29 gallon tank with three pieces of wood bought at a few LFS' (they are from a LONG time ago and have been in my other tanks without contamination), cycled gravel one layer thick, some java ferns on the wood, and two big bunches of hornwort (different types) that went crazy. I actually suspect the newer bunch came with the leeches, because it was the last thing I introduced to the tank besides fish, and all the fish are fine (sorta).
Fish in the tank: king tiger pleco and two sterbai corycats. I had a dwarf speckled corycat and julii but they have both disappeared over the last three months.
Now, I heard that leeches often infest in large numbers when there is overfeeding. I am extremely wary of overfeeding, and I definitely underfeed instead and my tanks are all somewhat in a "survival of the fittest" situation. This helps with my other tank which is overstocked a little bit. The really weird thing is that we just noticed today, after a sighting about 3 weeks ago, that our tank is absolutely completely infested with leeches. I would say that we have a leech for every piece of gravel in the tank. However, there are none on the fish whatsoever, although I'm not sure that my snails are safe from them.
I have red snails that I ordered from the internet, I've had forever, and they are in my other tanks so the leeches couldn't have come from them either.
I want to kill the leeches. They freak me out, they are ALL OVER, and I just worry that they'll eat my fish at any sign of sickness (which may be very well why the last two fish disappeared, I had always blamed it on the pleco not getting enough protein).
The leeches are a light brown/medium brown color, somewhat see-through. Their mouths are the skinniest part and act as the front foot, while the 'anchor' is much larger and moves last. They are somewhat flat in my opinion although my boyfriend disagrees with me. The mature one he saw actually had 5 spikes on its back that were flexible. These little guys are all under an inch and maybe under half an inch and they are not free-floating. When I saw them, they were coming out to feast on the fish food we'd put in there.
The 'sighting' I mentioned was a few weeks ago, when I noticed that we'd forgotten to turn the filter back on after the water change, and I noticed tons of 'roots' sticking up between the pieces of gravel. They were extremely pale and see-through and were not moving whatsoever. I turned the filter on and went to tell my boyfriend about the 'roots', but they had all disappeared. I didn't think anything of it, I really should have.
Now, what we are thinking about doing is transporting the fish to a 5 gallon decontamination tank and then either treating the tank with a copper solution or a salt solution, or starving them out. But I have tons of snails and the snails in that tank are doing tons better than my other tanks, and I don't even think picking them out would be possible, let alone helpful in case any are infested. I'd prefer not to do that
I just want to know, does anyone know if these leeches can do the whole 'internal parasite' or do they just grab onto the outside? Should I treat my fish or just visually check them? Will treating the tank kill my snails?
Lastly, does anyone think that getting a few puffers will ease the problem, or with dwarf puffers attack my snails first, and the leeches later? Will eating the leeches hurt the puffers? (This is the one we'd prefer, dwarf puffers are some of our favorites).
What do you think?
Fish in the tank: king tiger pleco and two sterbai corycats. I had a dwarf speckled corycat and julii but they have both disappeared over the last three months.
Now, I heard that leeches often infest in large numbers when there is overfeeding. I am extremely wary of overfeeding, and I definitely underfeed instead and my tanks are all somewhat in a "survival of the fittest" situation. This helps with my other tank which is overstocked a little bit. The really weird thing is that we just noticed today, after a sighting about 3 weeks ago, that our tank is absolutely completely infested with leeches. I would say that we have a leech for every piece of gravel in the tank. However, there are none on the fish whatsoever, although I'm not sure that my snails are safe from them.
I have red snails that I ordered from the internet, I've had forever, and they are in my other tanks so the leeches couldn't have come from them either.
I want to kill the leeches. They freak me out, they are ALL OVER, and I just worry that they'll eat my fish at any sign of sickness (which may be very well why the last two fish disappeared, I had always blamed it on the pleco not getting enough protein).
The leeches are a light brown/medium brown color, somewhat see-through. Their mouths are the skinniest part and act as the front foot, while the 'anchor' is much larger and moves last. They are somewhat flat in my opinion although my boyfriend disagrees with me. The mature one he saw actually had 5 spikes on its back that were flexible. These little guys are all under an inch and maybe under half an inch and they are not free-floating. When I saw them, they were coming out to feast on the fish food we'd put in there.
The 'sighting' I mentioned was a few weeks ago, when I noticed that we'd forgotten to turn the filter back on after the water change, and I noticed tons of 'roots' sticking up between the pieces of gravel. They were extremely pale and see-through and were not moving whatsoever. I turned the filter on and went to tell my boyfriend about the 'roots', but they had all disappeared. I didn't think anything of it, I really should have.
Now, what we are thinking about doing is transporting the fish to a 5 gallon decontamination tank and then either treating the tank with a copper solution or a salt solution, or starving them out. But I have tons of snails and the snails in that tank are doing tons better than my other tanks, and I don't even think picking them out would be possible, let alone helpful in case any are infested. I'd prefer not to do that
I just want to know, does anyone know if these leeches can do the whole 'internal parasite' or do they just grab onto the outside? Should I treat my fish or just visually check them? Will treating the tank kill my snails?
Lastly, does anyone think that getting a few puffers will ease the problem, or with dwarf puffers attack my snails first, and the leeches later? Will eating the leeches hurt the puffers? (This is the one we'd prefer, dwarf puffers are some of our favorites).
What do you think?
