# planaria???



## sujeev87 (Oct 17, 2010)

Hey i have a crs tank which is about a week old. I noticed these TINY white dots on the glass of my 10 gallon aquarium moving around. I was wondering if these are planaria?

Update:
I'm pretty sure it's planaria, now how would i get rid of it?


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

sujeev87 said:


> Hey i have a crs tank which is about a week old. I noticed these TINY white dots on the glass of my 10 gallon aquarium moving around. I was wondering if these are planaria?


Do they extend their body when they move like a worm?


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## sujeev87 (Oct 17, 2010)

ye i just saw a few long ones do it


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

K if they are flat and glide along the glass they are planaria. If they are round they are nematodes. 
It's easy to kill them off just do a good sized WC and gravel vac. Also try to feed a bit less as well. Even playing with the temp can affect them as well as light. Planaria are said to be light sensitive.

From all the good sources out there planaria are harmless just like nematodes both are free living and eat excess foods and detritus in the tank.


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## sujeev87 (Oct 17, 2010)

they don't attack the shrimp? my substrate is amazonia I, wouldn't it just be sucks up if i use a gravel vac on it? Thanks for your help.


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

sujeev87 said:


> they don't attack the shrimp? my substrate is amazonia I, wouldn't it just be sucks up if i use a gravel vac on it? Thanks for your help.


From what I've read no they dont. They're free living not parasitic. People might think they attack shrimp because they will gather on any dead thing in the tank. I can see them eating fish eggs and fry that can't swim yet because the planaria don't know any different. To them it's food. Planaria will not hunt down and latch onto anything that's alive and swimming. 
I think it's all bull and people trying to sell products that claim to kill them off IMO.

I can't tell you about the substrate I don't use it.


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## Alexpatrascu (Jun 13, 2010)

They do not attack the shrimps but when the shrimps bother them, they'll let out some kind of defensive toxin which can hurt your shrimps.


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

Alexpatrascu said:


> They do not attack the shrimps but when the shrimps bother them, they'll let out some kind of defensive toxin which can hurt your shrimps.


Can you show where you read this happening? I'm just interested in knowing.


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

Alexpatrascu said:


> They do not attack the shrimps but when the shrimps bother them, they'll let out some kind of defensive toxin which can hurt your shrimps.


I am also curious. Planaria do not release toxins, as far as I know.


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## mrobson (Mar 5, 2011)

i had some in my planted cherry tank all i did was weekly W/C and didn't add any food for the 1st 3 days then reduced the amount of food given.


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

I don't know whether they kill shrimp or not, although I was told they do. My cherry shrimp tank has planaria and the shrimp population has declined while the planaria population has increased dramatically, and many of them are pink. I am presently removing the shrimp to another tank to get away from the planaria, which must have come in with the shrimp.


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## sujeev87 (Oct 17, 2010)

I was actually thinking of setting up a temporary 5 gallon tank and move my crs in there and just do some water changes in the 10 gallon and basically starve the planaria to death. What do you guys think?


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

sujeev87 said:


> I was actually thinking of setting up a temporary 5 gallon tank and move my crs in there and just do some water changes in the 10 gallon and basically starve the planaria to death. What do you guys think?


It should work.

As for them killing shrimp it not true.


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

I was told, by a person I trust, that they will kill shrimp. I haven't seen it myself, but I haven't looked for it either. I do know that my shrimp population is down to less than a quarter of what it was, and there are hundreds of planaria; many of them quite pink. If the shrimp are having a large die off that would also explain the planaria explosion. There are shrimp of all sizes in the tank, including hatchlings, so a huge die off seems odd.


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## mrobson (Mar 5, 2011)

http://www.shrimpdiaries.com/the-truth-about-planaria/


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

mrobson said:


> http://www.shrimpdiaries.com/the-truth-about-planaria/


Links like that are the problem supporting this huge rumor. I knew it was crap as soon as I saw the word slime.


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## mrobson (Mar 5, 2011)

Jackson said:


> Links like that are the problem supporting this huge rumor. I knew it was crap as soon as I saw the word slime.


yea i dug a little deeper from what i can find the "sting" or "venom" is actually stomach acid, they attach themselves to their victim by their mouth then use stomach acid to dissolve tissue and slowly drink their victim.


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## sujeev87 (Oct 17, 2010)

mrobson said:


> yea i dug a little deeper from what i can find the "sting" or "venom" is actually stomach acid, they attach themselves to their victim by their mouth then use stomach acid to dissolve tissue and slowly drink their victim.


well I read that too.. well it's not stomach acid but rather digestive juices that they use to attach their external esophagus to the prey and than they slowly digest the food and suck it up.


