Planaria Trouble

[carrera]

Hi, new to the inverts forum, after some advice for my shrimp

My tank has just finished cycling, and, long story short, after using a careless ebay seller, I currently have a single cherry shrimp living in my tank waiting for his buddies to arrive.

The shrimp was fine for the last couple of days, but today I've not seen much of him, until he popped out and started almost spazming through the water, like big twitches, then going limp and sinking to the bottom and laying there for a while.

I've noticed what I think are Planaria on the tank glass - teeny tiny white worm like creatures, almost too small to see, but definatley moving and also what look like small clumps of them, circular in shape approx 2mm in diameter. I've never experienced them before so I'd appreciate someone confirming that they are Planaria.

Anyhow, I've also read that Planaria, while harmless/edible to fish, they carry a toxin which can be very harmful to shrimp, and I'm wondering if this is what's wrong with my loner.

I'm currently floating him in a jug in the tank, hoping he'll be a bit better in there for now, but I'm really not sure what else to do - he doesn't look well at all.

I'm expecting more shrimp to be delivered tomorrow morning and I have no where else for them to go, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Just to add - water stats are:

Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate 10ppm
pH: 6.5

 

[TylerFerretLord]

I'm pretty sure the toxin thing is a load of bull(at least for the species aquarists frequently see); I have a load of planaria in my tank and my shrimp have been doing fine.

I think that your shrimp is just on his way out, sorry.

Have you ever dosed a med with copper in it in this tank?

 

[carrera]

I'm pretty sure the toxin thing is a load of bull(at least for the species aquarists frequently see); I have a load of planaria in my tank and my shrimp have been doing fine, as well as several other.

I think that your shrimp is just on his way out, sorry.

Have you ever dosed a med with copper in it in this tank?

There's been no meds of any sort near the tank. All it's had in it so far is plant food. I guess he could just be suffering from what killed the rest of my order (tool sent them with no heatpack on a really cold morning).

Regardless, thanks for the reassurance about the toxin - it sounded a bit dodgy. Hopefully my new shrimps will get on better

 

[Liam]

If some of them were dead on arrival then maybe the shrimp that survived was not going to make it anyway. The cold would not kill them cherry shrimp survive winter in a garden tub that freezes over at times. If the shrimp arrive in very cold water just let the temperature in the bag rise slowly. A water change before they arrive may be a good idea, if the tank is newly set up and you have any spare filter material from another tank then you could add some more bacteria.
Hope you have better luck next time.

 

[carrera]

If some of them were dead on arrival then maybe the shrimp that survived was not going to make it anyway. The cold would not kill them cherry shrimp survive winter in a garden tub that freezes over at times. If the shrimp arrive in very cold water just let the temperature in the bag rise slowly. A water change before they arrive may be a good idea, if the tank is newly set up and you have any spare filter material from another tank then you could add some more bacteria.
Hope you have better luck next time.

Ah I see, could have been stress that killed the shrimps in the post then. The survivor did so well for a couple of days though. I floated him for several hours to equalise the temp.

It is a new tank, but it's just finished a fishless cycle

 

[Syphoniera]

Flatworms apparently are toxic - but I recently came across (and posted elsewhere) some info which explained the endless anomolies regarding the white, worm-like citters we typically term 'planaria', among more unprintable epithets, when these are discovered to have arrived in our tanks.

<a href="http/www.aquarium-pond-answers.com/2007/...es-in-fish.html" target="_blank">http/www.aquarium-pond-answers.com/2007/...es-in-fish.html</a>

... Detritus Worms (from the group of worms called Oligochaetes, sub group naidid worms) are often misidentified in the aquarium hobby as Planaria without close inspection by many internet articles such as about.com.
Many of these worms are accidentally introduced by live plants, gravel (especially in the case of common Detritus Worms) live fish foods, and even brought in with fish transfers.
(Click picture to enlarge)
Many not familiar with Detritus worms will label these as everything form midge larvae, Planaria to baby earthworms, of which none is true. They are very common and most often seen during vacuuming and other cleaning procedures.
These worms generally are not a problem, however high numbers of particular species can indicate low oxygen levels and low filter productivity, which very often suggests some degree of pollution caused by poor cleaning procedures, over crowding, over feeding and poor filtration
Please reference these sources for even more identification (and further information so as to dispel the internet aquarium myth that these are Planaria):
Planaria
Aquatic Life: Worms ,
Oligochaeta Worms
Aquatic Worms ...

