Newts attacked by leeches from blackworms

[jennifer]

Once again, I am forced to eat my words. Many times I have told people that the small leeches you find in live blackworms are completely harmless to newts.

Today, I observed - twice - a small leech attach itself to one of my Neurergus strauchii. The second time, I picked up the newt and tried to gently brush off the leech, but it was attached firmly. In both cases, the leech came off by itself in a few minutes.

I tore apart the tank and removed I would guess about 100 leeches, mostly stuck to rocks or the glass along the bottom of the tank. I see these occasionally in my aquariums, but I have never seen so many of them in one tank before. I don't know of any way they could have come into the tank, except with the blackworms, and they certainly look like the ones in the blackworms.

The only other specific example of this that I've seen was in one of Henk's newsletters:
http://www.caudata.org/people/Henk/UN/UN07.html
Thus I suspect that this is rare. I have used live blackworms for years and never seen this before. Perhaps only certain species of newts are susceptible to these nasty little devils.

 

[sharon]

Goodness that sucks!

So what are you going to do now? Do individual leeches pose any threat to the newts?

<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1>Jennifer Macke (Jennewt) wrote on Tuesday, June 15, 2004 - 04:36 :</font>

"Perhaps only certain species of newts are susceptible to these nasty little devils."<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>

Theres' a thought. Maybe the minor poisons in some newts skin keeps them away?

Sharon

 

[anthony]

Was there any damage to the newt in either case?The leeches may very well not enjoy the toxins.
I wonder if the newts can consume the leeches.After all they are small aquadic inverts.

 

[jennifer]

There was no visible damage to the newts. It's possible that the leeches were incidental (just happened to be on the newts for no reason).

Newts do eat leeches. This may be one reason that the ones in the blackworms are not normally a concern.

I tore apart the tank and removed all the leeches. If they come back, I'll have to go to a completely fresh setup. I won't be feeding these guys blackworms any more.

 

[joseph]

If the leech came off and there wasn't a wound then what does that matter?

 

[jennifer]

In truth, I don't know enough about the feeding habits of leeches to know if it's a concern or not. Their attachment to the newts certainly looked intentional, but it's hard to judge intent in a leech. With these newts, I'm not taking any chances.

I don't want to give the impression that I'm condemning blackworms - I plan to continue using them, but I'm going to keep better watch on those flatworms that come with them.

 

[edward]

Hey,
The leech was a probably an incidental passenger. When we first started getting blackworms in as a feeder item the vets put them under the scope to see if there was any chance that they could parasitize the animals and the leech lacked the necessary mouthparts. However this does not mean that the leech could not irritate the newts by clinging to them.

Ed

 

[al]

this is interesting Jen. I've never gave these white flat worms a second thought since they were consumed with the others. Never noticed them attaching to anything either. Will keep an eye out for them.
Getting a ride is okay, but I've never seen this with Cynops sp., Pleurodel sp, Triturus sp., Notopthalmus sp, or Ambystoma sp.. I would not take it too lightly after reading Henk's Newsletter. One of his newts had 5 attached! They might not have equipped mouth parts, but thats more than a ride!

I wonder if there is anyone that could shed more light on this type of invert. (leech). Maybe some newt species secrete different chemicals from their skin that this "flat worm" finds appealing.
Al

 

[jennifer]

I did find one additional mention of this.

According to John Clare's axoltol site:
"I have had problems with free-living flatworms (Platyhelminthes/ flukes) since these can attach themselves to axolotl skin and they seem to like the mucus secretions of axolotls."

That's not as bad as blood-sucking, but it would still be irritating I think.

 

[edward]

The ones that I get in the blackworms are predators on annelids and some flatworms which they swallow by sucking the worm in like a piece of spaghetti, they do not have mouthparts that can pierce the skin and are not setup to digest (unlike planaria and some other flatworms) pieces too large to be ingested.
The Staton Island Zoo used to have a small display of them on exhibit.
Many leeches and flatworms will hitch rides on other animals (if you have the current Reptiles Magazine article there is a large leech riding on the centerfold picture of the snapping turtle). It is possible that the leech will irritate the newt by hitching a ride particuarly if there are multiple leeches on the animal.

Ed

 

[k.]

I am not an expert on medications, but would copper sulfate keep you from having to break down the tank?

 

[edward]

Hi Kory,
I would be concerned about copper toxicity from leachates from the items in the tank post treatment.

Ed