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Brown leech?!


Anthony666
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Saw this thing a couple weeks ago. After spending hours researching I can only deduce it is a leech. I tried baiting it with bloodworms and the glass planaria/leech trap and ammonia bombed the whole shrimp colony. All 90 something died overnight. I thought the leeches were gone too. Replaced the shrimp colony only to see this wriggling boy next to my first shrimp death... actually believe it or not 2 shrimp lived from the bloodworm vial of death. I named the male Rupert, a Survivor dad joke, and didnt name the female. Well that dead shrimp is actually Rupert.. so idk Im out of ideas, afraid of trying to trap leeches again

 

 

EDIT:

 

Chose not to copper bomb the tank. I stabbed it with tweezers dunno if I killed it. Havent seen it 

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Edited by Anthony666
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Theyre quick and it seems like it sensed me opening the lid and took off deep into the substrate. edit so ive been staring at my cherry shrimp tank for about 4 hours now with "chopsticks" trying to snag this guy and no luck Ive built an under gravel filter using biohome biogravel as substrate and everytime I go to strike I'll hit a piece of biogravel. I am no longer Anthony, I am LeechHunter69 waiting for my prey

Edited by Anthony666
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Over the years i have encountered unwanted substrate dwelling guests. To me the safest easiest (though not a walk in the park) method of removal has been replacing substrate. This does not mean you need to re-cycle your tank. Place your remaining inhabitants in a separate tank/tote/bucket. Place plants decor etc in another. Remove filter and media rinse in tank water inspect thoroughly. Remove substrate and replace with new. Rinse all plants decor you can use chemical treatment on them appropriate to the species you are trying to remove ( ive had leeches but never unwanted or ones i cared about removal so do not know which chemicals). Inspect every surface of the tank. I would not wipe the walls unless absolutely needed. Place new substrate and everything including fish back in eith clean conditioned water Test test test and do water changes as need until your tank re-stabilizes.  

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Welcome to aquarium keeping in other countries!!!

Leeches were a regular issue when I lived in countries that did not disperse potable water from the tap.

Two options that I found:

Option 1 (easiest) say hi to your new tank mate, and try to make friends. 

Option 2: if the leach absolutely has to go, be prepared to completely take the tank apart.

I need to grab a link for you, brb.

Once you eradicate the leach(es), don't feed live foods without closely inspecting (blackworms frequently have leaches in the culture, it's much easier to remove the leach from the food before adding food to aquarium).

@Guppysnail gave you great advice above.

My kids discovered that pouring table salt on the leach is one way to eliminate leaches (also works on planaria)

Leaches are incredibly resilient. 

You will generally kill everything else in the tank before you will kill the leach.

 

(Goes to find the link)

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You will notice that the amount of copper needed to kill leaches will literally kill everything else, first.

That's why I always broke down the tanks that couldn't have to fish prey on the leech, separated the substrate, and covered it in salt, put plants in another tub (I would probably use Irene's Alum dip method on plants, now that I know about it), and put all livestock in a bare bottom tub with a sponge filter or hob from a leech free tank.

I would pour all leftover water outside under a pine tree, and let the pinenes deal with the leech and convert it to food.

I would observe my livestock in their QT tub I just created for any leech wounds that need to be treated, maybe a week in QT? Observe for any opportunistic infections, as well. 

Now that I know about the wonders of alum, I would soak the plants overnight. 

I would drain the substrate, and then pour Morton's salt over it (NOT IODIZED) because I can buy a big thing of salt for a dollar.

Let the salted substrate completely dry with the salt, let it sit for another 24 hours, and then sift it to separate salt from substrate. 

Rinse substrate **really** well, it can be reused once all the salt is soaked and rinsed out.

By the end of a week or 2, the tank is ready to be set back up. 

I would throw away any foam, sponge, or other mechanical filtration media from the leech tank.... unless future leeches are desired.

(Salt and 91% isopropyl alcohol are the singular most effective ways to kill leaches)

 

https://www.wikihow.com/Kill-Leeches

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