cut back on the amount of food your feeding, wipe down the tank and do water changes..

 

Warlocks right, cut down on feeding and change more water. They are necessarily harmful they're just not a great sign

 

NOT harmful:icon_cool

 

that sounds like good advice to me!

 

I had these with no fish to eat them. They occur in newer tanks and by cutting down the feeding they will go away eventually.

 

I notice them when I stir the sand. My nitrates are low, and I do 50% water changes weekly. Maybe I do overfeed, but if theyre not parasitic, I can handle a little planaria. Now I know what my bala shark and blue rams are constantly picking at in the substrate.

 

The reason most people are concerned with them is because they can attack and possibly kill a shrimp. When it's a high grade crystal of taiwan bee, sucks to loose a $40 shrimp to a little worm, so getting rid of them is important. Most fish will eat them though, so in a planted/fish tank they probably don't last as long.

 

When I had planaria(such a nasty worm), my fish would not touch them. I'd catch a planaria with a tweezer, drop it in a shoal of fish, and none of the fish (ember tetra, cardinals, CPDs, dwarf pencilfish) would touch it. Some would swim close to it, put their mouths right to it, and quickly swim away. Some people say there is a toxic slime that coats the worm. I would believe that since my fish eat everything else including nematodes.

Feeding less will definitely reduce it, if you are really impatient and want to knock them up, put some dewormer medicine in the tank, and you won't see planaria again. I left a specific amount of flubendazole (deworming medicine for humans) in the the tank a few days, haven't seen planaria since.

 

Feeding less will definitely reduce it, if you are really impatient and want to knock them up, put some dewormer medicine in the tank, and you won't see planaria again. I left a specific amount of flubendazole (deworming medicine for humans) in the the tank a few days, haven't seen planaria since.

Would that kill anchor worms also? I've noticed anchorworms on one of my rams for months and months now. She eats well, had amazing coloration, and is confident and happy, but I do notice the occasional anchor worm on her. I can probably assume the rest of the fish are infected too even though she is the only one I ever see them on. They don't seem to be harming her, but if I can get rid of them I sure will. If flubendazole works...where does one find it, and how about dosing amounts?

 

I've probably overfed a little bit. I don't think I have an infestation, just a few under where the autofeeder dumps. I'll move that to a different spot, but I'm not going to do anything drastic.

chiefroastbeef, I'm pretty sure my knifefish is eating at least a few. It's a bit more of a carnivore than the ones you listed, so maybe that has something to do with it.

 

My guppies eat planaria.