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## sujeev87 (Oct 17, 2010)

Has anyone here used the canine dewormer method? If so, would you recommend it? What are the ups and downs of it using it on a shrimp tank? Thanks for everyone's input


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

Dig even deeper

All these shrimp people say they have seen them swim after shrimp and attack them. Funny they can't swim so how can that be lol
They claim to have seen them latched on head first. Their mouth is located at the middle of their body. 
They don't have teeth so the myth if them taking bites is hilarious. 
They don't eat snails like some say it's actually been proven in a study that they can protect snails against parasites not sure if this was a fresh water study. I forget.
Hydra is a known killer of fry and shrimp and guess what planaria prey on hydra. 
They are not just a good indaction of over feeding they also indicate poor water quality. 
The ones we encounter in our fish/shrimp tanks are not the big predatory ones that will take down shrimp or fish. They are predatory but they prey on things we can hardy see that are easliy sucked up into their i guess mouth lol they mostly scavenge for food especially when there is lots of it.
Forum myths are the reason people think they gang up after one bites a shrimp and they rush the shrimp because they smell blood. I've only seen this crap said on forums.
I bet they are all experiencing Trematoda aka flukes when they see the shrimp swimming around with so called "planaria" stuck on them. There are many types of flat worms so people can be mixing up planaria with the parasitic types.


Water changes and vacuuming is all you need. Feed less and that should do it. 

You can use the meds/chems to kill them. You have to take in account that if you have huge amounts of them using the med will kill them and the dead planaria will cause ammonia spikes that can/will sour your water. So water changes and vacuuming is a must. You probably don't see a quarter of them that are in there.


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

sujeev87 said:


> Has anyone here used the canine dewormer method? If so, would you recommend it? What are the ups and downs of it using it on a shrimp tank? Thanks for everyone's input


I seen people say praziquantel meds like prazipro works. I don't know if it will kill shrimp.


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## Beijing08 (Jul 19, 2010)

Jackson said:


> Dig even deeper
> 
> Hydra is a known killer of fry and shrimp and guess what planaria prey on hydra.


could you link me to where you found this info?


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

Beijing08 said:


> could you link me to where you found this info?


I will post it as soon as the site will load for me. The site it's on is not working on my phone. It's not a forum lol


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

Beijing08 said:


> could you link me to where you found this info?


Here is the best one I know of it even has a pic showing one eating hydra. There is lots of information out there about these things you just have to know where and how to find it. Searching planaria most of the time won't bring up more than forum info which is full of myths. 
http://www.eeob.iastate.edu/faculty/DrewesC/htdocs/ILL-p3.JPG


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## Beijing08 (Jul 19, 2010)

interesting description. 

However, according to the article, microturbellarians prey on hydra, not planaria.
Although they're both types of flatworms


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

I give up lol 

My buddy just told me planaria is no longer scientifically accepted or whatever he said. Too much crap to take in lol 

You can read for months about them. 

I see them as harmless unless they are big enough to swallow a whole shrimp.
Average size is 2mm-5mm.


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## Beijing08 (Jul 19, 2010)

Jackson said:


> I give up lol
> 
> My buddy just told me planaria is no longer scientifically accepted or whatever he said. Too much crap to take in lol
> 
> ...


You're right about that lol.
However I've seen ones that are well over 1cm...freakish. I could actually see their eyes...


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## Kerohime (Jan 10, 2011)

I found this thread pretty helpful.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/shrimp-other-invertebrates/40061-whats-bug-how-recognize-them.html


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

Beijing08 said:


> You're right about that lol.
> However I've seen ones that are well over 1cm...freakish. I could actually see their eyes...


LoL they look funny

class: Turbellaria - free living phylum platyhelminthes

Microturbellarians average .5-10mm

Tricladida average 5-20mm

Diets consist of the same things. Just the bigger ones can eat larger things. They don't bite they suck up like a vacuum swallowing whole lol most are said to be detritivores. They are also predatory. They feed on dead particulate organic material, or zoophagous, feeding on small living or moribund invertebrates (protists, rotifers, nematodes) Protozoans, bacteria, algae are just some that I've seen listed. The larger obviously feed on larger things lol Largest invert I've seen listed so far that these two common types eat are amphipoda.

I don't see them swallowing a whole shrimp lol


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

Kerohime said:


> I found this thread pretty helpful.
> 
> http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/shrimp-other-invertebrates/40061-whats-bug-how-recognize-them.html


Just from the pics I think it's a rip off from planetinverts. IMO not a good source for info on this. Maybe written by the same person lol

Edit- aren't you a biology student? Don't you have access to all types of write ups? Most I've seen you have to buy lol I'm lucky my buddy has a bunch if PDFs he sent me.


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## camboy012406 (Jun 11, 2010)

I have hydras and planaria on my tanks but they dont hurt my shrimps


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