid of them!

Thank you!!

 

[86 ssinit]

I’d use the no planaria. Being you only have a few now is the time to get rid of them. It’s not just shrimp they eat. They will eat snails and any thing else they can catch.

 

[Krstnzz]

I’d use the no planaria. Being you only have a few now is the time to get rid of them. It’s not just shrimp they eat. They will eat snails and any thing else they can catch.

I have ordered it, thank you!

 

[Krstnzz]

I have a follow up question if anyone doesn't mind giving me some advice!

The no planaria is due to arrive this evening at any point now. My game plan is to change the substrate in this tank prior to shrimp as well - should I do the no planaria then change the substrate? Or leave it as is for now? There are still plants in the tank but no fish or snails or anything. Thank you!

 

[86 ssinit]

The whole treatment takes 72 hrs. There are 3 doses. So I’d say do it now with whatever is in the tank. Plants,ornaments, whatever. There things are asexual and regenerative.

 

[Krstnzz]

The whole treatment takes 72 hrs. There are 3 doses. So I’d say do it now with whatever is in the tank. Plants,ornaments, whatever. There things are asexual and regenerative.

Thank you for the fast response!! You are awesome. I will do that ☺️

 

[Krstnzz]

I am sorry, I feel like such a pain in the butt lol. As I was cleaning the tank out that was treated with no planaria I found one of these little zoomy guys in the gravel.. what is it and are they an issue? My plan is to swap the substrate and eventually make it a shrimp tank! Thanks again!

 

[StarGirl]

I am sorry, I feel like such a pain in the butt lol. As I was cleaning the tank out that was treated with no planaria I found one of these little zoomy guys in the gravel.. what is it and are they an issue? My plan is to swap the substrate and eventually make it a shrimp tank! Thanks again!

They are scuds. They are harmless. They can multiply with food like any other pest.

 

[Krstnzz]

They are scuds. They are harmless. They can multiply with food like any other pest.

Thank you for the quick response, you are the best!!

 

[86 ssinit]

Yes scuds! Good thing is the No planaria worked. Scuds mean the planaria are dead. Planaria eat scuds.

 

[Krstnzz]

Yes scuds! Good thing is the No planaria worked. Scuds mean the planaria are dead. Planaria eat scuds.

Sweet that's great to hear!! It is seriously the strangest thing. I removed all of the gravel completely and watched for longer than I'd like to admit and I didn't see any other dead planaria or any other scuds it's like we had one of each which seems impossible

 

[86 ssinit]

Got to say after treatment I’ve never seen any dead.

 

[Krstnzz]

Got to say after treatment I’ve never seen any dead.

Good to know ☺️