Dealing with a Hydra and Planaria Infestation

[YeePuffer]

I have a five gallon pea puffer tank with two nerite snails that's decently planted. I ordered some floating plants off the internet and gave them a thorough salt bath but I suppose it was not enough given the infestation of hydra and planaria in my aquarium. I don't want to nuke the aquarium and start over because I really like the plants that have grown in it. So for now, my current idea is to use No Planaria in the aquarium with my two nerite snails removed in a bowl and just leaving my pea puffer in the aquarium for the duration of the treatment. Is this the best idea, and do you all have any other suggestions?
 

Thank you!

 

P.S. what are the chances of hydra and planaria hitch hiking back into my aquarium on my nerite snails, and how can I prevent this?

[Fish Folk]

1 minute ago, YeePuffer said:

I have a five gallon pea puffer tank with two nerite snails that's decently planted. I ordered some floating plants off the internet and gave them a thorough salt bath but I suppose it was not enough given the infestation of hydra and planaria in my aquarium. I don't want to nuke the aquarium and start over because I really like the plants that have grown in it. So for now, my current idea is to use No Planaria in the aquarium with my two nerite snails removed in a bowl and just leaving my pea puffer in the aquarium for the duration of the treatment. Is this the best idea, and do you all have any other suggestions?
 

Thank you!

 

P.S. what are the chances of hydra and planaria hitch hiking back into my aquarium on my nerite snails, and how can I prevent this?

Pea Puffers tend to be very hard on water quality. They prefer live food -- snails, larvae, black worms, etc -- and will leave plenty of waste behind. Hydra tend to thrive when excess brine shrimp is fed. Planaria just thrive when tank maintenance is poor.

A 5 gal tank is really small, so whatever happens in it tends to lead to extreme conditions. Fortunately, it's small enough to allow you to do some serious micro-cleaning!

Take two wooden chopsticks. To one, use tiny zip ties, and fasten a length of airline along its length, from the tip to the handle -- 3ft long, with the long end that will empty out into a bucket. If you have a long piece of stiff airline, disregard the first chopstick and just use it. Take the other chopstick, and slowly stir the surface of the substrate, while micro-vacuuming with the airline into a pail. Use this process weekly to get rid of your excess build up of waste. You can gently use an old credit card to scrape hydra and suck them up . . . though they tend to multiply matter what.

I guess my suggestion is: you be a detail cleaner in a tank that size. Give it time, and you'll be able to scrub every nook and cranny. In time, you can then consider polishing off the remaining pests chemically . . . but beware that a 5 gal is susceptible to crashing unlike almost any other aquarium. It's just very small water volume.

[YeePuffer]

That's a great idea. I use a syringe to feed my puffer frozen food (he won't eat from tweezers) and he does not end up eating it all, and the nerites usually can't access every part.