# flatworm/Planaria in shrimp tank, is it really that bad?



## Nick potts (23 Jan 2021)

As above really, I have noticed a fair amount of what appears to be planaria in one of my shrimp tanks.

I know there are meds available, but I would rather not use them, I have lots of snails in my tanks and they will be killed. I also have a planaria trap which I will chuck in.

Now I haven't noticed anything untoward happening, all adult and baby shrimp appear fine, but is it just a matter of time? Or are they likely to just pick off the occasional shrimp?

Thanks for any advice.

Nick


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## SRP3006 (23 Jan 2021)

I had to get rid of mine. Noticed a lot less baby shrimp and found the odd dead one, can't say if the planaria killed it or just fed on it after it died but they just creeped me out. They supposedly feed on shrimp and fish eggs too, if you are against meds at the moment you can try 'no more planaria' which is a herbal remedy (a nut extract I believe) or you could bait them, especially if you have some pest snails you could crush up in the trap.


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## Nick potts (23 Jan 2021)

SRP3006 said:


> I had to get rid of mine. Noticed a lot less baby shrimp and found the odd dead one, can't say if the planaria killed it or just fed on it after it died but they just creeped me out. They supposedly feed on shrimp and fish eggs too, if you are against meds at the moment you can try 'no more planaria' which is a herbal remedy (a nut extract I believe) or you could bait them, especially if you have some pest snails you could crush up in the trap.


Thanks.

I have a planaria trap and I will continue to use it, but I know it will be a never-ending battle that way as they are prolific breeders.

The No more planaria is the stuff I was referring to, it is also toxic to snails so I think will cause more issues than the planaria themselves


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## SRP3006 (23 Jan 2021)

It depends on what sp of snail you have. I have/had nerites and ramshorns. I removed the nerites as all meds for planaria are fatal to them. However the ramshorns bred throughout the treatment. For the sake of removing the few nerites I have it was a safe choice compared to the downsides of the planaria.
I used a test tube stuffed with a crushed ramshorn snail to bait them, the tube was literally crawling with them in 2 minutes.
On the plus side, since treating I've not seen a single worm, and all snails and shrimp are happy.


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## Nick potts (24 Jan 2021)

Well after buying some no planaria it now appears it could be Rhabdocoela worm.

These look more like what i have.

Best pic I can get.


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## zozo (24 Jan 2021)

Here you see a good reference picture what to look for to determine who is who. 
No 1 (left) is planaria...




I have no personal experience but those who do say Beetle Nut (NoPlanaria) also is effective against Rhabdocoela.


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## Nick potts (24 Jan 2021)

zozo said:


> Here you see a good reference picture what to look for to determine who is who.
> No 1 (left) is planaria...
> 
> 
> ...



For some reason I didn't see that picture when searching, only when someone said Rhabdocoela I found it.

If it is Rhabdocoela i will be leaving them as they appear to be harmless, just a little unsightly


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## zozo (24 Jan 2021)

Some people report seeing some fish such as Gourami sp. eating these flatworms.  But is some cases shrimps are also not really safe around them.  I guess it depends on some factors in how far this is true, I had a rather large group of T. Pumila gourami (10+) in a tank with Cherry shrimp. Had so many shrimps never noticed one missing... Gouramis are long gone over the years but shrimps still there.


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## alto (24 Jan 2021)

Something to think about in this FB post from Chris Lukhaup
(the Ulli Bauer article is well worth the read)


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## aec34 (24 Jan 2021)

(The ‘wow’ = ‘wow, that’s absolutely hideous’)


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## Nick potts (24 Jan 2021)

alto said:


> Something to think about in this FB post from Chris Lukhaup
> (the Ulli Bauer article is well worth the read)



Thanks Alto.

I did see and read that post.

I am now 99% sure they are Rhabdocoela worms rather than planaria, which from what I can find pose no threat to shrimp so would be best left or reduced with siphoning etc than trying to kill with a treatment etc.


