bugs and weird thing in shrimp tank

[yve]

hello hope some is able to id this thing circled in blue i have no idea what it is just saw it today. 

also my shrimp tank seem to have alot of bugs(circled in red) slugs and snails(circled in yellow). how to i get rid of them? please help thanks!

 

 

[johnnyxxl]

Hydra I believe for the blue

Assassin snails will kill any other snails, 

[yve]

oh thanks, how do i get rid of the snails and the bugs?

[Tlindsey]

On 7/2/2024 at 11:35 AM, yve said:

slugs

 

If they glide on the glass probably planaria. 

[Rube_Goldfish]

On 7/3/2024 at 5:36 AM, Tlindsey said:

 

If they glide on the glass probably planaria. 

Maybe, but maybe just rhabdocoela or some kind of detritus worm. I've been lucky enough to not see planaria, but it's my understanding that they're pretty visually distinct; that is, if you can't see two distinct eye spots, it's probably not planaria.

 

On 7/2/2024 at 11:42 AM, johnnyxxl said:

Hydra I believe for the blue

My hydra have that classic tentacle group at the end. These look more like worms to me, but it's hard to know for sure.

My guess -- and it's really a guess -- is that the red-circled bugs are seed shrimp, aka ostrocods.

The only one I'd really worry about is planaria, and even then only if I have a shrimp-only tank. Everything else would just be a sign of a healthy ecosystem and potential food for fish.

I do concede that they can be unsightly, though. Step one for reducing the population of any of them, if you want to, is reduce feeding, if you can, either the amount or the frequency.

[johnnyxxl]

They are all snacks 😋 for most fishies 

[yve]

thanks everyone! i ended up getting neon tetras and see if it would help. the bugs have decreased! 

as for the snails and slugs (it doesn’t look like planaria as it does not have a arrow shape head) I just manually pick it out and toss them away during water changes. (when I picked it up with the tweezers and squashed the slugs there’s a shell on top of it and u can feel it break?)

the hydra looking thing i just toss it and it never came back

just thought to give yall an update! 

thanks for all the advises! ☺️

[AllFishNoBrakes]

On 7/3/2024 at 8:06 AM, Rube_Goldfish said:

I've been lucky enough to not see planaria, but it's my understanding that they're pretty visually distinct

Agreed. I’ve had Planaria in a shrimp tank, and it was super obvious once I noticed them. A triangle shaped head is a dead giveaway. Fenbendazole was a quick and easy fix. 

 

On 9/3/2024 at 12:41 PM, yve said:

the hydra looking thing i just toss it and it never came back

I’m not sure what that thing is, but it’s not like any hydra I’ve ever had. Fenbendazole again can take care of that issue. 
 

Man, it sounds like I’ve had several of the things that people fear in their tanks, and it sounds like medication is the answer I’m giving, lol. Yes, Fenbendazole can eradicate both Hydra and Planaria, but I don’t always just go nuking tanks. I did eradicate the Planaria because my shrimp colony was struggling to take off. I really think it was the Pygmy Cory sniping off all the shrimplets, and not the Planaria doing any harm. I already had the meds on hand so I decided to use them just because I wanted the shrimp colony to finally take off. Hydra isn’t really a problem in my experience, either. I currently have it in one tank, and it’s not a big deal. 
 

In shrimp tanks, you simply see more of the things (seed shrimp, hydra, etc) because there’s no fish or predator to eat them. I guarantee my other tanks has seed shrimp and the like, but they become fish snacks. They’re all just part of the ecosystem and play their part.