Leeches and snails together

[Arnam Anan]

So, I found a leech in one of my tanks. I figured I would look at how leeches feed on a snail. Over time, I found about 5-10 leeches in the tank and I put all of them in a small container. I have put 10 -20 snails in there. For the past couple of months, they cohabitated in that small container. I can count 9 living snails in there. There is also a colony of Cyclops in there (Which wasn't intended) and about 30 leeches in there. I also saw 5 clutches of snail eggs in there. There's green water in there and a couple of strings of java moss in there. I have not water changed or put food in there. 

I was hoping without food, those leeches would start to feed on the snails 😑 

I guess the internet freaks out for nothing. 

 

P.S. Bonus point for IDing the container 😁

[GoofyGarra]

On 12/21/2023 at 4:50 PM, Arnam Anan said:

P.S. Bonus point for IDing the container 😁

looks like an Xtreme fish foods large size container. (3.5oz krill flake, 18oz bottom wafers....)

[Arnam Anan]

You get a bonus point 😀

On 12/21/2023 at 5:20 PM, GoofyGarra said:

looks like an Xtreme fish foods large size container. (3.5oz krill flake, 18oz bottom wafers....)

 

[Shrimptanks]

You're looking for those nasty snail leeches.  Those buggers gross me out especially when the babies are latching on the adult.

[Arnam Anan]

December 31, 2023.

Almost 2/3 population of leeches died of in a day. Water has been slowing losing the green water algae and clearing up. I suspect that was the cause of the die off. All live snails are still alive in there. I also noticed that leeches prayed upon the snail egg clusters but did not attack any live snails in this period. Though I did see those leeches on top of some of the snail shells.

[Arnam Anan]

January 30th

Restarted the experiment again. I say restarted, but it's more like 100% water change and removed dead snail shells for a more reliable count for the next month. Counted 17 leeches on there and 6 snails still alive. There's 2 clutches of snail eggs in there too.

Expectation: 4-5 snails will be alive and possibly another boom and bust cycle of leeches.

Edited January 31 by Arnam Anan

[Buckman]

Do you feed black worms to fish? This may be where the leeches came from. I breed mystery snails in a 20 gallon long that is only half full of water. The substrate is a thin bed of crushed coral. I found this to be the perfect setup for growing black worms as well, so now my snails and black worms live together. The leeches wound up proliferating and getting creepy though. Fish eat them too, but I don't like putting my hand in there. They were getting big with all the food I was chucking in there to breed snails.  They will eventually get big enough to become a deadly parasite on a snail. If your black worms come from an outdoor farm, having leeches is unavoidable. But I was able to separate a decent sized sample of black worms from this tank, and make sure that no leeches were present. I tore down the tank and re-started the colony, and now I have black worms on tap with NO leeches present.

Hope this helps? Was wondering why you were purposely putting leeches in a small container with snails. What were you trying to figure out?

[Arnam Anan]

On 2/5/2024 at 11:25 AM, Buckman said:

Do you feed black worms to fish? This may be where the leeches came from. I breed mystery snails in a 20 gallon long that is only half full of water. The substrate is a thin bed of crushed coral. I found this to be the perfect setup for growing black worms as well, so now my snails and black worms live together. The leeches wound up proliferating and getting creepy though. Fish eat them too, but I don't like putting my hand in there. They were getting big with all the food I was chucking in there to breed snails.  They will eventually get big enough to become a deadly parasite on a snail. If your black worms come from an outdoor farm, having leeches is unavoidable. But I was able to separate a decent sized sample of black worms from this tank, and make sure that no leeches were present. I tore down the tank and re-started the colony, and now I have black worms on tap with NO leeches present.

Hope this helps? Was wondering why you were purposely putting leeches in a small container with snails. What were you trying to figure out?

I mean I wanted to see if leeches were as deadly as the the internet seems to think. So far, I would say they are mostly harmless might eat 1-2 snails a month but snails reproduce way faster. 

I personally don't mind leeches and I have seen fishes eating them. To me, they are another food source for the fishes. 

I don't really feeds store bought black worms. I culture them about once in a month from a 5 gallon bucket setup.