The Puffer Forum

do a quick search on detritus worms

their living in the sand is what tipped me off. Planaria have a diamond shaped head.

These worms generally are not a problem often go un-noticed living in the gravel aiding in breakdown of wastes, however high numbers of particular species can indicate low oxygen levels, cloudy water, poor Redox and low filter productivity, which very often suggests some degree of pollution caused by poor cleaning procedures, over crowding, over feeding and poor filtration. When the population explodes these worms often leave the gravel and cling to the sides, usually close to the surface as oxygen depletion due to the cumulative affects of increased organic mulm (often resulting to pH.KH drops, higher nitrates, poor Redox Balance), cloudy water and simply too many Detritus worms drives them from the oxygen poor gravel.

http://www.aquarium-pond-answers.com/20 ... -fish.html

LGP good find

Nice to see someone else into the bugs. That was why I asked if they were flat or round.

I know PGP is doing a gravel vac almost daily, so it may be a filtration issue. Or there is debris in there (probably dead end roots from the plants) that are causing these little guys to bloom.


Are you running CO2 or dosing that tank at all?

PPG any update to the situation?

No, not really .... still unsure what I've got. I was hoping someone could answer my basic question, which is how to go about the plants I took out of the tank that was infested with so many worms. I've got them, the plants, in a bucket sitting outside for now, I don't want to transfer the worms that may be lurking in those plants to another tank. I'd like to be able to reuse those plants, but not if they are going to re-infest another tank.

I've been busy and haven't really had the time to do more investigation into what they might be.

You could try a bleach dip or add hydrogen peroxide to the water. Either of those might get rid of the worms. The bleach dip (10% I believe) may kill some more sensitive plants but as far as I know hydrogen peroxide is pretty darn safe though I can't remember the dosage.

a garden hose and wash them off?

how about dip your plan in salted water and rinse after it . If it doesn't work redo the proccess , hope this will help

Thank you for your suggestions. In the end, I rinsed the plants under tap water and put them into a tank that has on-going planaria issues. I think there's more to this planaria situation than we know. The tanks that have planaria in them are fed the bare minimum, and as I cannot stop feeding the puffers in those tanks, I see it as being a constant problem. Any of my tanks with planaria I cannot keep snails alive in, which tells me that planaria (if that's what it is) will kill snails and eat them from inside the shell. This is what my experience has taught me.

sounds like the snails are also a food source.

Yes, I believe you are right J-P, but they weren't put in the tank as a food source for the planaria, but rather for my puffers to eat. It's really a messed up situation and not one easily sorted.

I don't think planaria killed you three new snails, but I would not be shocked if they ate snail egg masses. New snails may die for many reasons,and a dead snail dissolves very quickly.

Planaria do live in the substrate ordinarily and if you see in them out and about is a sign of excess organics in the substrate. That can be a water quality issue easily. Water changes do not, repeat do not, clean the substrate.

Then maybe what I have isn't planaria. I use a siphon to clean my substrate regularly. I've cut down on feeding dramatically. Thing is, the tank I know I have a "worm" issue in, I cannot keep snails alive in. These are snails that are living fine in other tanks, but within hours of putting them into the "worm tank", they are dead. I cannot keep any sort of snail alive in those tanks, but other tanks are fine. Seriously, there is something odd about this worm issue. I've tried everything I can think of to get rid of them. I've read about water quality being a cause, but I can't see that being the case here. I am very particular about how I keep my tanks. And like I said, I've cut down on feeding as much as I possibly can. I remove food as soon as possible. I vacuum my tanks daily, as well as doing a deep-down cleaning when I do my water changes.
I know everything says you get worms from over-feeding and water quality, but I'm telling you that I don't feed any more than I have to and I keep my water clean and do regular cleaning and maintenance on my tanks. This is why I'm freaking out a bit about these worms. And that's why I'm beginning to think they might not be planaria. I don't know .... but I suppose I should just give up because I keep being told that it's from feeding and from bad water quality and I know that's not the case in my situation. It's very frustrating when you're told you have bad water quality, and you know you don't.

Small word, I found this thread threw google lol.

I've had a Planaria problem in my Piranha tank for phh half a year now... Since they're not harmful I'm not to worried about them but really are a eye sore. Believe me the "less feeding and more water changes will kill them" is so faults it bugs me that it's everyone's answer to the problem, though if you ask "Is that how you got rid of your Planaria problem?" you'll get a reply like "ohh I never had Planaria, but that's what everyone says to do.".

What I have heard from a few people who had Planaria problems in their tanks is there is a product called "No-Planaria", and that some pet stores carry them but I've yet to find any in my town that carry them due to it being hard to get it over the border for what ever reason.... And after searching google for the past hour now a lot of people are saying that dog-dewormers works wonders but will kill your shrimps as well. Also after just googling up "No-Planaria" it seems to be shrimp safe, I think I'm going to order myself.

Well I'm on my way to Ebay, see if I can find some in country lol.

HGI -- if you do have any luck finding a product that kills off the planaria, let me know. I have a couple of tanks that have planaria (or what I think are planaria) and just has a puffer in it, so no shrimp to worry about. Most of the answers I've gotten have been to add a loach or something similar, problem with that is that those tanks happen to have piscivore puffers in them, so adding another fish is not a viable option. I'd love to hear if there's a product that actually works.