Can Planaria be used as food??

[jeromecarlyoung]

Hello,
My Tank seems to be having a lot of live and dead Planaria floating about.
I have heard that this may be due to over feeding.
Is it possible to try to get my DP to eat these instead of the usual live food for short periods of time? Planaria do wiggle a lot and do look like live food so I'm thinking my DP will go for them.
Doing this would keep the numbers of Planaria lower and also reduce the amount of new food from entering the Tank also reducing the food for the Planaria. When the number of Planaria drop I wuld then get back to normal feeding.
Is this a good plan?
Any help would be great.
Thanks Jerry

[Hilly]

Honestly I cant see this plan working. I see Planaria as pests and doubt they have much nutritional value whatsoever so your fish would need to eat a lot of them for a meal. Also the fish has to go for them and if it doesnt then the plan has already failed. Easy way to get rid of Planaria. Cut back on feeding for the next couple of weeks or reduce portion size and do a lot of water changes. This should get rid of them.

[RTR]

Not many fish will eat planaria.

[jeromecarlyoung]

Cheers for that.
I did wonder how the numbers were getting up.
I have seen a DP on Youtube going for Planaria but mine is fussy. I thought all that wiggling by the worm would be irresistable to my DP but no.
Cutting down on the food seems to be way forward. I do about 60%+ water changes and hoover the gravel too.

Shame!

Thanks Jerry

[J-P]

if you stir portions of the substrate just prior to the syphon it will be much more effective.

[jeromecarlyoung]

Thanks for that! I shall do!
-Jerry

[SammyDee]

I had this problem once. Cut back on feeding and add some ghost shrimp. The ghost shrimp will go nuts for planeria. As long as your puffs won't eat them first

[RTR]

Excess planaria indicate high organics, especially in the substrate. Cure that problem rather than trying for a quick fix - which is a Bandaid, not a cure.

[jeromecarlyoung]

I put a post on another website and the fact that these things are swimming indicated that these were a type of Nematode and not the Planaria to which I thought (Planaria are a bit leech like?? The swimming worm, I have, look a bit like male sperm; sorry to be so crude but they do!!)
If they are Nematodes then could this be a problem. If so what are lotions and potions are best for this, please??

I must admit to have quite a few snails in the tank; I was hoping they would breed and my DP would pick up the young snails. With MTS being in the Tank too then Poo must be a problem.

Thanks for your help so far!

-Jerry

[RTR]

Excess visible nematodes are a symptom of the same issues as excess planaria - they are symptoms of excessive organics, especially in the substrate. Excessive organics are signs of too few water changes, over- or incorrect feeding, too little substrate maintenance, or some combination of any or all of things.

Some nematodes are potentially harmful, but those will not be seen free-swimming in the water column (they would be in or on the fish). The free-swimmers are part of the normal aquatic fauna, just in excess. In well-maintained tanks they are rarely seen, even though they are commonly present. That is also the same as for planaria.

Cure the excess organics and the planaria or nematodes disappear.

HTH

[jeromecarlyoung]

Cheers for that. I'm trying to fish out most of the snails.
I threw in quite a few MTS in hope that mu DP would eat them and no luck; then I threw in some Ramshorns and Puff doesn't eat them and now only has Pond Snails and smaller ones at that.
Most of the snails are being taken out now.
Thanks again

-Jerry