Where do planaria come from?

Question

I'm talking about the ones that live in fish tanks. I had some in my tank, and I've already read about them. I know they are an indication of bad water quality. I've been taking measures to improve the water quality in my tank. I just want to know where exactly they come from, how they just appear in the water.

I already know what planaria are. I'm asking, how is it that they are introduced into the aquarium in the first place? Please read my question carefully.

Answer 1

If you have recently bought any fish or live plants for your tank, the larvae may have been introduced that way. They don't just appear but the lavae are microscopic. There is even some speculation that they can survive in freeze dried foods. They are hardy little buggers and will divide quite rapidly in favorable conditions, ie tanks with lots of food, decaying material, plant material.

Answer 2

I like the pervious one :)

But anyway, the posibilities are :

1. You buy new fishes and you added the water from the shop to your tank.

2. You got some plants from the shop and you did not clean them or their roots before you introduce them into the tank.

3. Where I live they sell tubiflex worm with some water in a plastic bag. If yours the same, the water probably is contaminated. Actually they could just as well tag along with any live feed you have introduced, eg. Worms, blood worms, mozi larvae, feeder fish, etc.

Normally there is no risk if planaria gets introduce into your tank. In most case the planaria population is controlled and limited by the food source available. Some fish and frys do feed on them too.

From my experience, the problem is often due to too much food being suck into the filter and it gets trap there. So there is a safe place for them to breed. The planaria then gets gush out of the filter when they lose their footing.

Answer 3

Planaria Aquarium

Answer 4

Since they have to live in tanks with high organic matter (what they eat) they are most likely to get into your tank if you add plants (much like snails do). In stores, plants are crowded together, and there's a lot of dead/dying leaves and roots for them to feast on.

Since they can reproduce sexually as well as asexually, eggs could be present on the plants which you might not notice - these take a few weeks to hatch, then the planaria head straight into your gravel - you may have had them for some time before you realized it if they're introduced this way.

There's some indication that they will eat the mucous from the gills of axolotls (an aquatic salamander) and fish, so this might be another way they were introduced.

They usually don't cause any major problems in your tank unless you've got fish actively spawning - they'll go after the eggs.

They can also be a problem if you have a lot of them and use chemical means to try and rid your tank of them - a massive die-off will cause ammonia to rise and oxygen to be decreased because of the bacterial decomposition.

If you want to be rid of them, give your substrate a good vacuuming when you do water changes - if they don't have any fish waste or excess fish food, they'll eventually starve. You can also use a baiting technique described in the article I'll link to remove them.

Answer 5

O, I feel for you. I know they have to have come into the tank via plants, tainted water, on the critters you put in the tank but as far as I'm concerned, they spontaneously generate on their own. I have a shrimp tank that suddenly, after years of being perfect, started being infested with planaria and because I don't want to kill the shrimp or the plants (or the other little living things in there), I have been "allowing" the planaria to continue to live but I think they eat most of the food meant for the shrimp and my shrimp population is not increasing anymore (since the planaria showed up). The tank is clean and the water quality has to be maintained or the shrimp will die so bad water quality or bad tank maintenance isn't always the problem. It only takes one and the next thing you know there are lots, and they will eat almost anything. Using one of the antibiotic "mycin" fish medication will eradicate them but it will also kill inverts and plants in the tank. I used to like to look at them but now, I hate them.

Answer 6

They come from uneaten food or also your water quality isn't right. To remove these worms, do a 100 % water change and clean the gravel thoroughly, with gravel siphon or vacuum. Repeat until all signs of the planaria are gone.

Answer 7

Planaria are a free-living flatworm found in almost every kind of environment, on land and in fresh and salt water. They are a very small black or brown flatworm that look very similar to leeches and often appear in freshwater aquariums. They are generally around 3 to 5 mm long, but some grow as large as 10 mm. In a normal aquarium situation they usually don't cause any problems and probably even go unnoticed. However, if you get them in a breeding aquarium, they can destroy a whole spawning of eggs within hours. They are usually seen crawling around on the front of the aquarium after the lights have been turned off. They feed on anything organic but can also infect the mucous membranes of the fish's gills. They feed by sucking food into their gastrovascular cavity through a tube called the pharynx located on the mid-ventral surface.

http://members.optushome.com.au/chelmon/Planaria.htm

Answer 8

Check out the two links below I am pretty sure this is how planaria get into your tank. They just safely cross the street go into your house when your not home and hop in. :)

Answer 9

Anywhere there is water, basically.