Planaria - Small Hair like White Worms Problem

[ExpectNONE]

Hi,

I'm discovering these little buggers in my tank starting a couple of days ago. The article below should give more info:


http://www.fishdeals.com/fish_diseases/planaria_white_worms/

The article mentioned that it's from excess uneaten food and lack of water changes. I'm not sure this would retain to my setup since the tank is bare bottom and I'm doing 50% WC nightly basis. Most food given are eaten up in a 10 minutes or less span. You guys can see my setup from the following post:

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=73419

I just want to know if anyone else have dealt with this issue and the most effective method for treatment w/out stressing out the fish.

Thank you all.

[Eddie]

Planaria always seem to find a way into the tank some how. How often do you wipe down all of the tank surfaces? I would wipe the tank down daily, just before your water change. This will help rid most of them. Then you can wipe the tank down every few days.

Eddie

[ExpectNONE]

Planaria always seem to find a way into the tank some how. How often do you wipe down all of the tank surfaces? I would wipe the tank down daily, just before your water change. This will help rid most of them. Then you can wipe the tank down every few days.

Eddie

I clean off the sides (incl. the bottom) every other week or as I feel needed but I don't think that is often enough right? I was looking carefully into this and I see some a potential cause here. My W/D filter have a thin layer of dirt (or broken down crap) that needed to be suction out. I'll start with that and your suggestion Eddie.

Thanks a bunch! :thumbsup:

[Eddie]

I clean off the sides (incl. the bottom) every other week or as I feel needed but I don't think that is often enough right? I was looking carefully into this and I see some a potential cause here. My W/D filter have a thin layer of dirt (or broken down crap) that needed to be suction out. I'll start with that and your suggestion Eddie.

Thanks a bunch! :thumbsup:

Anytime Bryan! I used to wipe my tanks down weekly but really found that it kept things cleaner doing it more often. Definitely could be the build up in the filter for sure. Glad you may have figured it out.

Take care,

Eddie

[darbex]

Are you worried about them because of the looks? They are not hazardous to the fish. If you get tetras in with the discus they will actually eat the planaria.

[tcup]

i followed eddies advice and it helped a lot. i also went from 50% dailey to more like 90%. i also put put some filter floss over the intake on my filters. i was finding that my filters were really crappy when i would clean them(which was every other monday). this really cut down on the amount of crap and food that would get into them, that really helped. my tank is now crystal clear. hope it helps.

[pcsb23]

Is the tank newly setup? They are often seen in newly setup tanks (don't know why:confused:). Wipe sides and bottom as Eddie says and they'll soon go.

[ashaysathe]

I personally feel this has got a lot to do with the bio load in the tank. I was growing out 25 discus in a 125g tank, 2 AC110 , 2 sponge filter, 5-6 feedings day, daily 50% water changes straight from the tap.
As the fish grew, I could not get these out of my water.. never. I now have 12 in my 125, Eheim Pro3 filter, 2 sponge filters. 4-5 feedings a day, once 30-40% water changes. What I am doing is increased the filteration to maintain water quality and compromise my water changes. No Planaria.
Now this can open a can of worms. But my theory so far is this is surely got to do with quality of water and bio load and filteration.
They harmless, but used to drive me nuts.