Planaria?

[rickztahone]

i saw these critters all over my glass sides. these pics were taken with a macro lens (couldn't keep my hand steady sry). at first i thought the were pieces of paper from the paper towels i use to clean the outside glass. then i noticed they were moving, yuk! i spoke with Julie and she told me it is more than likely planaria, but being the paranoid person that i am i always like to check with SD (not to discredit you at all here Julie :D). this tank (125g) does not get often WC like i should but it's due to the low bio load (5 discus). i feed 2-3 x's daily and i do a 80% WC WEEKLY, i know that's not much but i never would have thought it would end up with this many critters on the glass. i'm really hoping it is planaria due to the fact that it's not harmful to the fish. i will also start doing more WC's to try to eradicate this problem. please let me know if you think it might be something else. thanks:
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b284/rickztahone/discus%20tanks/PB120333.jpg
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b284/rickztahone/discus%20tanks/PB120334.jpg
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b284/rickztahone/discus%20tanks/PB120339.jpg
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b284/rickztahone/discus%20tanks/PB120340.jpg
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b284/rickztahone/discus%20tanks/PB120341.jpg
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b284/rickztahone/discus%20tanks/PB120342.jpg

[frenchie100]

Now that I am seeing pics... I don't know, they look way bigger than planaria... Are they the size of a grain of rice?

They look like a type of flatworm but just bigger than planaria if they are as big as they look on the pic. They look like the flatworms we would sometimes see in a batch of CBW, but you are not feeding those right now so I don't know where these came from.

I don't think flatworms are pathogenic anyways. Edit: Actually, I take that back, too much of a generalization. I should say Turbellaria (planarians) aren't pathogenic, because tapeworms and flukes are considered flatworms and are pathogenic. Sorry!

Your gonna have to give a millimeter estimate if this enigma's going to get solved! :D


Julie :)

[rickztahone]

Now that I am seeing pics... I don't know, they look way bigger than planaria... Are they the size of a grain of rice?

They actually look like flatworms if they are as big as they look on the pic. You are not feeding CBW right now so I don't know how you would get flatworms in your tank :confused:.

I don't think flatworms are pathogenic anyways.

Your gonna have to give a millimeter estimate if this enigma's going to get solved! :D


Julie :)

i will take some pics tomorrow before the WC with a quarter as size reference.

[rickztahone]

nickel as size reference:
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b284/rickztahone/discus%20tanks/PB120333_01.jpg
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b284/rickztahone/discus%20tanks/PB120340_01.jpg
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b284/rickztahone/discus%20tanks/PB120341_01.jpg
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b284/rickztahone/discus%20tanks/PB120342_01.jpg
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b284/rickztahone/discus%20tanks/PB120345.jpg

[Disgirl]

Ricardo, I looked it up in a book I have and the pic looks just like what you have, planaria. They are carniverous and live on microscopic organisms. It says they are 1/8th inch long, glide like snails and live in large #'s on the glass. In really clean water they starve. PP will kill them, the author says to put a piece of raw meat in the tank over night to trap most of them and throw it away the next morning. Protect the meat from the discus of course, a cage of some sort around it. Repeat each night until all are gone. Guppies and dwarf gouramis eat them! More frequent wc's will take care of them. Good luck!
Barb

[rickztahone]

Ricardo, I looked it up in a book I have and the pic looks just like what you have, planaria. They are carniverous and live on microscopic organisms. It says they are 1/8th inch long, glide like snails and live in large #'s on the glass. In really clean water they starve. PP will kill them, the author says to put a piece of raw meat in the tank over night to trap most of them and throw it away the next morning. Protect the meat from the discus of course, a cage of some sort around it. Repeat each night until all are gone. Guppies and dwarf gouramis eat them! More frequent wc's will take care of them. Good luck!
Barb

yeah i had really slacked on the WC's due to the fact that i figured since the load was light and i fed them only 2-3 x's daily the water wouldn't foul as quick. i will do more WC's from here on out

[scottthomas]

Looks like Planaria to me? Do you use a hob filter system? They can really build up in there if you dont clean it out often, even if you do claen the tank pretty well.