# HELP: To identify strane anymals on the glass of my shrimp tank



## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

*HELP: To identify strange anymals on the glass of my shrimp tank*

Hello

I noticed lately strange animals on the glass of my Shrimp only fish tank. See attached pictures and let me know what they are, are they dangerous for shrimps and hot to get rid of them as I'm noticing I'm getting more and more of them every day lately. This is established 3 years old tank. But lately I had Ammonia in it. After constant water changes including 50% one I noticed those guys on the glass. Also if I do a water change lately sometimes my NO2 and NO3 go out of balance. It look like my bacteria filter is brocken and after every water change I have to add bacteria and now this guys. Also I noticed my shrimps don't eat as well as they use too and I feed them only every two days. Any help is appreciated.


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## darkangel66n (May 15, 2013)

They look like planaria. Harmless but unsightly. Easy to get rid of with No Planaria or similar products.


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## darkangel66n (May 15, 2013)

Does the tank have an active substrate? ADA, fluval stratum or similar? If so it is likely time to change it. Three years is a long time for substrate to last. Are you using tap or RO or distilled water?


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## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

darkangel66n said:


> They look like planaria. Harmless but unsightly. Easy to get rid of with No Planaria or similar products.


It is defenatly not a planaria. I had it before. It is much bigger and lives on the ground not on the glass. Also where can I buy "No planaria" products, Petsmart ?


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## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

darkangel66n said:


> Does the tank have an active substrate? ADA, fluval stratum or similar? If so it is likely time to change it. Three years is a long time for substrate to last. Are you using tap or RO or distilled water?


Not to my knowlage. It is only have Aqua clear (AC20) filter with sponge and bio stuff inside (spunge changed 3-4 months ago) and pre-sponge filter on it to protect the shrimps for being sucked in it. I'm using tab watter with Prime conditioner and 48hrs wait in the backet.


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## raym (Aug 18, 2014)

Looks like planaria to me. Mine lived in my fluval filter and I've seen them crawling on the side of a tank at the fish store. Got rid of mine with No Planaria.


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## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

raym said:


> Looks like planaria to me. Mine lived in my fluval filter and I've seen them crawling on the side of a tank at the fish store. Got rid of mine with No Planaria.


Where did you buy "No Planeria" stuff ?


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## Atom (Sep 17, 2014)

Sorry to add questions to the thread, but is No Planaria safe for shrimp? Also, as an alternative, what kinds of fish would actually eat the planaria? Thanks and sorry!


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## raym (Aug 18, 2014)

I got my No-Planaria at ShrimpFever.com The tank that had the planaria held 10 crystal shrimps and they don't seem to have been adversely affected. Just had 10 baby shrimp hatch last month after the treatment.


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## Atom (Sep 17, 2014)

Nice to know that in advance  thank you


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I"d have taken a scraper or siphon to that little patch of beasts when I first saw them, just in case.

But, just a couple questions.. Do these critters react if you touch them ? Ball up small or stretch out thinner ? If yes, probably leeches. Unlikely to harm anything, but unsightly. Some fish will eat them. My betta fish for example, likes them. Might also be some type of detritus feeder, if so, harmless.

They don't appear to have the triangular head of planaria, but if that is what they are, you would see them gliding around, almost as if they're on a conveyor belt. Very smooth movement. If these are very young, the head shape may not show right away, it's not that obvious even on some of the adults of our native species. You'd also see a pair of eye spots.. two dark spots at the widest part of the triangle of the head. Most of the ones I've seen have been a very pale pinky beige colour.

Planaria are often blamed for harming newborn shrimp, but with the size of our native species, it's not very likely, as the shrimp would have to stand still and allow the planaria to sit on it long enough to digest it. There is at least one Asian planaria species, sometimes comes on imported plants, that grows to over 1.25 inches long and .25 inches wide, and they are quite likely able to eat shrimp, though the only time I saw any, they were in a store tank with a bunch of Sulawesi shrimp and didn't seem to be bothering the shrimps at all.

Planaria have a stomach on their underside.. They crawl on something edible, then exude digestive juices onto it, then suck up the resulting soup. No teeth or jaws, so they can't bite. No toxins, like hydra. Typically they can't hurt healthy shrimp, but if one is newly moulted, it may sometimes become prey for them. 

Most carnivorous or omnivorous fish will eat planaria, though they are usually not a preferred food. If you starve fish for a few days to a week though, they'll be hungry enough to eat planaria. Though in a shrimp tank, hungry fish often also eat shrimp, so fish aren't always a usable solution.

Shrimpfever usually has No planaria, and he ships if you can't get there.


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

Looks like planaria - there's all different flavors of them 

If you have prazirpo handy, it also kills them off and is 100% shrimp safe.


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## default (May 28, 2011)

It's planaria! Hate those things.. They are unsightly, but have read cases where they get aggressive if you starve them enough. When I had a shrimp only tank, I would see food and sometimes a dead shrimp (not sure if killed by planarias or not) wrapped in planaria.

