Help Snake or Eel or something in water

[desley]

Hi all,

I just did a gravel clean and upon checking the water for any fry I spotted a brown eel / snakey thing. It's about 2 inches long .. brown .. very thin and swims like a sea snake.

SCARY !!!!!!

Is this something thats going to mutiply in my tank water ? I have never seen one before and am scared of it attacking my fish (if there is more).

PLEASE HELP ASAP ...

Can I tip the water with this thing into the garden .. ie will it live and grow out of water.

Sorry if this sounds stupid but I have never seen this before and I am a bit of a newbie.

Thanks
Desley

 

[crazie.eddie]

Does it seem like some kind of leach or maybe a fluke. From what I understand, flukes would have suckers on both ends.

Have you fed your fish live worms? If so, then maybe a few have escaped and grew?

Can you post a pic?

 

[desley]

Hi,

Does anyone out there know about this brown eel thing

Please.

I am off on holidays tomorrow and if it is some kind of mutiplying thing that I need to treat I will have to do it quick !!!!

Thanks
Desley

 

[desley]

Hi Ed,

Thanks for your help.

No never feed live worms.

It seems to swim in one direction .. like a sea snake. It doesn't appear to swim from both directions .. whether this means it has a sucker on each end I do not know.

I am going to try and photograph it now.

Thanks

 

[desley]

Here is the best photo I could get.

Sorry it is not great and hope it works.

I have never seen one before so I don't think there have been others if this helps.

 

[G_Sharky]

Might be some kind of a worm, If i were YOu i'd get it out of your tank ASAP....

 

[crazie.eddie]

It's hard to tell. Maybe put it in a jar and bring it to an LFS.

 

[modernhamlet]

Better safe than sorry. I'd remove it.

 

[desley]

Hi all,

Yes it is removed. It got sucked out with the gravel clean and its sitting in the old water in the bucket.

Should I tip this into the garden. Do not think I can keep it to take to the lfs as it is too creepy for me.

Rather tip it somewhere and be rid of it but not if it can live outside water and grow bigger and attack my dog. Is this silly ??? Or down the drain system. Cannot kill it .. too sissy to kill anything.

Anyway, thanks for your help guys.

It is really strange but thinking maybe it was introduced with plant that I buy. Can't think of anyway else as I purchased the tank new .. new gravel ... fish are always put in by net ... and never seen anything like this hanging from the fish.

Should I treat the water for possible others .. brothers and sisters .. god forbid !!!!

Thanks
Desley

 

[crazie.eddie]

Dont' flush it in your toilet. It may eat the waste & with all the chemicals and stuff there, it may grow large abnormally and end up escaping the sewers and tearing down the city.

 

[desley]

Ok Ed.. now I think you are having me on !!

I am just not a snake, eel, worm type person. YUCK .. no DOUBLE YUCK.

I presume if I were to tip it down the drain it will just die somewhere along the line and if not then you can expect to see sunny Brisbane AUSTRALIA on the news around the world .... being taken over by a massive worm.

Hehe. No seriously do you think I need to treat my tank or just some rouge something got in there.

Thanks
Desley

 

[crazie.eddie]

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

You mentioned it came from a plant, I understand planarians come from moist soils. If it looks like the pic from the link, then it should be no problem.

What fish are in your tank? If it is a planarian, then they would probably enjoy it as a nice meal.

 

[desley]

Hi Ed,

That's OK. I'm a newbie .. you have to do it while you can. I might learn too much from this forum and then you won't be able to have a joke on me

YES, I think it looks like the 2nd picture (Land Planarian eating a redworm) the long thin brown one on the outside.

Problem is I'm not 100% sure so I'm going to toss it out just in case I feed my fish a bad worm.

Rather they miss out than catch something nasty.

Anyway, glad it's out of the tank. Do they mutiply .. so should I expect to see more with future gravel cleans.

My hands are going no where near that gravel for a while !!! I am not related to Steve Erwin as you can tell ....

Thanks again
Desley

 

[Doggfather]

maybe it came when you intoduced a plant?

 

[crazie.eddie]

Yeah, best not to feed your fish live things from an outside source. You don't know where it's been. You should be able to leave it in the garden. It will just eat other worms. I'm sure your dog will be safe. Unless you have super growth hormones in the fertilizer for the garden....Then when I hear the news about a giant worm attacking brisbane...I will travel to japan to contact the fairies to raise Godzilla from it's sleep to destroy Planathra, the giant planarian. LOL (Yeah, I'm a Godzilla fan).