killing planeria??

[grego]

does anyone know how to get rid of planeria? when i do w/c on my jag tank these damn things show up in force? i changed out all the gravel but they reappeared weeks later? any input will be appreciated! i included pic of tank and decor 2 penguin 350s filter it.

 

[JIM]

here is a quote i found for you , good and bad news i suppose.

The planaria are not harmful to your fish at all. They just look weird. Planaria thrive on excess waste. The only way to get rid of them is to starve them out by cutting back on food. The UV will only kill the ones that are exposed to it from floating up in the water and being sucked into the UV chamber. But, the ones that are left in the gravel will continue to proliferate so it isn't going to make any real difference. As long as the excess waste is in there they will stay. Even chemicals and medicines don't kill them. They are a hardy critter and your fish will suffer and die before the planaria will. Cutting back on the mealworms will definately help. Having fed mealworms to my fish from time to time, I know it is easy to overfeed with them. Vacuum the gravel in your tank more often too to get the excess crud out that the planaria are feeding on. Do your regular weekly 25% changes and vacuum the gravel at the same time. Usually the gravel is vacuumed every 2 to 4 weeks, but with a waste problem it needs to be done more often for awhile.

 

[cichlid2006]

put simply, more thorough tank maintenance and less food per sitting. really dig the gravel vac in to the gravel so you get all the way in.

 

[grego]

thanks for the info. ill start vacuuming twice a week, and cut back on the brine shrimp, she does make quite the mess with them.

 

[killerfish]

Why kill them ? they won't hurt your fish there just the little critters that live in your substrate they actually help keep a tank healthy if you don't like the look of them or something or you have alot of them just feed your fish a little lass and make sure theres no food left sitting in the tank and be sure to use a gravel vacume when doing water changes

 

[NOLAGT]

I would think that if you treat with some sort of copper med. it will take them out. If you try it and it does kill them make sure you are ready to do a good water change....a massive die off of them might fowl the water. I had a friend who had them in a reef tank...cant treat with copper in that kind of tank so we just left them sucking as many out on each water change. That didnt really dent them too much but one day poof they all died. No idea why but we didnt bother...every thing else looked good.

 

[cichlid2006]

I would think that if you treat with some sort of copper med. it will take them out. If you try it and it does kill them make sure you are ready to do a good water change....a massive die off of them might fowl the water. I had a friend who had them in a reef tank...cant treat with copper in that kind of tank so we just left them sucking as many out on each water change. That didnt really dent them too much but one day poof they all died. No idea why but we didnt bother...every thing else looked good.

why would you advise strong disease meds against harmless planaria? copper meds can be damaging to fish when used against disease, never mind throwing it in for something as harmless as planaria.
they are just a sign of overfeeding and/or slack maintenance. no need to be heading for the meds without good cause.

 

[NOLAGT]

why would you advise strong disease meds against harmless planaria? copper meds can be damaging to fish when used against disease, never mind throwing it in for something as harmless as planaria.
they are just a sign of overfeeding and/or slack maintenance. no need to be heading for the meds without good cause.

Well....the title does say "killing planeria??" which leads me to believe that they might want to know what would kill them. I never said that was what he NEEDED to do...just info that it might....kill them. I dont run to meds to fix things that dont need it...but I do share the knowledge that I have from keeping fish....thats all. And who knows....maybe someone else knows of a med not as bad as copper that will do the same thing....and they might chime in with the info...and we all gaine that bit of knowledge so we all win.....except for the planeria

Not trying to be rude with my coment either...just answering the question you asked...hard to distinguish with just text

Another thougt too is what about clown loaches or some sort of loach. DO they eat them? I know the big Jag might eat the loaches...just food for thought...

 

[cichlid2006]

only tiny fish will bother with planaria from past experience.
the question he asked led me to believe he thought they might harm fish as most think with planaria when they first encounter them. the title suggests he reacted the way most people respond to an unknown organism in their tank, ie kill it. but its not always the needed.
their is absolutely no need to add anything into the tank to kill or reduce the numbers of planaria.

 

[NOLAGT]

their is absolutely no need to add anything into the tank to kill or reduce the numbers of planaria.

In a freshwater tank....in a reef tank they can get overwhelming enough to cover corals and kill them. I never had them in freshwater....honestly when I saw the thread I didn't expect to see it was a freshwater tank.