Will no planaria killing pest snails cause an ammonia spike

[LHshrimp]

Howzit, so I have a small 3.5 gallon tank, stocked with 4 red cherries and I noticed planaria in my tank and so I'm considering using no planaria.

However, I heard that no planaria will also kill all the other small micro fauna in my tank. 

If it also kills all the small snails and other worms in my tank, will that cause an ammonia spike? 

[Torrey]

I have a planaria in most of my tanks, because they exist in nature where the fish naturally exist, and planaria make a good clean up crew in addition to being a food source.

Neither Guppysnail nor I have found planaria harming any of our healthy shrimp in all shrimp tanks.... however, without any fish to control the population planaria have multiplied exponentially in my 4' NANF tank that is still establishing itself with P paludosus and other North American inverts before I add fish.

My solution has been an infant nasal syringe and a tumbler glass with a drop of PraziPro (something I keep on hand for my Q/T tanks, and it doesn't harm the shrimp when they go through Q/T).

I put a drop of PraziPro in the bottom of the glass, and go catch planaria whenever I see any (shake the PraziPro first, it's very thick and settles when it is sitting on the shelf).

Whenever the lights first turn on, I use the nasal syringe to suck up any planaria I find and add them to the glass, as well. I was able to keep the number of planaria under control this way until I got pneumonia, now I am playing catch-up.

It is very important, imo, to at least give shrimp a "PraziPro bath" during drip acclimation, if you can't do a full Q/T, as planaria will come in on new shrimp whose health was compromised before they were even caught for you. Shrimp and snails move way faster than planaria do, and will avoid them, even during their molt. Only shrimp that are already compromised are at risk, or if you have an outrageous infestation.

@Guppysnail taught me to use glass feeding dishes that suction to the side, to minimize planaria getting the shrimp food. That will also help reduce the population growth.

I don't generally vacuum the bottom of my planted tanks, but I made an exception this weekend due to having had pneumonia and the planaria explosion.

I put a 10 gallon dose of PraziPro in the bottom of the 5 gallon bucket, and gravel vacced last night.

This morning all the planaria in the bucket were dead.

The more I researched NoPlanaria, I simply didn't feel safe using it in my 4' NANF tank that I have spent the past year growing microfauna, including the endangered Large Ramshorn that is native to NC, in my tank. 

1. I don't want to risk having to start over again

2. I am working on recreating a natural environment where planaria hold a specific place in the ecosystem

3. Planaria (in healthy sized groups) are not a threat to healthy shrimp or snails.

My recommendation, rather than risk making the situation worse by adding something to the tank, help the shrimp be as healthy as possible by  *improving* the tank.

1. Don't feed the shrimp on the floor of the tank

2. Feed the shrimp freshest foods possible

3. Manually remove the planaria you see

4. If they really bug you, look at Irene's video on using planaria traps

I've been a nature observer for decades, and I have yet to see an environment improve when humans choose to chemically address a problem (including in our tanks). Learning more about how to recreate and work with nature has never harmed the creatures I have been responsible for, and has made my life easier in the long run.

If you decide to try NoPlanaria, I would recommend testing in a gallon of water outside your tank, first.

Use your cellphone to do a manual count of the microfauna, and add a pest snail and planaria to the gallon of water.

Then treat the gallon, and see how everyone does, and how long it takes the planaria to die.

Please let us know the results!

Was there a decrease in microfauna?

How did the snail do?

How long did it take for the planaria to die?

~Torrey

I forgot to answer that yes, if mass amounts of planaria and snails die, you will get at least a momentary spike in ammonia.

 

If the NoPlanaria damages any of the beneficial bacteria, the spike will last longer.

[Ninjoma]

On 5/27/2023 at 12:13 PM, Torrey said:

I have a planaria in most of my tanks, because they exist in nature where the fish naturally exist, and planaria make a good clean up crew in addition to being a food source.

Neither Guppysnail nor I have found planaria harming any of our healthy shrimp in all shrimp tanks.... however, without any fish to control the population planaria have multiplied exponentially in my 4' NANF tank that is still establishing itself with P paludosus and other North American inverts before I add fish.

I've been  struggling to get rid of all the planaria in my shrimp tank, but its sounds like I shouldn't be too concerned about them. I currently have ember tetras and guppies in there. Do you think they will control my planaria population?

[Guppysnail]

@Ninjoma I have small white planaria, medium grey planaria and some really awesome larger orangish ones in my shrimp and snail tanks. I actually have them in all my tanks that are not egg hatching tanks. I have never had issues ***as long as I don’t overfeed***
Then I just siphon some out and wipe them off the walls or add some fish for a bit. 
Like @Torrey I try to run full ecosystems bursting with microfauna found in nature. If Mother Nature decides it needs to be in natural bodies of water I’m certain it serves an ecological purpose. 
I also use chemicals only as a last resort when it’s between losing a tank of critters and risking chemicals. ***especially one that only tell me it a proprietary blend so I cannot even research potential downsides. 
 

[Torrey]

On 5/27/2023 at 1:19 PM, Ninjoma said:

I've been  struggling to get rid of all the planaria in my shrimp tank, but its sounds like I shouldn't be too concerned about them. I currently have ember tetras and guppies in there. Do you think they will control my planaria population?

Female endlers eat planaria anytime they can catch them, I have watched them. My bachelor tanks have demonstrated that male planaria will not... or if they do, it's not with the same gusto. [EDIT: THAT SHOULD HAVE READ MALE ENDLERS DON'T EAT PLANARIA WITH THE SAME GUSTO AS FEMALE ENDLERS. I have no clue how to sex planaria, lol)

 

Introducing more microfauna into the regular diet seems to increase hunting behavior in almost all my fish, I haven't kept the ember tetras so I don't know how they feel about eating planaria.

I know my WCMM cleaned out the glass bottom tanks they were moved into after Q/T. I haven't seen a single one in that tank since they moved in.

Here's my planaria reduction campaign materials, in case anyone didn't know what an infant nasal syringe was:

 

I used to use 2.2 cc/ 10 gallon tank, 5 cc treats a 20 gallon tank.

I keep my current Q/T at the 5 gallon mark, so only need 1 cc to treat my Q/T.

One drop in a glass this size will immobilize planaria (and leeches) in less than 30 minutes, and kill them overnight. It remains this lethal for 3 days, so I am saving a lot of money, and protecting the environment of my tanks by doing it this way.

Edited May 27, 2023 by Torrey
My cranial flatulence, needed to clarify what I typed versus what I meant