Mystery Snail Question

[CJs Aquatics]

Hey all, so in my mystery snail tank I have scuds, some guppy fry, and I saw planaria as well. I feel like the planaria or scuds is possibly agitating or even eating my mystery snails, has anyone known this to be something that can happen I’ve never ran into that issue before/ possible solution or something I haven’t thought of? 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

@Guppysnail @Cinnebuns @Colu

 

@CJs Aquatics what symptoms are you seeing?

Nice tips about making planaria traps in this video.

 

Edited August 8, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[CJs Aquatics]

It’s hard to describe really outside of owning many mystery snails in the past. They genuinely just don’t seem happy number one. Lethargy number 2. I’ve been losing them about one at a time every so often and the params are good it’s a very basic tank. When they die obviously the snails, scuds, and planaria dispose of the corpse until I remove it but this led me to wonder if they are perhaps getting eaten alive. I pulled out a live one the other day and it had planaria on it which sort of has me wondering if that’s the mystery cause to mystery deaths. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

@CJs Aquatics have you collected any botanicals (wood, rocks, leaves) from outside or ponds and put them in your tank?

[Guppysnail]

Yes planaria will eat your mystery snails. My recommendation is break the tank down. Hydrogen peroxide what you can. Reverse Respiration on plants and use seasoned media from another tank to restart. Anything that kills planaria will kill mystery snails. It also will linger in the tank so it will be longer before you can return your snails. 
QT your snails in bare totes to remove as much planaria as possible. I would wait 30 days after the last planaria sighting in the qt before returning them to the tank. The planaria can hitch rides under snail shells. 
Most tanks I would ignore planaria but snail tank can get out of control and quickly dispatch your snail population 

 

Snail lethargy is a sign they are being predated on by planaria. 

[CJs Aquatics]

No I there’s nothing from outside 

@Guppysnail what about expel-p, I heard it kills planaria in some cases does it kill snails as well?

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 8/7/2023 at 8:39 PM, Guppysnail said:

Anything that kills planaria will kill mystery snails

I agree with this @CJs Aquatics.  Even with removing the snails, if you use a planaria killing medicine on the tank, it's hard to really know when that med is removed (with carbon/water changes, etc).  It is reported by some users of these meds that they added snails back 2 months later after a bunch of water changes and carbon, and the snails still died.  Seems any trace of the meds will be a detriment, so I would go with @Guppysnail's suggestion to use the peroxide or the seltzer. 

But first, are you sure it is planaria?  There are several different types of flatworms out there.  Roundworms as well.

[Guppysnail]

On 8/7/2023 at 8:39 PM, CJs Aquatics said:

No I there’s nothing from outside 

@Guppysnail what about expel-p, I heard it kills planaria in some cases does it kill snails as well?

I’m not familiar with using levamisole. I know one member wiped out her Colombian ramshorn and I believe nerite population with it. 
Snails and flatworms share a similar body composition. Almost anything that kills planaria will kill mystery snails. 

[Colu]

Expel p can be harmful to snails so I wouldn't recommend using it with snails 

[CJs Aquatics]

I appreciate this advice, I guess last question is I have some fish which seem to eat planaria, and coincidentally there tank has algae in it. Would it be possible to move the snails over there and any planaria that hitched rides get eaten by the fish? Probably a less viable option but worth an ask I suppose?

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea pretty sure it’s planaria 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Here is a chart from the medicine No Planaria.  As you can see, the effect on snails

On 8/7/2023 at 8:47 PM, CJs Aquatics said:

I appreciate this advice, I guess last question is I have some fish which seem to eat planaria, and coincidentally there tank has algae in it. Would it be possible to move the snails over there and any planaria that hitched rides get eaten by the fish? Probably a less viable option but worth an ask I suppose?

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea pretty sure it’s planaria 

You might end up with 2 tanks infested with planaria, because their eggs, etc.  I'd put the snails in a bucket or bare bottom tank or tote with air and filtration, then you can vacuum up the parasites you see with a turkey baster

Edited August 8, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Guppysnail]

Yes you can move the snails. However the planarians will continue to increase In population since you can’t see most to manually remove. Once you return your snails to the other tank you will be returning the planarians. Even with Qt once a snail is affected it’s very hard to eradicate all planaria. The babies continue to feast on the snail. 
That’s why 30 days past last sighting. 

[CJs Aquatics]

@Guppysnail ugh this isn’t gonna be fun, I have a few tanks with it that it’s never been an issue but this one it definitely is I’m convinced 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

You can also try as an extra measure, in the quarantine tank, to make one of those planaria traps like in the Mark's Shrimp Tanks video.  It's an API test tube and a piece of airline. The planaria can fit in there, but the snails can't.  The trap may attract some during the times when you are not there to siphon planaria out.

Edited August 8, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Guppysnail]

@CJs Aquatics I know. I have tanks with planaria. They don’t bother anything but the occasional shrimp. Occasionally they get boisterous and attack snails. I usually move the snails to a tank with fish that will predate on the planaria. Then bomb the tank that planaria had gotten boisterous. I then usually use the bombed tank as a hatch tank for fish  eggs for a few months. Or as an egg laying tank since I know it’s worm free. 

[CJs Aquatics]

@Guppysnail this just became the plan 

[Guppysnail]

On 8/7/2023 at 9:00 PM, CJs Aquatics said:

@Guppysnail this just became the plan 

 

On 8/7/2023 at 9:00 PM, CJs Aquatics said:

@Guppysnail this just became the plan 

Fenbendazole does the trick. Eggs will hatch fine even immediately after the treatment. 

[CJs Aquatics]

Thanks again everybody hopefully I can get this under control with all of your helpful advice. Quick update: there is something oddly satisfying after all that’s happened about watching my tiger limia destroy scuds and planaria that hitched rides on my snails during the move 🙃

[Stef]

@CJs Aquatics I’m glad you posted this. Can I ask how you found the planaria and identified them?  I know what they look like blown up and magnified from online pics. But I’m trying to id som very very very small white fast moving wormy things on the glass of my baby mystery snail tank. I cannot see a pointy head or cross-eyed. They are so teeny tiny. But after reading this post I’m getting worried. 

[CJs Aquatics]

@Stef honestly mine look exactly like the pics you see if you look them up online and are quite easy to identify with the naked eye. I just went with an educated guess based on having them in tanks before and seeing them in others tanks. Another common worm that sort of resembles what your describing may be detritus worms, they are much more wormlike in my experience and typically smaller. Planaria, at least mine tend to slug around more then worm around, that could be a clue, try to get a pic I’m sure the forum can identify them, or even just a description of movement might be able to help narrow it down