It was going so well.... Cherry Shrimp die off

[jaypeecee]

...another dead amano today (just one, at night again).

Hi @tomsouthall

I think we may be homing in on the culprit! The clue is "at night again". Take a look at the following and what do you see? NOTE: Scroll down the page to "Lifestyle & Habitat".

Planaria - structural features and vital functions of a freshwater parasite, methods of dealing with it

White or milk planaria is a primitive invertebrate creature belonging to the class of ciliary worms. It is found in freshwater bodies of water or aquariums, where it can be seen with the naked eye. White Planaria is a free-living organism that, unlike most flatworms, in its natural habitat poses...

fin-radom.com

"The lifestyle of the white planaria is mainly nocturnal; during the day, creatures hide among the leaves of aquatic plants".

JPC

 

[tomsouthall]

Hi JPC,

Thank you for the links and the research! This does seem rather compelling!! The worms are most definitely still there, I had thought they might not be planaria because lots of them are free swimming 'wrigglers' which I read meant they were something else. They are also really small, but all the things you have pointed to too seem to add up!

They are too small to determine the pointed head by eye, but I remembered I have an old SLR camera and macro lens which is just charging up. Will post a photo if I can get one!

Thanks again

Tom.

 

[tomsouthall]

I introduced some Ottos at the weekend which I read should eat Planaria. Next up will be a school of tetras which will hopefully take care of the rest. Interesting, I decided to get shrimp first to control algae and as I read they can be skittish when introduced to fish, but actually maybe this was a mistake as there was nothing to control an micro inverts.

Tom.

 

[jaypeecee]

Will post a photo if I can get one!

Hi @tomsouthall

If you can't get a photo (and even if you can), it would definitely be worth checking your suspected planaria with a magnifying glass at night when they emerge. Hopefully, they'll crawl on the tank glass panels.

JPC

 

[jaypeecee]

I introduced some Ottos at the weekend which I read should eat Planaria.

Hi @tomsouthall

That seems very unlikely to me. Otocinclus normally live on an herbivorous diet - algae, in this case. @zozo has a related thread on this topic:

Fish eating Planaria

This is actualy a topic of which not much is writen about.. Seems like those darn wurms are not realy on anybodies menu.. But i kinda experience different.. Now i got 3 tanks and 2 with lifestock, both i feed regularly life or froozen foods.. One tank only tetras, oto's and cory's, they...

www.ukaps.org

To date, I've been fortunate not to have to contend with Planaria. So, this is a useful exercise for me.

JPC

 

[Fred Dulley]

Hi @tomsouthall

That seems very unlikely to me. Otocinclus normally live on an herbivorous diet - algae, in this case. @zozo has a related thread on this topic:

Fish eating Planaria

This is actualy a topic of which not much is writen about.. Seems like those darn wurms are not realy on anybodies menu.. But i kinda experience different.. Now i got 3 tanks and 2 with lifestock, both i feed regularly life or froozen foods.. One tank only tetras, oto's and cory's, they...

www.ukaps.org

To date, I've been fortunate not to have to contend with Planaria. So, this is a useful exercise for me.

JPC

I've heard of ottos eating baby shirmp and also Dean from Aquarium coop has talked about a method of his where he gives ottos some baby brineshrimp to encourage them to breed.

 

[jaypeecee]

Hi @tomsouthall

I'd be interested to know how things are (hopefully) progressing.

JPC

 

[tomsouthall]

All going OK I think - no new shrimp casualties. I still have most the Amano (~10) and the Otocinclus are doing great, completely stripped the tank of brown algae so now supplementing with Repashy SuperGreen. Putting the macro lens on the tank was eye opening! Lots of random worms and other things. Still not sure about the planaria from these pics.... I've never seen any large ones, or any going for the little extra food I put in the tank. The tank is also super clean, no rotting material or anything like that which apparently shouldn't suit them.. will see how it goes. Would rather not start added meds. I'm intrigued by the Galaxy Rasbora (CPD), sounds like these might be good for invert control as I have nothing other than Otos and Amano's at the moment.

 

[Hufsa]

First pic looks like a rhabdocoela to me, third one should be a non parasitic nematode of some kind.

Happy to hear you havent spotted any planaria