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If you are about to stay away from home for a while, or you were away and left your aquarium uncleaned, then you might have to notice some flat, white roaming worm.
Flatworms or turbellarians belong to the Plenaries. There are various organisms with different traits in this category of animals. In both freshwater and saltwater, turbellaria is present.
They can be gross and disgusting. Fortunately, most aquarium occupants are not dangerous. Read all about planaria, which fish eat them, and how you can eliminate them from your fish tank.
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What Are Planaria?
Planaria are flatworms that both fresh and saltwater occur in various types and forms around the world. Sadly, often they can be found in our aquariums too because they are master travelers!
You won’t believe it, but most of the time, they travel with your fish as a ride. And if you have collected your fish plants from the nearest pond or lake and did not clean them up carefully, you are most likely to see them in no time.
Now, how may you identify them? Though we gave you a head start above, let’s elaborate again. If your tank has water worms around 10 millimeters, is smooth, has a strongly triangular head, and glides effortlessly over the glass, you probably have a planaria infestation.
Their color is also usually white, but they can also be present in brown colors. They might also be reddish depending on the food they consume!
How Do Planarians Get In?
By now, you must have realized that planaria are good at traveling. Planaria may invade the aquarium through newly acquired material such as plants in the aquarium or live food, similar to other pests.
But care with snails, crabs, and shrimps is expected since the animals are susceptible to parasites. Transportation can also occur using a filter or soil from an aquarium that is already tainted.
Planaria occurs and also arrives in plants in several different aquariums. But where they come from is very difficult to identify. If you have fish in your tank, you would be lucky if you enjoy fish and snacks.
Looking closely at your tank, planaria move on glass and the substratum – too they are astonishingly quick. The fish meal they consume. By ensuring you are not eating too much, you can be monitored.
How Do The Planaria Reproduce?
Plana is a well-known immortal being. When you cut it in half, it will become two new pieces. Furthermore, scientific evidence indicates that only 1/279 parts of their bodies are needed for the restoration of their entire body! They will then recover everything in two weeks.
Planaria is possibly asexually to replicate. However, they may also be sexually reproductive. Two flatworms will pair each other’s eggs and inseminate them. They drop it into a cocoon then.
Summer eggs are incubated shortly after winter eggs. Eggs can live in winter in nature. The egg behaves like an identical replica of the adult form after it hatches.
How Dangerous Are Planaria?
They are generally harmless. But yet, to some aquariums lives, they might get dangerous. Don’t be misled by their dangerous look, these flatworms make your tanks hazardous.
Planaria is a flatworm and not only scavengers but carnivores. The good news is that your healthy fish won’t be harmed. The incorrect news is that all eggs are going to feast on. When they are so young, aquarium owners can have a planetarium infestation in their tank sometime before they know it.
When you talk of snails, planaria is a huge danger for the same cause, if the tank has snails, like ramshorns. And, snail eggs love them too! If you have a shrimp pool, get away as soon as possible from planaria infestation!
What Aquarium Fish Eat Planaria?
If your fish tank contains snails, you have to worry a bit. Because some snails, snail eggs are victims of planaria as they feed on them. But if you have chosen these fish as mentioned below, then you don’t have to worry about these planaria fish.
Yes, some fish may have irritation after eating them on purpose or accidentally. We will also mention them. You will know as you keep reading;
1. Betta Fish
Betta fish is one of those aquarium fish that are interested in live foods. They are available in many sizes and colors and the most attractive part of them is their fins. There are not many aquarium fish that are as intelligent as betta fish.
Betta fish are easily attracted to motion. What we meant to say is, if your betta fish see any Planaria Worm moving, it will chase them and eat them.
2. Tiger Barb
Most aquarium owners like this extraordinary fish, because it almost eats anything provided. They are also famous for their stunning look. If you give them the chance to eat their eggs, they will do that too. Like betta fish, they also can be fed live foods. So Planaria will be a great free treat for them.
3. GoldFish
Statistically, goldfish are the most common fish liked and petted by pet fish owners. But there are not many records of feeding them live foods though. But one thing you must know is that they often get hungry.
So, if you keep them hungry for one or two sessions of a day, most likely they will go for the closest food they will find, the planaria.
4. Guppies
Guppies are very famous for their aggressive behavior. They are also known for attacking bigger-sized fish. In nature, they eat live foods like worms. So most likely if they are kept hungry for a session or two, they will feed on these worms.
5. Mollie fish
Mollies come from the same category as guppies and are hardy, stunning livebearers of fish. Due to interbreeding with guppies, mollies can be present in nearly any color and multiple types of animals.
