And now this...planaria!

[PineSong]

At morning feeding I saw multiple planaria in my 29g, cruising up the glass near the top. My 29g contains male guppies, my new koi swordtails and their fry, and green neon tetras.

I've read previous posts about eliminating planaria with traps or the product "No Planaria" which will also impact my snails. So I think I've got that aspect covered. 

What I would like to know is how they got into my tank in the first place? Most of the plants came from other tanks, although I did add some from an online seller. New substrate, rocks from the rock yard, and all the fish were either born here or went through QT with paracleanse and Expel P. 

If plants from the online seller are the likely point of entry, I guess the strategy going forward would be to treat incoming plants from such sources with No Planaria before adding them to the tank, so no snail issues will arise?

I have not looked closely at my other tanks to see if they are also infected. Can't face it this morning!

 

 

[Fish Folk]

I’ve seen Planaria pop up occasionally when I overfeed. But I am less attentive to possible sources. I get plants and fish from all over. I know they lay two kinds of eggs — summer and winter eggs. The latter can last a long time before hatching out.

I found this article to be really instructive.

[PineSong]

On 6/7/2022 at 8:42 AM, Fish Folk said:

I’ve seen Planaria pop up occasionally when I overfeed. But I am less attentive to possible sources. I get plants and fish from all over. I know they lay two kinds of eggs — summer and winter eggs. The latter can last a long time before hatching out.

I found this article to be really instructive.

Thank you. I think I only saw the planaria because I turned tank lights on before it was light outside. When I went back to try to count them (I know I saw at least three) I could not see any, and I figured they were hiding from the light.

So now I am afraid they might be in all my tanks and my pond without my knowing it. I am so grossed out by them I don't want to put my hands in the tank. At the same time, I was wigged out about hydra briefly and then I never saw them again after cutting back on overfeeding, so I am trying to only half wig out for now.

I probably have been overfeeding, trying to make sure food got to the swordtail fry who hang out at the bottom. They are big enough now to fend for themselves so I will cut back.

I will check the other tanks after dark. Very scary. I'm a big chicken.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 6/7/2022 at 12:40 PM, PineSong said:

I am so grossed out by them

Yeah, they creep me out for sure!

[Fish Folk]

On 6/7/2022 at 12:40 PM, PineSong said:

I am trying to only half wig out for now

😂

A most noble goal!

[sweetpoison]

On 6/7/2022 at 9:43 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Yeah, they creep me out for sure!

Oh me too they would freak me out!!

[PineSong]

Just posting an update in case anyone searching for planaria info comes to this thread.

It has been @ 5 months since my original post.

Within a month of my first sighting, I saw one or two planaria in the 29g swordtail tank a couple of times when I did "sudden lights on" in the dark to see if there were any in there. I also saw one planaria once in the tank next door, which houses cherry shrimp and guppy fry.

I ordered "No Planaria" to have it on hand in case things got worse. I cut back on food. I put a couple of juvenile swordtails in the guppy/shrimp tank in case they would be better planaria hunters than guppy fry.

I have not seen any more planaria after the first few weeks. I have seen none in my other tanks so far. 

So far the lesson learned is: don't freak out; they may not have a population explosion.