# planaria



## Bymer (Aug 22, 2008)

guys, i have a dilemma. 

i have a 130 liter tank with a crayfish and 2 blood parrots. 
and a tone of planaria. Because blood parrots are messy eaters they leave some food behind. 
Hense the planaria im guessing. Plus on top of that im feeding them with shrimp pellets, so im guessing thats not helping out ether because apparently they like shrimp. 

Now, my goal is to get rid of this planaria as its really bugging me. 
i cant use the flubenol method as its very hard to find, im thinking of using fenbendazole.

what can you guys suggest?


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Lots of water changes. Just killing the stuff thats eating the extra food won't solve the water quality issue and will make it worse by adding dead planaria to decay in the tank.


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## Bymer (Aug 22, 2008)

these guys are really messy eaters, what can i do to control the food?


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Some bottom feeder maybe? Something like a big pleco. But even if all the food gets eaten, you are going to have a lot of nitrate from such large food inputs. So lot of water changes and/or lots of plants (which the cichlids will uproot and let float for you).


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## Bymer (Aug 22, 2008)

hmmm... im considering planting the tank, but is there something i can do to keep the plants down? maybe some weights?


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## PokerPete (Jul 30, 2008)

I would suggest trying some small cichlids such as neolamprologus brichardi. In your 130 they would be able to establish a colony and the growing babies will feast on the planaria. Your blood parrots may be large but they won't bother brichardi or most other dwarf cichlids or mbuna. Just give the small cichlids plenty of rocks to hide in away from the crayfish.


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

Bymer said:


> hmmm... im considering planting the tank, but is there something i can do to keep the plants down? maybe some weights?


I would think that the sinkers you use on a fishing line would work well for sinking plants. Just get the non-lead ones.


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## Guest (Oct 18, 2009)

are these worms harmful to fish? i just noticed in my 7gl that i have this small white wriggly worms. i scooped a few out of the tank using a tea strainer.


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## betta0fish (Feb 16, 2009)

planaria are almost indesturctable unless u use chemicals or scoop them up whole out of the water. if u get one planaria and cut it in half and put it back, they will reproduce there missing bodyparts and now you have two planaria


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## Bymer (Aug 22, 2008)

well, i used fenbendazole 12 hours ago... still no effect... 
i used about a 2ppm concentration.


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

betta0fish said:


> planaria are almost indesturctable unless u use chemicals or scoop them up whole out of the water. if u get one planaria and cut it in half and put it back, they will reproduce there missing bodyparts and now you have two planaria


My brother and I used to do that to earthworms when we were little kids.


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## Bymer (Aug 22, 2008)

well update...

after 24hours a few dead worms on the top of the tank, but still a lot on the glass. 
added another 250mg of fenbendazole. 
overall dosage is 500mg of fenbendazole in 24hours. 
works out to about 4ppm according to my calculations. 
this is 130 liter tank.

Ill keep you guys updated.


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## Bymer (Aug 22, 2008)

guys, the planaria isn't dying... what do i do?


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

Ask it kindly to leave.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Ignore it? They don't really hurt your fish. They are a symptom of a dirty tank, though and that can hurt the fish.


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## Bymer (Aug 22, 2008)

bmlbytes said:


> Ask it kindly to leave.


lol!!!

the tank was dirty at some point, but now its clean, and the planaria wont die.....  
im going to try 1g tomorrow and see how that works.


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## betta0fish (Feb 16, 2009)

like i said they are almost completely indestructable, and ewww i hate earthworms..
maybe u could try and put a bit of salt in the water.. i just thought of it and i have no clue why


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## betta0fish (Feb 16, 2009)

heres a good site

http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/management/Ali_Planaria_Worms.html


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

Use this as a last resort method, but I have heard of people using heartworm medicine in their aquariums for difficult to remove bugs and worms. Interceptor seems to be the popular brand.


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## BV77 (Jan 22, 2005)

I agree with EMC MORE water changes and feed LESS. eventually the planaria will die off. Remember, your fish can go two or three days without feeding. My 14 tanks are lucky to get fed 4 times a week. If you elect to get a bottom feeder, I'd suggest a bristle nose pleco. Simply because they stay about 4". No offense, but like ECM said, planaria are a sign of an overfed, dirty tank. Keep doing lots of partial water changes and feed less and the planaria will eventually dissappear. Some fish will eat them when they see them swimming through the water column.


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## Bymer (Aug 22, 2008)

well a have good news lol!!!

today being Saturday and my day off, i had some time to do research. After a while i figured out that what i really have isn't planaria... its detritus worms.

does this make any since for anybody?
how do i kill them?


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I searched around on the net. It said they are not harmful, often misidentified as planaria in aquariums and could indicate low oxygen levels. But I couldn't find how to kill them. I do recommend a second filter. That would oxygenate the water and allow you to change filter media (or even rinse it) more often without causing a mini-cycle possibly allowing you to catch them in the filter and rinse them out.. 

It occurs to me that 'micro filtration" such as a diatom filter or a Magnum 350 with the micron filter (looks like a pool filter) in it could catch a lot of these thing. 

However to kill every last one, I think you'd have to remove the fish and "nuke" both the tank and filter with something nasty like bleach. The you would have to start the nitrogen cycle from scratch like a new tank. That wouldn't be fun. I'd do that for a fish disease, but not for something that just unsightly.


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## Bymer (Aug 22, 2008)

i wonder, is there a medical way to get rid of them? maybe copper?


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## Bymer (Aug 22, 2008)

still haven't solved this problem, i wonder would penicillin work?


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