Planaria Problems...

[hannahll]

I think i know the cause of my planaria, and i could fix it today and they may die off... but should i really mess with them? Or should i just leave the planaria and let them live in my tank?

 

[auntiejude]

Most reports say they are harmless, so it's really up to you - but like snails, once you have them they are pretty hard to get rid of!

 

[hannahll]

That's what i'm afraid of... Do you think changing to a bare bottom tank for a while would help? Because that's where i'm thinking they get the majority of their food & where they hatched from. I've had the same sand since 2010...

 

[Niels D]

Opinions vary a lot. I've never had a big infestation, so I've never cared to see some planaria in my tanks. Then again, I don't care about dendritus worms, snails and even hydra as well. I guess the fact that almost all my tanks have gammarus, snails and shrimp prevents any big infestations of pest tanks dwellers. I've seen gammarus eat hydra, so it's no surprise that the tanks with gammarus don't have hydra. I've got Gammarus pulex btw. I really don't know which species of shrimp I've got. It was sold to me as a feeder shrimp, but they've managed to breed in the tanks with Java moss in it.

So if there's no huge infestation and you don't have any eggs in you tanks I would let them be. It's not a guerantee that planaria will eat or damage eggs btw. I can really recommend having some snails in your tank (small species like ramshorne or pond snails). The balans in your tank improves if you've got a lot of live vegetation in combination with some snails in it (not emperical evidence based).

 

[crazylady]

Hi i saw this on a fish site i use an think it mite help you

DIY planaria trap. I drilled a hole in the bottom of the bottle and stuck the white spike in, it's hollow so allows the worms in as they follow the smell to the bait inside (piece of bacon on this occasion but you can use any high protein bait, frozen bloodworm or daphnia works well too ) they can get in but Avnet got the brains (despite having 4 of them!) to get out. Weighted it down with some stones and filled it with tank water and left it sitting on the gravel near rocks/bogwood and suchlike as they like to hang out under things when they're not out feeding. The smell of bacon attracted them into the bottle within a few minutes but left the bottle overnight when they're most active, following morning there were hundreds in there. Rinse and repeat the process moving the trap around the tank and you should catch loads. If you don't have a hollow spike like I used you can just use a small piece of airline tubing. Good luck!

 

[hannahll]

Hi i saw this on a fish site i use an think it mite help you

DIY planaria trap. I drilled a hole in the bottom of the bottle and stuck the white spike in, it's hollow so allows the worms in as they follow the smell to the bait inside (piece of bacon on this occasion but you can use any high protein bait, frozen bloodworm or daphnia works well too ) they can get in but Avnet got the brains (despite having 4 of them!) to get out. Weighted it down with some stones and filled it with tank water and left it sitting on the gravel near rocks/bogwood and suchlike as they like to hang out under things when they're not out feeding. The smell of bacon attracted them into the bottle within a few minutes but left the bottle overnight when they're most active, following morning there were hundreds in there. Rinse and repeat the process moving the trap around the tank and you should catch loads. If you don't have a hollow spike like I used you can just use a small piece of airline tubing. Good luck!

What do you mean "spike"?

 

[crazylady]

they are sold in pet shops and garden stores they are bit like plant pot spike but you don't need one just a bit for air line tube

 

[hannahll]

Gotcha! Thanks a bunch!