View Full Version : Worms, Planeria, Leeches? (PICS)
sixstringphil
09-21-2008, 3:55 PM
I got five of these out of my tank this morning.
1) What exactly are they?
2) Do you think I got all of them, or will they keep appearing?
3) Are they harmful for my fish/shrimp?
4) Can Cory's eat them (I think I saw this happen earlier)
Thanks!!
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t31/phillip_914/worms002.jpg
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t31/phillip_914/worms003.jpg
msjinkzd
09-21-2008, 3:57 PM
i think planaria have a triangulated head, most likely detrius worms. How big are they? what did they look like when they moved?
sixstringphil
09-21-2008, 3:59 PM
The largest one was maybe 1/2 inch long. They crawled around the sand like an inchworm. For a reference, the "rocks" in the first pic are grains of pool filter sand.
msjinkzd
09-21-2008, 4:05 PM
i doubt they are leeches, i wouldn't worry about your cories eating them. You might up your gravel vacs and decrease feeding a little until you see if they are "gone" or not.
jm1212
09-21-2008, 4:07 PM
the head (in the first pic) looks alot like a leech head to me
msjinkzd
09-21-2008, 4:08 PM
check this thread: http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=164076&highlight=detritus
sixstringphil
09-21-2008, 4:09 PM
Thanks Rachel. I've been a little lighter on vacs since switching to sand, but maybe I need to be a little more aggressive.
KarlTh
09-21-2008, 4:33 PM
the head (in the first pic) looks alot like a leech head to me
Segmentation is wrong. Hirudinea (leeches) have very fine segmentation and no bristles. These appear to have large segments and bristles all the way down, meaning they're polychaetes. Most polychaets are marine, but these ones appear to be F/W. Unlikely to be anything to the fish other than food.
sixstringphil
09-21-2008, 11:04 PM
They're definately segmented and have bristles all over. (it was a little hard to tell in the pics)
Segmentation is wrong. Hirudinea (leeches) have very fine segmentation and no bristles. These appear to have large segments and bristles all the way down, meaning they're polychaetes. Most polychaets are marine, but these ones appear to be F/W. Unlikely to be anything to the fish other than food.
This is a beautiful post :) I agree, they'll more than likely simply become a rare delicacy for your fish.
KarlTh
09-22-2008, 3:15 AM
This is a beautiful post :) I agree, they'll more than likely simply become a rare delicacy for your fish.
:o
[blushes]
All that time ruining my sight by teasing apart algae in a white dish to see what crawls out and identify the critter has left me with an almost Pavlovian ID reaction to seeing a picture of an aquatic invertebrate.
The downside is it's removed any sympathy I may have had for automatic "ew - that's gross" reactions. Most of these little characters are anything but gross, almost none of them are parasites (you generally only come across parasites actually on or in their hosts), most of them are fascinating once you get to know about them, and nearly all of them are below fish in the food chain.
Disclaimer - a Great Diving Beetle larva sucking the juices out of a tadpole is, however you slice it, gross.
I'm still confused and intrigued to this day what those creatures exactly are. I had hundreds of these in my pond a few months ago much to my shock that I had to scoop them while they float around the surface to completely remove everything.
KarlTh
09-22-2008, 4:17 AM
Unfortunately there are lots of species; Polychaetae is a very large group.
Having said that, only a small proportion of them are freshwater. Given that they live in the substrate, and most are marine, they could be said to be the original "stick in the muds" - they evolved in ocean mud and most of them have stayed there.
This may help: http://www.archive.org/details/freshwaterpolych00fost - a whole book of freshwater polychaetes for you ;)