Planaria or detritus worms? Please read if you have been told you have planaria

[Nat's Fish]

I am hoping this will be able to help someone else from making the mistake I did.

For quite a while I was under the belief that I had a problem with planaria in my tanks after being told by many other fish keepers, aquariums & by searching on the internet. I have tried a couple of different products such as no-planaria & discus wormer etc that were fairly pricey & couldn't get rid of these worms.
I was told to double dose & did so. My fish seemed annoyed with these products and weren't breeding. I used to catch the worms & feed them to my cichlids.

I was about to buy more no-planaria and as I was about to put my credit card details in yet again I found this article http://www.fish-as-pets.com/2007/11/planaria-detritus-internet-answers.html

I now know that I have detritus worms that are harmless to fish and that I have NEVER had a planaria worm in any of my tanks EVER.
Planaria look more flat like a leech & detritus are very thin & small.
I have always been guilty of over feeding my fish (and myself for that matter haha). I have cut down feeding & really got into the gravel with a gravel vac.
I still have detritus but my fish don't seem to worry so I don't stress anymore.

I know this will be obvious to a lot of you but I searched and couldn't find a thread directly for this & hope it helps someone
Thanks
Nat

 

[MIX02u]

Very common worm Nat. You won't be the first person to have panicked over them - me included.

 

[Jackson]

If you have one you have the other

Planaria common name are mostly harmless as well. Different parts of the world have different planaria. That's why most vids on YouTube showing them go after shrimp are from Asia where predatory planarium are common.

I read an article on pfk recently what a joke IMO just trying to scare shrimp keepers into buying useless products

Just to take away from some of the fear of planaria I them feed to small fish

 

[MIX02u]

If you have one you have the other

Planaria common name are mostly harmless as well.

I beg to differ. Planaria for me have only ever showed up in my shrimp tanks, never in my L tanks
Detritus on the other hand are likely to show up anywhere once the tank is established - including bare bottom tanks

 

[Nat's Fish]

After reading for a couple of hours last night it seemed that 99% of people that had planaria it was in their shrimp tanks

 

[Jackson]

I beg to differ. Planaria for me have only ever showed up in my shrimp tanks, never in my L tanks
Detritus on the other hand are likely to show up anywhere once the tank is established - including bare bottom tanks

That makes absolutely no sense at all.

I harvest them from my pleco tanks that's because all my tanks but a few are pleco tanks

Explain how they'd only show up in a shrimp tank?

 

[Jackson]

After reading for a couple of hours last night it seemed that 99% of people that had planaria it was in their shrimp tanks

Because they're focused on the thought that they'll swim away with their shrimp.

Majority are harmless and digest externally
Story's of them swallowing shrimp are just that a story

In aquariums planaria and nematodes Annelidd go hand and hand

I'm not trying to change minds or opinions

So to each their own

 

[MIX02u]

That makes absolutely no sense at all.

I harvest them from my pleco tanks that's because all my tanks but a few are pleco tanks

Explain how they'd only show up in a shrimp tank?

I have no idea chief - merely sharing my observations with my systems.

If you re read my post I never said planaria only happen in shrimp tanks, just that I have tanks with detritus worms and zero planaria.

 

[Jackson]

I have no idea chief - merely sharing my observations with my systems.

If you re read my post I never said planaria only happen in shrimp tanks, just that I have tanks with detritus worms and zero planaria.

I should of said your shrimp tank

They both show up for the same reasons and both feed of the same things.
planaria are easier to control and are actually quite sensitive to sudden changes like a good water change with cooler water. They're also light sensitive.

 

[MIX02u]

I should of said your shrimp tank

They both show up for the same reasons and both feed of the same things.
planaria are easier to control and are actually quite sensitive to sudden changes like a good water change with cooler water. They're also light sensitive.

Makes sense - planaria are easy to kill off but detritus seem to be superworms. My fish are breeding with them in the system so I'm not losing any sleep. Thanks for the clarification :thumbup:

 

[Nat's Fish]

I am yet to see a planaria worm & hope people read this before spending cash on no-planaria etc

 

[Irene0100]

I find keeping some small endlers in my plec tanks get the detritis worms eaten. but they do not eat the planaria as when there is light they hide under the stones. I find I have them by lifting stones and looking what is in the bottom of them. I find some every 6 months or so then I treat the relevant tank. I need to get rid of them in any breeding tanks as they will eat plec eggs.

 

[Brengun]

I've never found either planaria or detritus worms to be a particularly bad pest although in high numbers its probably not a great idea.

The one which will sting and kill fry and small fish are the Hydra. I had it once in my tank and yes the tank did have high numbers of shrimp at the time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydra_(genus)

 

[Jackson]

Edit- having issues posting this lol

Below is very interesting take a look

Also Asolene spixi the snails I raise are hydra killers as well.

I don't know if its showing up. if not sorry

 

[Brengun]

Yes they are icky things but I have never seen any more than the odd one or two in a tank which I remove during wc if I see them.
They can shrink to pin head size and are fantastic at hanging onto the inside of a siphon tube. They will live in a bucket with just a bit of moisture and are very hard to kill with chemicals.
Queensland museum identified them for me and said they are harmless.
Manual removal is the best method as they really don't populate that easily.
They would have gotten into my tanks on driftwood soaked in an outside pond and probably got there on plants introduced from waterways.

 

[Strals]

Hi Nat

I'm glad I came across your post! I've been having huge outbreaks of worms all over my tanks - on the glass and in fry savers etc. I thought it was camallanus worms so have been treating with levamisole.

It wasn't until today, when I spotted more worms, when I thought - have I got the right worm? Your link told me that I had been mistaken and it is indeed detritus worms via the video and the information on oxygen and glass. I've basically been really stressed and spending hours and hours stripping back tanks, cleaning, sterilising etc! thanks

 

[Nat's Fish]

Good mate! I'm glad. Nothing to worry about. Maybe cut down on feeding but I'm the last person who should give that advice haha

 

[Bigjohnnofish]

i find it interesting people say NO-planeria doesnt work.... i have had many planeria outbreaks over the years and have killed them off using NO-planeria every time.... are people not reading the instructions properly or something... cutting short on treatment - not water changing between treatments and not doing follow up treatments.... ???

heres a link that explains a fair bit about worms and may help you identify what worm you have.....

incidently i once treated planeria with levamisole as i suspected the fish had some sort of nematode as well and it wiped out the planeria in one dose

i find IPC internal parasite clear is a good starting point - wipes out gill flukes and the majority of worms but in bad infestations you need to back it up with levamisole or something to totally annihilate worms....

 

[back to basics]

Ivomectin great stuff kills everything ive had a drama with

 

[foti]

I had them in my shrimp tank I think they come for leaving veg in too long ?
Once I controlled the veg n food they where gone
Ps seen couple shrimp fight eat kill? some!