# Help: I found strange animal in my tank



## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

Hi Guys

I just discovered very strange looking animals in my tank. They sit on the glass and look like some king of small warm but fat one. When I try to touch them they immediately try to shrink and fall down the gravel. They do move but somewhat slow. I'm trying to attach a picture of one I cough and it sitting on my finger. I found must concentration of them near the dead fish. For some reason in the past month I lost 6 of my 7 juveniles guppies for no reason but my other fish is doing fine. I also moved a week ago but I was able to move my tank (It's only 10Gl without any problems or loses as I removed 50% of the water from it and transported separately) Other than that nothing changed in my tank.
Any help is appreciated.


----------



## carmenh (Dec 20, 2009)

Have you gotten any plants that may have been in a pond? It looks kind of like the kind of gross little leeches I have in my pond...


----------



## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

carmenh said:


> Have you gotten any plants that may have been in a pond? It looks kind of like the kind of gross little leeches I have in my pond...


Nope, nothing like that. No new additions to the tank (and specialty plants) in the past few months


----------



## PPulcher (Nov 17, 2006)

It could be planaria. They show up sometimes if the substrate is grungy and there is leftover uneaten food.


----------



## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

PPulcher said:


> It could be planaria. They show up sometimes if the substrate is grungy and there is leftover uneaten food.


Are they harmless to fish and shrimps ?


----------



## PPulcher (Nov 17, 2006)

ppaskova said:


> Are they harmless to fish and shrimps ?


I don't think they cause any harm, but they are indicators that your tank needs a good cleaning and you need to look at how much you are feeding.


----------



## FPG (Aug 9, 2011)

PPulcher said:


> It could be planaria. They show up sometimes if the substrate is grungy and there is leftover uneaten food.


I don't think that its planaria / Flatworm, because he has guppies in his tank and guppies will not leave a singe planaria in the tank no matter how dirty the water is or how much food you are feeding....

They are harmless to shrimps and fish but if your shrimps drop eggs or if you have egg layers (fish) in your tank the chance are very thin that you would you able to breed any...since planaria will eat any thing they find on the substrate or in the plants....


----------



## J-P (Feb 27, 2011)

unless there is a more clear shot / microscope shot.. it is a moot point.


----------



## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

J-P said:


> unless there is a more clear shot / microscope shot.. it is a moot point.


agreed, get a better picture of the critter.


----------



## PACMAN (Mar 4, 2010)

It looks like a sandal to me! (try and get a picture that focuses on the critter. It will greatly help in IDing)


----------



## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

OK. It was extremely hard to find them and make a good picture of them. But I finally did it. The live mostly under gravel. It looks like because I did not clean my tank for 2 weeks after I move, they started to appear. Take a look on the pictures and let me know who they are and how dangerous they are as well


----------



## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

They're probably planaria. They multiply when there's lots of crud to eat.

You can usually get rid of them by cleaning up your tank. Don't forget to vacuum the gravel!


----------



## FPG (Aug 9, 2011)

if they are planaria. Then your assassins snails are in danger....


----------



## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

FPG said:


> if they are planaria. Then your assassins snails are in danger....


Why my assassin snails are in danger ? And also what about shrimps ?


----------



## Viki (Aug 1, 2011)

ppaskova said:


> Why my assassin snails are in danger ? And also what about shrimps ?


Planaria's loves meaty things and snails are the easiest catch for them they drill themselves into the shell of the snails and eat the body inside. you will find the empty shells of the snails in the tank and wonder if the assassins are eating each other....

For shrimps I don't think they cause much harm directly, but as told before seeing planaria in the fish tank means the water quality is at risk which will cause harm to shrimps automatically


----------



## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

Viki said:


> Planaria's loves meaty things and snails are the easiest catch for them they drill themselves into the shell of the snails and eat the body inside. you will find the empty shells of the snails in the tank and wonder if the assassins are eating each other....
> 
> For shrimps I don't think they cause much harm directly, but as told before seeing planaria in the fish tank means the water quality is at risk which will cause harm to shrimps automatically


Ahh this is explains why sometimes I could find empty snail shells and snails who are still alive but sit in one place for weeks. And also sometimes could not find bodies of a dead fish. Actually I had that problem before the move but after the move it increased since I did not clean the tank for two weeks. Now I'm back to my weekly gravel cleaning and water changes.
I try to change water every 5 days or so. The problem also could be that I have (or had) too many shrimps in my tank (in addition to the fish) as my RCS and CRS multiplied like crazy (specialty RCS). Also I noticed in the past month or so that lost 6 of 7 guppies I had. But none other fish was affected (with exception of one rummy nose and one Corry fish that I lost due to a move or may be for the same reason of water quality). I'm going to test my water tomorrow and see.


----------



## FPG (Aug 9, 2011)

Viki said:


> Planaria's loves meaty things and snails are the easiest catch for them they drill themselves into the shell of the snails and eat the body inside. you will find the empty shells of the snails in the tank and wonder if the assassins are eating each other....
> 
> For shrimps I don't think they cause much harm directly, but as told before seeing planaria in the fish tank means the water quality is at risk which will cause harm to shrimps automatically


want to add my 2 cents: planaria is a very hardy creature don't try to squish 'em or cut 'em, in this way they will multiply like crazy. If you want to get rid of them do reular gravel cleaning or if you have planted aquarium put some guppy babies and they will devour them.


----------



## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

FPG said:


> want to add my 2 cents: planaria is a very hardy creature don't try to squish 'em or cut 'em, in this way they will multiply like crazy. If you want to get rid of them do reular gravel cleaning or if you have planted aquarium put some guppy babiesand they will devour them.


What is guppy babiesand ?


----------



## FPG (Aug 9, 2011)

oh sorry that's a TYPO.... "Guppy babies and"


----------



## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

FPG said:


> oh sorry that's a TYPO.... "Guppy babies and"


This is what I'm trying to do. Put some pregnant guppies that will give me babies. But for some reason my guppies not surviving in my tank


----------



## FPG (Aug 9, 2011)

Try some guppies which are 2-3 weeks old....they should be strong enough to survive or else (dead) guppies fries will be the food for flatworms/planaria and will help their population to explode.


----------



## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

FPG said:


> Try some guppies which are 2-3 weeks old....they should be strong enough to survive or else (dead) guppies fries will be the food for flatworms/planaria and will help their population to explode.


Where can I get those ?


----------



## TBA (Sep 30, 2011)

ppaskova said:


> Where can I get those ?


check this out he was selling guppy babies a while ago, don't know if the offer is still available.
Baby Guppies


----------



## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

TBA said:


> check this out he was selling guppy babies a while ago, don't know if the offer is still available.
> Baby Guppies


Well baby guppies did not help. I put 8 babies last Friday (a few days to few weeks old) and only 2 survived (usually nobody eats my babies but not this time). And they don't eat those slagos. And I just lost another female guppy again. No luck so far


----------