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## tiger15 (24 Jan 2021)

Has anyone witnessed planaria attack healthy shrimp and shrimplets.  Won’t healthy shrimp just dart away if attacked?  

I once saw a planaria wrapped around a dying old shrimp.  After I pushed the planaria away, the shrimp was immobile and continued on the death path.  So could the planaria killed the shrimp or smelled death and began scavenging.


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## Zeus. (26 Jan 2021)

looks like my tanks have a fair number in there going off the results from an aglae tablet in a shrimp trap


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## zozo (26 Jan 2021)

Here is a video of an attacked shrimp


But this is not Planaria, it is a Leech... 

Anyway if a leech can manage to ambush a shrimp and suck it... I guess, why couldn't any other worm do this as well. 

So i guess this pic aint a fake. 










						Planarian flatworms - Aquascaping Wiki
					

Detection and treatment of harmful flatworms




					www.aquasabi.com


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## Garuf (26 Jan 2021)

You can tell when they've caught a shrimp because they go the same colour as the food, in my instance I would see blue and black ones happily skirting about, they obviously made a huge dent because it reached a point where I had an entire missing generation of shrimp and I would see them berried but could never see babies. Interestingly when I ran no planaria through the system the population not just of shrimp but all inverts exploded. 
Also of note, the tank even after running carbon is still a nerite killer, ramshorns and pond aren't bothered but nerites, I do everything right, drip acclimate etc and they're falling off the glass and dead in a week.


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## jameson_uk (26 Jan 2021)

tiger15 said:


> Has anyone witnessed planaria attack healthy shrimp and shrimplets.  Won’t healthy shrimp just dart away if attacked?
> 
> I once saw a planaria wrapped around a dying old shrimp.  After I pushed the planaria away, the shrimp was immobile and continued on the death path.  So could the planaria killed the shrimp or smelled death and began scavenging.


I believe there are two different types of planaria.   I am sure I have read that one leaves a trail like slugs that is toxic to shrimp whilst the other will ambush shrimp directly.   Never had them in my tank but there seems to be enough experienced shrimp keepers who have experienced losses to suggest you don't want them in with shrimp (Or at least they have put it down to planaria)
That said a lot of shrimp keeps also put fish in with them.....


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## Zeus. (26 Jan 2021)

Well whilst the RCS was in the jug with all off 'multicellular organisms' the RCS was rather jumpy in there


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## SRP3006 (26 Jan 2021)

Zeus. said:


> Well whilst the RCS was in the jug with all off 'multicellular organisms' the RCS was rather jumpy in there


Yes I've witnessed them 'flinch' or jump when they come across a planaria. Ive witnessed an increase in shrimplets since treating the tank, and that's even with the 30 wcmm and 15 cpds.


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## zozo (26 Jan 2021)

Garuf said:


> You can tell when they've caught a shrimp because they go the same colour as the food, in my instance I would see blue and black ones happily skirting about, they obviously made a huge dent because it reached a point where I had an entire missing generation of shrimp and I would see them berried but could never see babies. Interestingly when I ran no planaria through the system the population not just of shrimp but all inverts exploded.
> Also of note, the tank even after running carbon is still a nerite killer, ramshorns and pond aren't bothered but nerites, I do everything right, drip acclimate etc and they're falling off the glass and dead in a week.



Beside the colour change i had exact same experience... After the NoPlanaria treatment snails and shrimps boomed again.. 
Ramshorn and Pond snails don't bother Noplanaria... But killed an Apple snail with in the past... And it's not a nice death i think, it became lethargic and it took weeks for it do finally die i guess from starvation. Poor thing...

I my case i'm pretty sure that Planaria (eggs) comes with froozen life food... Since i did feed it to the fish in all tanks i had and all needed a treatment against these buggers at some point. I have one tank i never did feed any frozen food and its up and running for it's 2d year and yet never seen a worm in it.


