[garfieldnfish]

I have had fish tanks for 12 years. For the first 9 of them I had no idea what planaria was. When I heard people commenting on them I thought they were talking about detritus worms, totally harmless critters in the tanks. I somehow got planaria in my tanks during the last 3 years and they seem to turn out to be a possible danger.
I used to have a ton of MTSs (Malaysian Trumpet Snails). During a fish tank cleaning, tossing out hundreds was normal. Then I bought assassin snails and they took out a good number of the MTSs. While I still have some MTSs, the planaria seem to have taken over the available eco spot the MTSs have vacated and they are now a problem much bigger then the harmless MTSs ever were. I saw several dead shrimp, most of them berried, in my shrimp tanks but did not think much of it until today when I picked up the dead berried female and several planaria came out of the body. I checked the other shrimp with a magnifying glass and saw 2 more berried shrimp that appeared to have something orange crawling under then with the eggs.
Now I am wondering are planaria killing shrimp and possibly fish as well?

 

[scags]

I never knew that planaria were a threat either. I breed my own fairy shrimp as live food for my fish, and there is planaria in the fairy shrimp tank. I have yet to see them harm anything. The only shrimp I keep in my tanks though are Amanos, and they are doing good. However I do have lots of snails,MTS, nerites, and pond snails....which I was reading in another thread that they keep planaria at bay.

Either way, the planaria threat is news to me. Good toknow, I have some cherries on order.

 

[Abrium]

typically not, planaria are harmless and usually food for smaller fish.

 

[mordalphus]

planaria move on a slime trail, much like a snail, and that slime trail is toxic to shrimp. If a planaria has a chance to climb into a shrimps carapace, it will kill the shrimp and eat it's body. They usually attack berried shrimp (especially newly berried), because they do not move as fast as normal shrimp, and the eggs are probably especially easy food.

 

[2in10]

Anabantids can help with planaria control but if you have shrimp they will be an issue.

 

[Abrium]

planaria move on a slime trail, much like a snail, and that slime trail is toxic to shrimp. If a planaria has a chance to climb into a shrimps carapace, it will kill the shrimp and eat it's body. They usually attack berried shrimp (especially newly berried), because they do not move as fast as normal shrimp, and the eggs are probably especially easy food.

Holy .... I never knew that they were shrimp ninjas. I have had tanks infected with them and seen fish go gaga just to eat them.

 

[mordalphus]

Yeah, with fish they're no problem, actually a good source of food for corydoras and such, but are toxic to shrimp.

"Research carried out by Tim Henshaw at Bolton Museum (Lancashire, U.K.) indicates that Planaria carry a toxin on their surface. This toxin is particularly potent towards any species of shrimp and glass shrimp. "

From the following article:
http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/management/Ali_Planaria_Worms.html