Hey I have some flat worms in my tank - any suggestions? I have never seen them bother anything in my tank. Are they scavengers? Do they help with algae?
Will assassin snails eat them?
Will assassin snails eat them?
flat worms
- Thread starter david052856
- Start date
Planaria. Harmless 99.99% of the time. Usually an indication of too much food source, ie overfeeding. Mostly scavengers, I have seen them go after an injured dwarf shrimp (shrimp took a ride through the HOB filter, at didn't agree with the impeller) that wasn't dead yet. Actually swarmed that poor sucker, so I'm thinking they prefer meat to plant material. They don't touch algae, at least none of them that I have seen have. I'm sure there is some species out there that does.
I've read anecdotal evidence of assassin snails eating them, but never seen it and never seen assassins make a noticable dent in a population.
Fenbendazole (dog dewormer meds) will knock them out. A better choice, if you must remove them, is upping your gravel vacs and decrease your feedings. Really get down and turn over the gravel. Haven't had a problem with them on sand as much as gravel substrates.
I've read anecdotal evidence of assassin snails eating them, but never seen it and never seen assassins make a noticable dent in a population.
Fenbendazole (dog dewormer meds) will knock them out. A better choice, if you must remove them, is upping your gravel vacs and decrease your feedings. Really get down and turn over the gravel. Haven't had a problem with them on sand as much as gravel substrates.
Pics would help in answering your question... probably macro pics. If the worms are planaria, they are scavengers that feed mainly in the substrate. Excess food allows them to increase their numbers. I've never seen them do anything to tank inhabitants...don't know if assassins eat them. I've heard it said that you can get rid of them by altering the amount of food given to the tank's fauna. I've never seen them eradicated by this method. I have them in most of my tanks...and I don't bother with them.
Mark
Mark
Oh well I am manually removing them. I need to vacuum my tank but I am scared to because of the thought of getting some baby shrimp in there......
As tolawdjk said, planaria usually go away (or drop below noticeable levels) if you decrease your feedings. You can always put a brine shrimp net over the gravel vac; this will block some larger particles, but a lot of garbage will still be sucked up.
Additionally, certain fish have been known to munch on them - live-bearers particularly.
Additionally, certain fish have been known to munch on them - live-bearers particularly.