The Puffer Forum

I think I have some sort of parasite growing in my tank and I want to take care of it before any damage can be done to my puffer. Is the best thing to do is get some tank water and put the puffer in a bucked with tank water, then take all the water out of the tank and scrub it clean? Or is there some other way I should approach this?

Any idea of the type of parasite?...or why you think there is one?
I dont think scrubbing will completely remove any parasite (maybe just move them around a little), if there is one, it will have to be treated...and depending on the culprit, treatment could vary.

Anything you can add

Agreed. If there is a parasite in your tank, it will be in many forms and stages of life. Some in the fish, some in the substrate, some on the fish. If you miss any eggs it will come right back. Some might even be free swimming in the water and you'll just add it back with the fish.

Best to figure out what it is and handle it appropriately.

Can you see the parasites in question, are we talking little white worms or something else.

I could be completely wrong that it is a parasite, but I am pretty sure that my puffer didnt eat one of his pieces of shrimp that i drop in for him, and it floated up behind the fliter and i missed it until i did a water change the other day. Now I have some sort of of thing on my glass and its all over..they are small and slim. Other then a parasite or something like that i have no idea what it is.

Look like tiny transluscent little trees...base attached to something, and top part is branchy..(4 arms)?

If they're like little white wiggly worms on the glass they're planaria they're totally harmless if a little unsightly. They generally occur with overfeeding but becuase the food was missed this could've caused them to appear. Generally they disappear with correct feedings and water changes but I cant resist cruching them with the algae magnet.

DIE PLANARIA DIE!!!!

Hilly wrote:If they're like little white wiggly worms on the glass they're planaria they're totally harmless if a little unsightly. They generally occur with overfeeding but becuase the food was missed this could've caused them to appear. Generally they disappear with correct feedings and water changes but I cant resist cruching them with the algae magnet.

DIE PLANARIA DIE!!!!

yea thats exactly what they look like. So I shouldn't worry about it?? Should I go ahead and do another water change? And always make sure his scraps are taken out, lessoned learned

Hmm I was thinking planaria, but for some reason had a picture of hydra in my head...

Peregrine wrote:Hmm I was thinking planaria, but for some reason had a picture of hydra in my head...

I was trying to remember the name Hydra mate, couldnt for the life of me remember it.

Totally harmless, not to worry. Just don't overfeed, remove anything uneaten, and vacuum the gravel really well.

You can scrape them off the glass too, befoer your water change. I'd check all the parameters too. You can bet if you left food in there to rot, they will be off.

Not to hijack but....

I have these tiny little "bugs" in my shrimp tank. They are white and move quite fast. They are shaped like a grain of rice but are no more than 1mm in size. They do not appear to be negatively effecting anything. I have difficulty deciding on how much to feed this tank so overfeeding is possibly and it is heavily planted so if a shrimp dies it is probably not going to be noticed before it buddy belly up to the buffet. Are these planaria?

Yup, sounds like it.

Hilly wrote: DIE PLANARIA DIE!!!!

Couldn't help myself but laugh!!! I also have these buggers in my tank due to overfeeding, I still need to find the right amount of food.