What On Earth Is This?

Oh ym dear lord, tetra died last night and another is on the way, was looking in on them 10 minutes ago and found this horrible thing trying to get into my sand near to where I removed the dead fish!

What in the name of god is it, can I get treatment for them and if I get anything locally will my new Corys be ok with the medicine?

Am itching all over now and really annoyed that I didnt spot it in the open mouth of my Tetra as it suffocated to death!

R.I.P

allgipan said:

Oh ym dear lord, tetra died last night and another is on the way, was looking in on them 10 minutes ago and found this horrible thing trying to get into my sand near to where I removed the dead fish!

What in the name of god is it, can I get treatment for them and if I get anything locally will my new Corys be ok with the medicine?

Am itching all over now and really annoyed that I didnt spot it in the open mouth of my Tetra as it suffocated to death!

R.I.P

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Looks like a small leach to me

definatly a leech of some kind.
if you have one you have thousands.

you should realy treat the tank with a med that will kill them.
if you are USA/Canada you'll need either Fluke Tabs by Aquarium or General Cure by Aquarium
both contain Trichlorfon which will kill the leeches.

if you are in the UK Trichlorfon is not available over the counter and will be expensive from a vet.
the next best thing is formalin @150 mg/L. you should find formalin in the pond deptartment of any good LFS
most commonly as FMG by NTlabs

just so you know what ever you use the best case scenario is only 35% of leeches killed on first course of treatment,
be prepared for 3 or four courses.

as with all meds, follow the instructions on the bottle and wear the appropriate clothing, especially with formalin as it
is slightly carcenogenic.

Hi thanks, have just tried with methylene blue as a guess, will go look for that treatment and use it if nothing seems to improve. Another tetra is open mouthed now, do you think its the leeches?

Not that I am questioning you because I would be stuffed without your advice but is the pond treatment ok with cory's?

I'd run carbon in the filter for 24-36 hrs to absorb the methylene blue
then start a course of treatment with formalin.

yes the formalin will be ok with corys. some pond meds are ok with tropical fish
unless you have things like rays or elephant noses etc.
in fact I don't buy meds for tropical only the pond ones

Thank you all AGAIN for your help, its so nice to be able to ask for advice without anyone being condescending, I greatly appreciate it as all I want is for my fish to be well and happy xxx

hello there

small leeches are a pain to get clear from a aquarium because they borrow deep into your substrata/gravel bed.

this a time consuming method

i had them once the best method for irradication is micro waving your gravel but cover with water. what ever micro wave you use i will leave that up to your discretion .
then wash your gravel completley this will clear up any dead remains also add a anti bacteria solution and leave for a day rinse again and all should be well.
its better than using additives and less expensive
good luck
hogan53

Not to rob the OP's post, but where do they come from? How do you get them in the first place? How would you know if you had them? Just looking at that thing makes me feel creepy.

Jozlyn said:

Not to rob the OP's post, but where do they come from? How do you get them in the first place? How would you know if you had them? Just looking at that thing makes me feel creepy.

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Hiya, well if you dont ask you dont find out ha ha, been told they come in attached to plants or possibly even new unquarantined fish, disgusting aint they, have not seen any more since thank god xxx