Lots of questions coming from me these days.
so, last night as I was checking on my newly cycled 7 gallon, I noticed what I thought was a regular ol' flatworm. I was gonna leave it alone, but then it stretched out & started inching towards the substrate. I FREAKED OUT because I realized this giant flatworm was actually a leech.
I don't have pictures, but I'm almost 100% positive of what I saw. I removed it, killed it with a mixture of ammonia and coppersafe, then disposed of it. I'm worried now that there are more in the tank, which has been running for about a five weeks now.
My question is, how do I get rid of them? I can't use the same method I used to kill that single one I caught because copper + shrimp tank = bad. I am about to dose the tank with Panacur as I noticed hydra starting to appear on the glass - will that kill them? Or am I gonna have to manually search and destroy these things? (please no)
To kill snail leeches do this:
• To test for snail leeches is simple ¼ teaspoon shrimp pellets will bring them out
• First remove all plants.
• Dip plant in a 50% hydrogen peroxide solution to dislodge pests by flushing with water
• Save your plants in a bucket for 4 weeks
• Remove all creatures which will die from salt being added, Rams horn, Pond snails
• Snail leeches survive Clorox and all other solutions. I know I tried all suggested chemicals
• Bring the salt level part- per-Thousand to 3 ppt with softener salt for 1 week
• Lower it to 2 ppts for 2 weeks
• The last week, do the above test.
• If no leeches then change out with freshwater during this last week to 0 ppt salt.
How this works is the apparently the leeches ball up in a protective cocoon and starve to death.
