[Raye]

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)

 

[Raye]

Fenben will do nothing to leaches if it is. So bunch of salt will do it

aquarium salt, right? how much should i be dosing? and will that take care of any potential eggs or no?

there are currently 'ghost shrimp' in there right now to test the tank's habitability (so far so good) and while i'm not overly-concerned for their well being, i still don't want to kill them...

edit; whoops, posted late.

 

[Raye]

Well I will tell you the harsh truth. To get rid of them you will need to pull everything out of the tank, and dip all the plants in a dip solution with tons of salt in it. Then inspect them for thier eggs and any thing that hangs one. Would do this several times. Pull the filter off the tank let it all dry out for 5 days, empty the tank and completely dry out substrate and anything for 5 days. Then put it all back in and start the cycle over.

I got leechs from some plants I bought, they infested everything hide in the substrate in the filter media, laid eggs on the under side of leaves. I had to throw away a couple hundred dollars in Xmas moss and another 200 in fissidens. had to house my shrimp in 5 gallon buckets for 3 weeks until I got the tank up and cycled again after drying everything out.

Since then i have seen none, have had no issues. Leechs are not killed easy. I soaked one in bleach for a day, pulled it out put it back in a cup of water and it went on doing its business.

ugh noooo. this is exactly what i was afraid of. this tank was gonna be ready for my actual shrimp in three weeks. ;-;

i'm gonna do what i can to not have to completely tear it down, but if i find another one, i'll do as suggested. thank you.