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## Garuf (26 Jan 2021)

Planaria is a japanese sp. apparently, the concesus is that they are "in the water" of many dealer systems so they end up in the store, then in your tank as hitchhikers.


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## Tucker90 (26 Jan 2021)

Literally just won the battle against them, had a trap going for months and would still see them, it took 6 months but they successfully killed 15 Cherry shrimp of mine and never saw a baby, just a berried shrimp then nothing! 

Re-homed the nerites and used no planeria and haven’t seen one for a month! 

Be warned though, put a nerite back in a month after treatment and doing 25% W/c Every other day and he went belly up within 2 days! So it stays in your tank for a while! 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## sparkyweasel (26 Jan 2021)

jameson_uk said:


> I believe there are two different types of planaria.


At least. 
There's planaria that are actually _Planaria_, and there are Planarians, which are Triclad flatworms, and often loosely called planaria instead of Planarians.
According to ITIS there are 20 species of Planaria and 1530spp of Triclads.
Wiki says only one sp of Planaria, but references a publication dated 1981. ITIS's latest review was 2016.
ITIS Planaria
ITIS Tricladida


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## tiger15 (27 Jan 2021)

Garuf said:


> You can tell when they've caught a shrimp because they go the same colour as the food, in my instance I would see blue and black ones happily skirting about, they obviously made a huge dent because it reached a point where I had an entire missing generation of shrimp and I would see them berried but could never see babies. Interestingly when I ran no planaria through the system the population not just of shrimp but all inverts exploded.
> Also of note, the tank even after running carbon is still a nerite killer, ramshorns and pond aren't bothered but nerites, I do everything right, drip acclimate etc and they're falling off the glass and dead in a week.


I thought those colored planaria pics are photo trick.  The planaria in my shrimp tanks are all colorless, so does it mean I do not have the predatory type?   I will try No Planaria anyway since I only have ramshorns and pond snails that aren't sensitive.


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## SRP3006 (27 Jan 2021)

Most of my planaria were whiteish/cream coloured, but they definitely took shrimp and small snails.
On a note of caution the no planaria says it doesn't effect ramshorns but it did effect a few of mine. I've not seen a worm since though and shrimp and snails are back to normal.


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## Forever Fishtank (28 Jan 2021)

For what it is worth, when I bought plants from a  Petsmart (big box store in North America) near me, on two occasions I found planaria in the little bit of water the plants came in - I always wash, inspect and dip my plants prior to putting them in the tank.  I have stopped buying plants there.  Never saw it at other Petsmarts.  So I agree with @Garuf that a number of fish stores are most likely infected.


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## tiger15 (29 Jan 2021)

SRP3006 said:


> Most of my planaria were whiteish/cream coloured, but they definitely took shrimp and small snails.
> On a note of caution the no planaria says it doesn't effect ramshorns but it did effect a few of mine. I've not seen a worm since though and shrimp and snails are back to normal.


When you said definitely took shrimp and snails out, have you witnessed attack on live shrimp and snails.  Scavenging and preying is not easy to tell apart unless you catch the killing red handed.  I have many snails in my shrimp bowles, and have never seen planaria bother slow moving snails.  But I have only a small population of planaria.   I am sure if the planaria population is large, they can overwhelm the snails as there is no place to escape.  

Since No Planaria can kill some ramshorns, I am reluctant to use it as I rely on snails to keep algae out and I read that once used, the tank remains toxic to snails for a long time.  Moreover, sudden death of many snails and planaria can trigger ammonia spike in my fragile, zero tech shrimp bowl.   

I am inclined to try planaria trap, or biological control by introducing guppies or carnivorous grass shrimp.