They live in the substrate, but when there are no predators available they roam the glass and other surfaces. A fairly good creature for cleaning up excess food, but I don't like them in shrimp tanks.

Regarding predators, all fish seem to consume young planaria - hence why you don't see them on the glass in tanks with fish. I have a big self cloning crayfish in my shrimp tank which had the occasional planaria, but there's no planaria in sight anymore.. Perhaps crayfish are good at hunting these things.


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## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

I have bought TDS Meter from ShrimFever last night. I measured the watter in my shrimp tank and it shows 325 or so, which is OK for Cherry shrimps but not OK for Crystals. I measured my tab watter as well and it is about 170. How should I bring my water in the tank back to bellow 200? Small (10%) water changes every 3 days ?


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I'd use DI or RO and dilute the tank water gradually over the course of a week or two. Maybe only 5% every 2-3 days, it will take a bit longer but slower is safer for the shrimp.


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## darkangel66n (May 15, 2013)

I agree with Fishfur. A 5 gallon bottle is less then ten dollars at Walmart.


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## Brendle (Feb 18, 2014)

I had a similar looking organism in one of my tanks. (I assumed they were planaria) 

I put a betta in there, and they were gone in a week. He would scour the glass for them, and even hang out facing the bottom of the tank and nip them out of the gravel.


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## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

OK. Started replacing water with RO one, Changed 1 Gallon today, going to change 1 gallon every 3 days until I switch completely to RO water. The only issue is that my Assassin snails don't like it to much. I see some of them went up to the service or close to it. Also used No-Planaria today first time but I'm afraid I could be facing issue with Assassins as well as it may kill them ? Any ideas if it is harmful to them. Also dropping PH to 6 by using RO may be also killing them as they prefer 6.5-7.5. Any advices ?


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## darkangel66n (May 15, 2013)

It has never affected assassin snails in the store.


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## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

I'm slowly switching to RO water. It looks like my assassin snails don't like it. My PH use to be 7.2 now it dropped to 6.4 and assassin became way less active. What should I do, move them to fish tank that has 7.2PH or keep them in the shrimp tank and they will adjust. Any help and or advice is appreciated


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

From what I've read, pH is not terribly important to these guys, at least some sites say they're ok to 6.5. They have been known to climb out of tanks, for no apparent reason.

But they appear to need hard water, as do most snails, to maintain their shells, and if they run out of snails to eat, it generally slows them down some. They need high protein, meaty foods if they have no snails to prey on. I wonder if the switch to RO is providing too little calcium for them ?


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## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

Fishfur said:


> From what I've read, pH is not terribly important to these guys, at least some sites say they're ok to 6.5. They have been known to climb out of tanks, for no apparent reason.
> 
> But they appear to need hard water, as do most snails, to maintain their shells, and if they run out of snails to eat, it generally slows them down some. They need high protein, meaty foods if they have no snails to prey on. I wonder if the switch to RO is providing too little calcium for them ?


I moved all that I can find to my fish tank for now that has tab water and 7.2PH. They slowly started to move around there. In my shrimp tank they had more food as they were competing with shrimps now they competing with fish which is faster but on another hand they get meet when fish dies. Unfortunately in my fish tank I usually find more empty assassin shells than in shrimp one. But since lately they not so active in shrimp tank (may be due to RO water or may be luck of food as started feeding shrimps less food and more shrimp dedicated food) I decided to take a risk and move the snails.


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## bluegularis (May 12, 2010)

They do look like planeria.

Planeria don't do any harm.
Switching to pure RO is not the answer either, pure RO is not good for any fish, I would at least mix it 25-50% tap water. RO takes almost all beneficial metals etc out. Fish and live animals need some of this in the water. Pure RO has worked for me on Altumns etc. Not good for the majority of fish. You also need to add trace elements back to the RO water.

What I would look at which to me is a greater concern why your tap water comes out at 170 ppm and in the tank it is over 320. Is there something in the tank leaching out. Remove this and you may not need the RO water. 170 should be adequate for most species. Or is it so high due to lack of water changes, if it comes out of the tap at 170 the tank should be around the same. Do you have coral or lime in the tank or something that could be leaching out ?

Thanks

John


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## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

bluegularis said:


> They do look like planeria.
> 
> Planeria don't do any harm.
> Switching to pure RO is not the answer either, pure RO is not good for any fish, I would at least mix it 25-50% tap water. RO takes almost all beneficial metals etc out. Fish and live animals need some of this in the water. Pure RO has worked for me on Altumns etc. Not good for the majority of fish. You also need to add trace elements back to the RO water.
> ...


No I don't. The only thing I have in the tank is a peace of Malian wood and little glass jewel. I'm already half way through to switch to RO water. I don't have any fish in the tank. Only shrimps and assassin snails (only 3-4 left as I moved rest of them to fish only tank). My ppm now 225 and it looks like shrimps like it better. I also changed and decreased their diet as I was overfeeding before. Planaria is also gone after using "no Planaria" stuff.


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