# Planaria



## ciao (Oct 21, 2010)

I spotted a Planaria in my shrimp tank today. Just want to know do they pose any harm to the shrimps or the water quality in the tank? Any other merits/demerits please guide.
Thanks


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## iBetta (Jun 19, 2011)

ahhhh i hate those things. personally, i've never seen them attack or harass my shrimps. some say you can put pieces of meat in a jar in the tank and it will attract them. some say it doesnt work. 

I think a planaria explosion comes from overfeeding, so people will generally decrease the feeding. whatever you do, if you kill it, make sure you kill THE ENTIRE THING (like squish the entire thing with your thumb). or you can remove it from your tank and feed to your fish (that's why i do). just make sure you don't cut it up because they'll just grow back into more planaria from the cut up pieces O:. they won't die from it.....


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## ciao (Oct 21, 2010)

do they cause water quality problems????


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## iBetta (Jun 19, 2011)

ahahah i just spotted another in my tank, had to completely squish it so it doesnt regenerate . i dont think they cause any water quality problems, not to my understanding anyways. they're like cocopods and hydra in that respect


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

ciao said:


> do they cause water quality problems????


In most cases they are a result of poor water quality or overfeeding.

The ones we encounter here in Ontario are 99.9% harmless.


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## Pamelajo (Aug 9, 2009)

If you keep snails on purpose they can irritate the heck out of them by getting up inside the shell.

A couple really good gravel vacs will get them under control.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

put a fish fry in there and the planaria will be gone in a week.


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## cold (Jul 18, 2011)

they must be a nuisance in a shrimp tank.....I wonder if they are completely harmless....and do they have any benfits to keep???


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## iBetta (Jun 19, 2011)

like solarz said, they're a great nutritional source for fry! .....but any fry that can eat planaria in a shrimp tank could also eat the baby shrimps....


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

iBetta said:


> like solarz said, they're a great nutritional source for fry! .....but any fry that can eat planaria in a shrimp tank could also eat the baby shrimps....


true, but I would think the planaria are much easier pickings! And only the smallest newborn shrimps would be at risk. That risk would be further diminished if there are mosses for the shrimplets to hide in.

Of course, it should be noted that you'll never get *all* the planaria. Once you remove the fry, the planaria will reappear after a week or two. However, if you keep the water clean and don't overfeed, you should be able to stretch those in-between periods. The last time I "cleaned" my shrimp tank with this method was about a month ago, and I've since seen a couple of planaria reappear on the glass, but I will wait until I see a lot more before I put another fry in.


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## iBetta (Jun 19, 2011)

thats a good point solarz raised. if your tank is pretty planted, the shrimp fry should be able to hide themselves well in the moss (i used to have some guppy fry with my shrimp tank and none of them ever got caught).

sometimes, whenever i see planaria on my glass i would just catch them with a net and feed them to my other tanks. don't use your hands because they'll just retract and shrink (like an earthworm-defensive/flight mechanism) which makes it impossible to catch afterwards! 

just by catching them whenever i see them on my glass, ive greatly reduced their population . just like how i squish snails on the glass whenever i see some loooolll


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## cold (Jul 18, 2011)

so they cannot hide in plants like shrimps????


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## splur (May 11, 2011)

Where is the source of planaria anyways? I don't have it in my tank, but I definitely would not like to fine them in my tank.

I already have hydra which I seem to have killed by the lack of feeding.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

cold said:


> so they cannot hide in plants like shrimps????


sure they can, like I said, you can never get them all.


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