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## SRP3006 (29 Jan 2021)

tiger15 said:


> When you said definitely took shrimp and snails out, have you witnessed attack on live shrimp and snails. Scavenging and preying is not easy to tell apart unless you catch the killing red handed. I have many snails in my shrimp bowles, and have never seen planaria bother slow moving snails. But I have only a small population of planaria. I am sure if the planaria population is large, they can overwhelm the snails as there is no place to escape.
> 
> Since No Planaria can kill some ramshorns, I am reluctant to use it as I rely on snails to keep algae out and I read that once used, the tank remains toxic to snails for a long time. Moreover, sudden death of many snails and planaria can trigger ammonia spike in my fragile, zero tech shrimp bowl.
> 
> I am inclined to try planaria trap, or biological control by introducing guppies or carnivorous grass shrimp.



Caught red handed no, seen plenty of planaria next to shrimp who have jumped away when they have came into contact with something (possibly the slime trail they are supposed to leave behind). Ramshorns breed prolifically and their numbers started falling and I didn't see any small ones. So even though I might be making assumptions with them actually predating on the snails and shrimp I did notice a decline in population.

With regards to meds, I used the dog Dewormer (sorry forgot name, I'll edit if I remember) and after 2 weeks I returned the nerites and I'm afraid to say they've all perished. Whether the meds attached to glass or hardscape I'm not sure.


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## tiger15 (29 Jan 2021)

SRP3006 said:


> Caught red handed no, seen plenty of planaria next to shrimp who have jumped away when they have came into contact with something (possibly the slime trail they are supposed to leave behind). Ramshorns breed prolifically and their numbers started falling and I didn't see any small ones. So even though I might be making assumptions with them actually predating on the snails and shrimp I did notice a decline in population.
> 
> With regards to meds, I used the dog Dewormer (sorry forgot name, I'll edit if I remember) and after 2 weeks I returned the nerites and I'm afraid to say they've all perished. Whether the meds attached to glass or hardscape I'm not sure.


The dog dewormer is Panacur C or fenbendazole.

If you saw plenty of planaria next to shrimp, specially during feeding time, you had high population problem.  I only see a few planaria crawling up the glass from time to time, and more snails gather around food.  So drugging run the risk of massive snail death and may not worth it.


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## SRP3006 (30 Jan 2021)

tiger15 said:


> The dog dewormer is Panacur C or fenbendazole.
> 
> If you saw plenty of planaria next to shrimp, specially during feeding time, you had high population problem. I only see a few planaria crawling up the glass from time to time, and more snails gather around food. So drugging run the risk of massive snail death and may not worth it.


Fenbendazole. 
Absolutely I had quite a population of them, used to be on the glass even when the lights were on. They are the ultimate scavenger and their population will grow reasonably unhindered as long as you have food/waste.
In your situation I would try baiting a bit more, they are quite easy to remove like that but it wasn't making a dent in my problem. Meds were the last option for me. I couldnt stand them anymore.


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## Nick potts (30 Jan 2021)

tiger15 said:


> The dog dewormer is Panacur C or fenbendazole.
> 
> If you saw plenty of planaria next to shrimp, specially during feeding time, you had high population problem.  I only see a few planaria crawling up the glass from time to time, and more snails gather around food.  So drugging run the risk of massive snail death and may not worth it.



Before adding any meds etc to the tank, do make sure it's planaria you have. I bought some no planaria to dose my tank but it turned out to be rhabdocoela worms and killing them all off would have caused me more problems than it would have solved.


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## castle (30 Jan 2021)

Does this look like Planaria? This guy is about 3mm long, and 0.4mm wide. I can't quite be sure.


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## castle (30 Jan 2021)

I believe that is rhabdocoela, but we'll see.


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## SRP3006 (30 Jan 2021)

castle said:


> Does this look like Planaria? This guy is about 3mm long, and 0.4mm wide. I can't quite be sure.


It doesn't have the typical arrow shaped head and weird looking 'eyes' that planaria has so I don't think so.


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## Nick potts (30 Jan 2021)

castle said:


> Does this look like Planaria? This guy is about 3mm long, and 0.4mm wide. I can't quite be sure.


These are exactly what i have in my tank and they have been identified as rhabdocoela worms, all pics I can find match Rhabdocoela worm and not the typical planaria.


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