Stinkin' Planaria! NOT Harmless! I'm zappin' em.

[Lupin]

Maybe remove the plants and dip in potassium permanganate?

 

[JakeH]

Good idea... We'll see how it looks on Monday.

 

[sigaru]

what do these guys look like? after reading this i realized that my snails have mostly been dying when i throw them into my puffer tank...they don't have a problem in my community [have an infestation, but i keep it under control by plucking and throwing to my puffers], but it seems like a bunch of them just die when i throw them into the puffer tank. not all of them, but i'll look on the ground in the tank and see a few snails just laying there hanging out of their shells, not eaten. and last night i noticed one or two silvery looking worms [maybe like an eighth of an inch long, or a little less, not thin but not fat] that were sort of wriggling near the top of the tank in a manner that almost looked like vibrating. i found this thread today and now i'm worried that this is what it could be, especially since the OP said that they can invade crays as well, seeing as how i now have a cray in this tank. if it is this, is it safe to treat with the fish in the tank? or should i remove them? and how long until i can put the fish back in?

[by the way, i am also reading the freshwater diseases post]

 

[Dark Jester]

what do these guys look like? after reading this i realized that my snails have mostly been dying when i throw them into my puffer tank...

Plenaria are small white flat-worms with what looks like an arrow shaped head. Really small, less than 1cm. Usually spot them on your glass or plants before you'd see them killing off other critters.

Puffers will chew / eat snails. Or if you have your puffers in brakish or salt water, the salt will kill the snails as well. Not necessarily plenaria killing them, though if you've seen worms it might be worth a thorough inspection.

 

[SpJc11]

[ after reading this i realized that my snails have mostly been dying when i throw them into my puffer tank...]

umm sorry to intrude but dont puffers eat snails?

 

[JakeH]

If you're seeing little worms, I would just assume that they are planaria. There's too many factors to consider, so I cant recommend a treatment for you, but the method I listed above has worked for me. I see people describe planaria as "flatworms" with "arrow-heads", but they're way too dam small for me to see any of that. If its a worm under an inch long, I'm killin it!