When in a classroom, Mollies may even keep their ground so that they are perfect for group tanks. The planaria eggs are known to feed and the numbers are poor.
Will Fish Get Affected By Eating Planaria?
As mentioned above, some fish may not get scoped up with eating planaria. After all, it is a worm or parasite. These worms are enjoyed by several freshwater fish. Although the worms are not dangerous to the fish, their prosperity may prove lethal. Planaria may also reach the fish gills, creating discomfort.
The fish we have mentioned above might get affected. If you have them in your fish tank and if you are thinking of reducing the number of planaria by feeding them, then be careful with the affecting symptoms.
How To Remove Planaria From Fish Tank
You can never be too sure. Removing them can be the best policy. Now, as easily as they get into your tank, removing them maybe not that easy. But you can still try out the followings;
Natural Treatment
In 72h, no planaria control is one of the most common goods. Be alert, even while it is a natural commodity, your snails, fish, and any other living thing will most certainly be killed. The bag weighs 50g and a spoon.
Suitable use:
Substitute all aquarium fish. It is safer before dosing to uninstall the carbon filter. Because before the filter has a chance to operate it will hinder the product’s work. Made sure of the availability of oxygen and proper aeration.
In 72h add no schedule.
- Day one – 50 liters a spoon (13 gallons)
- Day two – one-half a spoon
- Day three – 1/2 a cubicle.
On the fourth day, the water shifts from 40% to 50%. Place the filter in carbon. Water improves after 7 days – 20%. When the planarian is dead, take a spoon (or siphon the aquarium) to stop a spike of ammonia to drain as much as possible. Conserve a closer look before and during the treatment of the water parameters.
2. Trap Treatment
Naturally, you should only attempt to manually collect this dangerous voracious worm. However, this approach is not especially successful since the rest of the population resides secret, in the substratum, for example. A planaria pit is even busier. This acts as a weir in theory and is arranged with the bait to trap planners.
The trap is then inserted into the aquarium. Some worms were expected to be caught the next morning. The trap can be collected and removed. Don’t just flush them in the toilet, because here certain planning organisms common in aquarists aren’t domestic!
Boiling water can be used to slaughter these worms easily and safely. The method may be performed as often as appropriate with more bait. This measure helps to monitor individuals, but using this tool is very difficult to get rid of them entirely.
3. Medicines
The therapy with a deworming agent is far more beneficial. When properly used an aquarium will again be completely free of plenaries. You can use prescription medications only a veterinarian can acquire. For example, the active agent flubendazole is present in flub enol.
The plenaries are gradually deprived of hunger due to disruptions in the digestion and digestive tract. After about two weeks administration of this drug should be repeated since it has little effect on planar eggs. Therefore, newly hatched planaria are killed at the end of the “breeding season”
If you ask us, we will also present some bad effects of medication. You are going to have after the effect of the medication. If you pet snails in your tank, most likely you are not going to put them in for a long time. Before putting back the fish, you have to be sure that the active agents of the medicines are worn out.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Planaria kill my fish?
Although planaria do not damage fish, planaria may indicate that it is more of a hassle if you are a shrimp keeper. Any of these platforms are predators of anything small, including larvae, shrimplets, other worms, or even adult shrimps.
Are planaria harmful to humans?
These flatworms do little to kill plants and do not affect human beings or livestock. Our species only feed on earthworms (as do two other naturalized planar species in the USA), which they track on the gooey trails of the earthworms
Are they parasites?
The rest of the Platyhelminthes phylum members are parasites. The only free-living flatworms in the bunch are called Planarians. Plenaries are easily missed, but they are incredible criteria.
How to identify planaria?
The flat, delicate, wedged, black, brown, blue, gray, or white may be the body of planaria. Two ocelli, pigmented regions that are light-sensitive to the blunt triangular head (eyespots).
What could be the maximum size of planaria?
Plenaries are generally roughly between 3 and 15 mm (0.1 and 0.6 inches) long, but some are greater than 30 cm (around 1 foot). The majority of plenaries are found in freshwater, and often they can be seen in vast numbers; some are aquatic and some are land-based.
Conclusion
Within the article, we have elaborately described almost everything you must know about Planaria and the fish that may eat them. It will not be a bad idea, but we highly suggest, first to be careful with the equipment. Because that is the very first line of defense the planaria break.
Finally, if you are about to let your fish have them as one or two sessions of food, please keep a close check-in with the after-symptoms. You will ensure that you work with planaria organically and remove it effectively and easily by paying attention to those tips.
