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Planaria?

humdingerx

Member
Joined
8 Feb 2015
Messages
81
Not sure where to put this so in General it goes. On the odd occassion now I've noticed a rather strange creature usually on the aquarium glass - maybe someone could ID it and help eradicate it?

It's like a translucent irregular shape very small blob, but is fairly flat if looking at it side on. At first thought it could be Hydra but there aren't any obvious "tendrils" or "arms" or anything, it's just an irregular shape flattened blob. I remove them when I see them but sometimes it's really stuck hard on the glass and even takes a bit of scrubbing to get it loose!

This morning I found one on the glass which I removed (had to scrub it a bit again) but also a slightly larger one on a sagittaria subulata leaf (which was the first time I've seen one on a plant)

There isn't an infestation of them that I can see and they just occasionally pop up (and are removed soon as I see them)

They aren't long and thin and don't appear to have any eye spots like flatworms (at least what google images shows) kind of irregular roundish shapes.

I did a 50% water change yesterday as well and found the last two (glass and on plant) this morning. I normally do a 25% water change weekly, am dosing ferts and injecting CO2 with low light. I have MTS and ramshorns snails and small fish (am under stocked in terms of fish, for a 200 litre tank)

I've never had these before so I think they must have got in from some new plants somehow? What could they be? Are they dangerous to livestock/plants and how to eradicate them? Unfortunately didn't think to get a picture before I removed them, if I see another one I'll add a pic...
 
Without a photo all we can do is guess. You usually don't have to scrub flatworms to remove them. Google freshwater limpet or snail eggs and see if it looks like your creature.
 
Hi all,
The 3 "jelly" options are Planaria, Leech or Hydra. Planaria glide along the glass, leeches loop and Hydra are sedentary. If it was difficult to remove sounds like it might be a freshwater limpet (Acroloxus lacustris)? Have a look at <"Bugs you might encounter...">.

Just seen "Mr Teapot's" post, and Ramshorn snail eggs are another definite possibility.

cheers Darrel
 
Had a quick look at google images for Hydra, Planaria and aquarium leeches and they didn't match up - closest appearance were the limpets and maybe snail egg sacs (but I don't remember seeing lots of eggs inside any of them). If it's snail eggs I don't mind, quite happy to have more.

If freshwater limpets I'm assuming must have hitched a ride in on a plant - are they a problem in any way e.g. eat plants or risk to fish/other invertebrates? How would I get rid of them, just keep taking them out? Thanks for the advice so far, I was really worried it was some kind of parasite...

At the moment the glass is spotless and can't see any more on plant leaves so far (they've only showing quite infrequently recently one at a time, this morning there were two)
 
I believe limpets are an eye sore only, and only if they get out of control. They don't eat plants also.
 
I'm with darrel on this one, fits the description perfectly, I have them too and I like them i do not consider them pest, they are interesting.:)
 
Found another one this morning on the glass - sorry about blurry pic but hard to focus on it using the phone. It looks like a limpet? (one pic from underneath it, other is from side)

kmHzH5U.jpg


wahuoX8.jpg


I suppose they're harmless but I don't personally like the look of them - looks like some kind of parasite :( This one I removed with my algae scrubber, it came right off (didn't have to scrub)

How do I get rid of them completely? Just keep picking them off the glass when I see them? Bit difficult to do with the back of the tank as it's got plants covering one part and is up near a wall..
 
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