Plus there's more info below that, if you care to check out the article.

The 'Planaria' site was down when I checked, but the next given:

<a href="http/www.townoflakelure.com/aquatic_worms.htm" target="_blank">http/www.townoflakelure.com/aquatic_worms.htm</a>

... Another group of oligochaetes are the naidid worms. These are common both in running and standing water. Like tubifex worms, most are sediment dwellers, but some are found among aquatic plants. Naidids feed on detritus, algae, plants, planktonic creatures, and some are snail parasites. While not always an indicator of poor water quality, high numbers of particular species can indicate low oxygen levels and low productivity, which very often suggests some degree of pollution. ...

Note: the types of such critters we get typically seem to come in on plants.
The ones I have now, which came in with plants, always appear to be feeding on algae or invisible critters on the glass.
Ones that came in on some new plants perhaps a couple of years ago rapidly virtually destroyed the lot, and I wasn't rid of those until I actually ditched, rather than bleach-dipping, the remaining shreds of all plants after a second literal sterilization of the tank infested.
We might very well get different types every time they slip in, as seems to have occurred with me.
And I don't think mine seem to eat detritus, darn it all...



I thought this information was interesting, although it does sound nicer to say that one has 'planaria' rather than 'detritus worms'.
But, to my VERY limited understanding and recall, they don't tend to carry the toxins - or the tendency to attack eggs/berried female shrimp - for which aquatic flatworms are feared.
If I may quote one of my father's sayings: 'And now I've told you far more than I know.'

(Edit: overlooked this the first time, but you said something appeared to be a 'clump' of them, circular in shape?
Is this anything like a hydra or???)

 

[pippoodle]

What plant food did you use cos interpet flora boost killed my shrimp and there are a few others on here that have reported different plant food killing their shrimps
I now use tetra plantamin -- only after i emailed them and checked it was safe to use with shrimp and have had no problems so far with it

As for planaria i had it in my shrimp tank and they thrived with it in there -- i got cos both my husband and i were feeding the shrimp without the other one knowing as over feeding is the main cause , i had amanos , cherries and tigers in that tank (before they were nearlly all wiped out by plant food) i did emergency water changes and managed to save a few

Good luck Sarah xxxx

 

[carrera]

I'm still not certain what they are. The shrimp I have in now seem to be doing okay, apart from they are all doing that twitching thing, like jumping, almost in shock, up through the water, then floating down almost lifeless. After that they carry on fine.

I can't take a picture because the worms are too small, but this is pretty much what I'm seeing:

They are all over the glass and a lot of floating free too. I think the circular things may be fungii, but I've never seen them before. Don't think they're hydra from the pictures I've seen of them.

The plant food I use is King British Aquatic Plant Food. No mention of copper in it (although there's no ingredient list) and it only says not to use in saltwater.

The water readings are all still clean, but like I said earlier, the tank has just finished fishless cycling. I've changed about 150% of the water in the last few days too, but the worm things still seem to be as alive as ever.

Still can't say for certain these creatures are doing any harm, but my only 2 surviving shrimp are full of eggs and I'd really like to see them come to term but the weird twitching jump thing has got my concerned.

Just to add - I have just got new plants, one of those 25 random deals off ebay.

 

[shaz3271]

there is the problem im afraid its the plants, most plant sold on ebay are soaked in a copper solution to kill snails, i have just lost lots of CRS because of this, my advice is to un carbon through a filter and do lots of water changes if you intend to keep shrimp or any inverts.

sharon

 

[carrera]

there is the problem im afraid its the plants, most plant sold on ebay are soaked in a copper solution to kill snails, i have just lost lots of CRS because of this, my advice is to un carbon through a filter and do lots of water changes if you intend to keep shrimp or any inverts.

sharon

Thanks for this info. I'm gonna get in touch with the seller to confirm it.

 

[shaz3271]

there is the problem im afraid its the plants, most plant sold on ebay are soaked in a copper solution to kill snails, i have just lost lots of CRS because of this, my advice is to un carbon through a filter and do lots of water changes if you intend to keep shrimp or any inverts.

sharon

Thanks for this info. I'm gonna get in touch with the seller to confirm it.

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