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Leach ID

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15 Sep 2022
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Shropshire
Hi guys, I have a red cherry shrimp & nerite snail tank, Recently I’ve seen small red worm/leach like things in the substrate (5mm - 8mm) long, Thought nothing of it as they didn’t seem to upset the shrimp or snails but now i am finding larger ones, any idea what they are and how much of a threat they are ?

Apologies for the poor quality it was hard to focus on them.






Thanks in advance
 
The bottom vid looks like a Planaria worm. They are very common in tanks and people's reaction to them ranges from "meh" to "kill them with fire". They are the biggest issue in shrimp tanks, which is where they normally turn up because nothing that might predate them tends to live in them.
I think the top one is the same and that the motion only looks different because it's moving over rough substrate. Leeches move in a different way whereas these planaria slide. I've not seen a golden coloured one before, they tend to be grey/brown but it's easy to tell as their heads are arrow shaped.
 
The bottom vid looks like a Planaria worm. They are very common in tanks and people's reaction to them ranges from "meh" to "kill them with fire". They are the biggest issue in shrimp tanks, which is where they normally turn up because nothing that might predate them tends to live in them.
I think the top one is the same and that the motion only looks different because it's moving over rough substrate. Leeches move in a different way whereas these planaria slide. I've not seen a golden coloured one before, they tend to be grey/brown but it's easy to tell as their heads are arrow shaped.
Thanks Mort, I was planning on moving them into a bigger tank, is there a way I can avoid cross contamination ?
 
It's very hard to avoid cross contamination if you need to move plants, decor or substrate. There are treatments that can be used such as panacur (which is a de-wormer for various pets) and no planaria ( as sold by a sponsor Genchem No Planaria 50g ), plus a few more remedies. There are also lots of other threads about how to treat planaria on here and elsewhere, like Planaria, are they an issue? with @Wookii advice being great.

I've only ever used panacur to treat them once and don't remember any problems with it but they didn't all go and I don't keep fancy snails. You could use it in a plastic tub or similar container with the things you want to move over and I think that will give you the best chance should you not want to do it in your main display.
 
It's very hard to avoid cross contamination if you need to move plants, decor or substrate. There are treatments that can be used such as panacur (which is a de-wormer for various pets) and no planaria ( as sold by a sponsor Genchem No Planaria 50g ), plus a few more remedies. There are also lots of other threads about how to treat planaria on here and elsewhere, like Planaria, are they an issue? with @Wookii advice being great.

I've only ever used panacur to treat them once and don't remember any problems with it but they didn't all go and I don't keep fancy snails. You could use it in a plastic tub or similar container with the things you want to move over and I think that will give you the best chance should you not want to do it in your main display.
Thanks for all the help mort much appreciated! going to order some Planaria and rehome the nerites before dosing the tank and then eventually move them over to the bigger one once confirmed they’ve gone
 
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