I need a medication suggestion please

[Angler]

For Planaria. I got a bunch of sand from a friends tank. I saw planaria in his tank when I got all the sand, but I didn't know what they were at the time. I transfered planaria to my 125 along with the sand. I literally have thousands of planaria in my tank, and they have persisted for several weeks. I have read up on this, and I know the common suggestion has been to reduce feedings and increase water changes. I have done this. I have fed very little and have done large water changes. This will not work. I have also read trying to bait them with meat or something and pull them out of the tank; however, there is such a large number in the tank that this won't get rid of all of them.

I need a medication suggestion. I tried clout. It seemed to have worked to reduce the numbers. I think it is recommended to use every 24 hours for like for days, which I did not do. I only have one dose. Maybe I will try clout again and buy enough to dose several days. I also tried Prazipro, with no success.

Any other suggestions on medication?

 

[bluehairman]

Try cupramine or another copper medication.

 

[Camshaft Ramrod]

Wasn't there something that eats them too? Or am I wrong? I could have sworn there was something. Like snail, loach, or something. Ya'll know what I'm talking about?

 

[bluehairman]

Probably a loach. They tend to like to eat snails, and probably other invertebrates as well...
Could eating them be harmful?

 

[Angler]

Wasn't there something that eats them too? Or am I wrong? I could have sworn there was something. Like snail, loach, or something. Ya'll know what I'm talking about?

I did read that some smaller fish like to eat them. The problem is that I think any fish small enough to eat planaria will be eaten by the fish I have in the tank (bichirs, African Pike, Pbass).


bluehairman - I read another thread where someone who used coppersafe was unsuccessful in ridding them as well, so I'm not sure if that will work.

As far as I know, it is harmless to fish if they eat planaria.

 

[cichlid2006]

the problem may not be with your maintenance regime. check your filter, if you have heavy poopers that eat large food items then there will be a huge amount of waste food going into the filter, not a bad thing i know.
it starts to get bad though when you dont clean out your filter often enough under these circumstances. the planaria have a huge food supply in the media of your filter because your filter(s) are doing a good job. its because your filters are so good that they have an all they can eat buffet.
try cleaning out your filter and see if that has an effect.

note: you already had planaria, every stocked tank does. something made their population explode, could have been the extra ones in the sand or it could be coincidence if your media needs cleaned/changed.

 

[Angler]

the problem may not be with your maintenance regime. check your filter, if you have heavy poopers that eat large food items then there will be a huge amount of waste food going into the filter, not a bad thing i know.
it starts to get bad though when you dont clean out your filter often enough under these circumstances. the planaria have a huge food supply in the media of your filter because your filter(s) are doing a good job. its because your filters are so good that they have an all they can eat buffet.
try cleaning out your filter and see if that has an effect.

note: you already had planaria, every stocked tank does. something made their population explode, could have been the extra ones in the sand or it could be coincidence if your media needs cleaned/changed.

Thanks for the input. I have 2 Emperor 400s and an XP3 on the tank. I change the padding in the 400s every other week. I clean the XP3 only about every 2 months, but every time I clean it, it is hardly dirty. My water parameters have always been healthy. I feel like I keep my filters pretty clean, and as I mentioned, I keep feeding to a minimum. I have even been trying to feed mostly shrimp and not very many pellets since the pellets are messier.

With that being said, I guess I am doing something wrong since the numbers are thriving in my tank.

 

[cichlid2006]

i would agree that it doesnt sound like its your filters needing cleaned but maybe put the xp3's maintenance up to once a month and see if that makes a difference before you go banging meds into your tank. worth a try.
good luck