Is this detritus work or something else and should I be worried?!?!!?

[Cat23]

I was moving some plants around in my 10 gallon planted cherry shrimp tank and this worm just came right out and scared the crap out of me.  He's about a inch long I caught him with my tongs and he was slithering like a snake!    I have little tiny tiny white ones but this is the first one I've seen that that dang big!  

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Looks like a leech. Take it out.

[Cat23]

Here are a couple more pics he came back out but he's quick.

[Cat23]

I caught one and put it outside in the trash it was stuck to my tukey baster than the cup.  OMG I'm freaking out!!!! 😮🙁😢

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 2/25/2023 at 6:02 PM, Cat23 said:

I caught one and put it outside in the trash it was stuck to my tukey baster than the cup.  OMG I'm freaking out!!!! 😮🙁😢

Let’s hope it didn’t have any friends!

[Cat23]

Oh it did!! I bought a trap for them so we will see what happens.  I think with me moving things around and cleaning the soil good like I was it messed up their happy life because I've never seen them in there. They must have stayed in the thick spol. Creeps me out!!

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 2/26/2023 at 7:18 AM, Cat23 said:

Oh it did!! I bought a trap for them so we will see what happens.  I think with me moving things around and cleaning the soil good like I was it messed up their happy life because I've never seen them in there. They must have stayed in the thick spol. Creeps me out!!

How are you luring them into the trap? 
 

& I feel the same about hornworms. They were all over my tomato plants one year, and they drink all the liquid out of the main stalk. I had to put on gloves and pick them off, but they have hooks and they latch to the plant. So I had to pry them off. Then they rear up at me, like a cobra OMG… and lastly they squirt green stuff. Hence the gloves. And they are bigger than a caterpillar and muscular. I had mega hot water with Dawn in a mason jar and I dropped them into it. It was awful!

Edited February 26, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Sherry]

I understand! When I had a garden, I had to pick potato bugs off the plants - I carried a jar of vinegar with me and dropped them in. Works on woodticks too.

[Cat23]

I just bought the traps so we will see I get them this Wednesday.   I took everything out of my tank so hopefully nothing transfer over I was setting up a new 60- gallon breeder.   OMG!!!  I'm gonna take it totally down and clean need to read up on what I can use. What a mess.

[Guppysnail]

On 2/26/2023 at 4:23 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I feel the same about hornworms

I learned to not be creeped out by hornworms the same way I learned to not be creeped out by most insects and such. 
They were my bearded dragons favorite treat. He could spot them from across the living room when I sat small ones on the carpet. It’s the only time he ran Mach 5. 😋 

Edited February 27, 2023 by Guppysnail

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 2/27/2023 at 8:56 AM, Guppysnail said:

I learned to not be creeped out by hornworms the same way I learned to not be creeped out by most insects and such. 
They were my bearded dragons favorite treat. He could spot them from across the living room when I sat small ones on the carpet. It’s the only time he ran Mach 5. 😋 

There’s a girl on YouTube that keeps tarantulas and they eat hornworms as well. Ew!! I prefer the spider over the worm!

On 2/27/2023 at 8:56 AM, Guppysnail said:

he ran Mach 5

That must have been really cute.

On 2/27/2023 at 8:50 AM, Cat23 said:

I just bought the traps so we will see I get them this Wednesday.   I took everything out of my tank so hopefully nothing transfer over I was setting up a new 60- gallon breeder.   OMG!!!  I'm gonna take it totally down and clean need to read up on what I can use. What a mess.

The leeches are no joke. They will latch to your fish and drink their blood. A few weeks ago a person posted a photo of their leech and you could see it had red inside of its clear body. 

[Guppysnail]

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea remarkably more leeches are harmless and actually beneficial to an ecosystem than are actually harmful. Many live on micro algae and bacteria. Those make a dynamite cleanup crew for substrate and awesome fish food. I have those type in mom n dads tank. Have had them for years. Mom snuffles through the gravel to nom them. I turn rocks and food dishes upside down. They like under flat surfaces where there is no light but plentiful biofilm. All my fish know they sit and stare I. Eager anticipation about 2 inches from my hand when I do this. Then it game on buffet time. 

[Lennie]

I definitely cannot tell what leeches are these in the video and the pic you have shared but seeing this video reminded me of this topic, so I wanted to share.

I would get rid of them personally no matter what.

[Cinnebuns]

On 2/28/2023 at 3:35 PM, Lennie said:

I definitely cannot tell what leeches are these in the video and the pic you have shared but seeing this video reminded me of this topic, so I wanted to share.

I would get rid of them personally no matter what.

Oh wow!  I feel I just watched the worst horror movie ever because it's real!!

[Lennie]

On 3/1/2023 at 11:17 AM, Cinnebuns said:

Oh wow!  I feel I just watched the worst horror movie ever because it's real!!

Yeah, when I saw the video last nite I felt so sad. She had amazing mystery snail tanks and she lost 30 to leeches daily?! I was like, why Lav's snails has not been posting for sooo long. That was why it seems. That's just so sad 😞

[Cat23]

On 3/1/2023 at 2:17 AM, Cinnebuns said:

Oh wow!  I feel I just watched the worst horror movie ever because it's real!!

After watching that video I can say this is not what I have in my tank.  What I have looks more like a earth worn just smaller.  I torn the tank completely down got all new and I'll be darned if they found their butts back in there. So my 10 gallon is going have them in there I guess.  My 60 gallan doesn't have them but does have BLACK BEARD ALGEY....I just can't win.🥹😥😭

 

On 3/1/2023 at 2:17 AM, Cinnebuns said:

Oh wow!  I feel I just watched the worst horror movie ever because it's real!!

 

[Mary W.]

Anyone have any experience with what fish species will eat leaches?  I had Asian Freshwater Leaches in a tank with pygmy and trilineatus corys and never saw them eat the leaches.  Someone recommended gouramis to me but I never tried that (ended up tearing down the tank cause the leaches were proliferating in my HOB filter and grossing me out .....).