Getting Rid Of Critters From A Tank.

[AndrewC]

Dos anybody know what this small critter/bug is on the edge of the piece of slate with the white worms on it and are roughly an 1/8 of an inch long ?

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After searching and reading what i could find, the nearest critter/bug that i can see to what is in my tank, is either;
1 - Springtails (this is looking less likely as they do not live under water, maybe on the surface, though the critters do jump about on the bottom of the tank when distured like a springtail dos),
or else 2 - Copepods ?

I was overfeeding my zebras and think that is what the critters/bugs were thriving on, this has been cut back on, and i have threw out my whiteworm cultures, as it was when feeding whiteworms a couple of times a week that introduced the them to the tank.

A week ago i gave my zebra tank (which is bare bottom) a good scrubbing to see if i could rid the tank of these tiny white critters/bugs, which seem to be thriving under the caves in the tank.
I removed all the caves, scrubbed them and scrubbed the bottom of the tank, sucked out any debris i could find, and only put back in two caves and used pieces of propped up slate for caves for the rest of the zebras (as i only ever find the critters under a cave, they seem to like to hide under something, but do not seem to like partial covered or out in the open).

I also cleaned both the external cannister filters on the tanks, scrubbed the powerhead and cleaned the bottom of the tank.
I stopped feeding for a few days to see if that helped get rid of any stray ones and then spent the rest of the night looking for any moving white dots on the, which were removed with a battery operated cleaner which has a small bag on the side of it to collect the debris.
I did this for the next three nights, lifting the caves and scrubbing them and only finding the odd one until on the third night i could not find anymore.

But on Friday when cleaning the tank, i found two large critters/bugs (i assume were adult, the size of the ones in the picture, about 1/8 of an inch long), which didnâ??t suprised me as i didnâ??t think they would clear up easily, but what did catch me by suprise was, under the two caves in the tank there was lots of even smaller tiny white specks, which jumped about after being exposed to the light.
So i cleaned the caves and the tank again and sucked out any debris and think i will just need to totally scrub everything each week to try and eventually rid the tank of these critters/bugs.

Has anybody had to rid their tank of critters/bugs before ?
Are springtails or copepods harmful to fish at all ?
Is there any general remedy treatment or fish i can use to get rid of critters/bugs in the tank ?
Am i fretting over something that is harmless in the tank ?

[pturley]

I believe the "critters" would be Planaria. They are harmless to your fish. Smaller fish (tetras and the like) will even feed on them.

[AndrewC]

Thanks Paul, sounds like the critters under the caves.
The thing that bothers me most is that they multiply under the two zebras caves where hopefully in the end there will be eggs and the thought of the planaria getting into a cave of eggs is not nice.

Will need to be more vigilant in the feeding, but zebras are not simular to other fish, they don't rush out to feed when you put the food in the tank.

Found this on a search of Planaria;

Planaria:

If small white creatures are seen crawling all over the glass and ornaments, especially at night, they may be planaria. Planaria commonly show up in tanks with an excess of food. Most are introduced to an aquarium from other aquaria with live foods like black worms, live plants, or anything else moved from an active aquarium that has them. There is some belief that they can survive in freeze-dried or frozen foods. If a lot of food is left in a tank; including dead and dying fish, snails, other animals, and plants; then a few planaria may divide into hundreds very quickly. They usually reproduce by asexual fission. Their heads are shaped like arrow heads. If a tank is found to be infested, planaria can be controlled by a good vacuuming of the gravel and better tank maintenance. To remove more planaria, see the next section on controlling planaria. Planaria will eat dead fish, fish eggs, and immobile fish larvae (fry newly hatched). They do not pose any risk to mobile fry or adult fish.

Controlling planaria in aquaria:

1. Set out bait like meat in a mesh bag. Remove the bait a few hours after the lights go out on the tank. It should be covered with planaria. Throw away and repeat until the population goes down.
2. Add planaria eating fish to the tank. One species is the paradise fish.
3. Vacuum the gravel very well and do a 50% water change. Often, planaria proliferate when the tank is too dirty. This will remove not only some planaria but their food source as well.
4. Reduce the foods added to the tank. Planaria often proliferate if too much excess food is provided.
5. As a last resource, tear down the tank. See here for information on tearing down tanks.

[MAV]

Andrew

I think I have something similar, only mine are not deep in the water, they hang about the lighting/surface area there are hundreds of the tiny little S**tes you go to squish them and they jump, I killed a large colony with a steam iron and squished the rest. They just seem to come back again, I have been advised they are springtails but mine are only on the surface as far as I can see as my substrate is mainly sand.

I am told they're harmless, but for me I dont want them there either.

My next step is to brush the tank surface quckly and underside of the lighting with a gas blowlamp. I will let you know how I get on if I dont burn my apartment down.

you cant use any chemicals on these safley as far as I am aware.

[snowball]

What about controlling them with a fish that will eat them? Guppys would be worth a try, or perhaps something like loaches or banjo cats or even shrimp that will hunt out the burried ones? You may have to temporarily remove the zebras depending what you put in but, other than harsh chemicals or stripping the tank down again and boiling the rocks, gravel & filter media, I can't think of any easy way to get rid of them.

[WhitePine]

I think I would try a smaller species of Cory... I don't think most shrimp would eat them.. but the cory's would.

[jd_7655]

I have had plarnia a few times over the years. It is a pain to get rid of. I'm trying to get rid of it right now. In the past I tried coppersafe, quick cure and a few other things to no avail. The only way I was able to get rid of it was strip the tank down and let everything dry out for a month. I'm gonna nuke my tank with clout next.

I have some cichlids I want to breed and cant with plarnia in my tank because from what I hear it will attack the eggs.

As for plarnia being harmless from my own experiance its not totaly true. I noticed smaller fish like rainbows and tetras will eat it. On the other hand larger slower moving fish like plecos it irratates them. I had a l075 l066 and l333 and it drove them nutz. They were constently darting and flashing from side to side.

Also a dirty tank isnt the only cause of plarnia it is contagous and can be brought home with your new fish from a pet shop. My tank has only been up and running a month. Everthing was new when I set it up. I only have 2 fish in it and I lightly feed them flake food twice a day.

I havent had a population explosion yet. I only noticed 4 worms so far floating in the water colum. But I know if I dont handle it now they'll be everywhere. If anyone has sucsessfuly whiped these things out with a med let me know.

[Mike_Noren]

Guys, you're seriously overreacting.

1) First of all, are they at all planaria? Flatworms are unsegmented and move by smooth gliding, much like a slug.

2) Even if they are flatworms, these are apparently 1/8th of an inch. That means they're way too small to eat any catfish eggs. Most likely they're members of one of the small predator/scavenger groups which show up in aquaria from time to time, not true planarians (which routinely grow to half an inch or so). These small worms, mainly belonging to the orders Catenulida and Rhabdocoela, eat other small lifeforms and left over fish food.

3) The way to kill planarians isn't with copper (which, although it kills them, also kills snails, shrimp, plants, filter bacteria and damages your fish), but with formalin (white spot medication) or, better yet, with antihelminths like Flubenol or Fenbendazol. But mostly there's no reason to kill them.

4) No, flatworms do not survive freeze-drying. It is conceivable that the egg capsules of some species might, but since the egg capsules are glued to plants or stone you're unlikely to get them in freeze-dried food. Flatworms spread to aquaria through live food and aquarium plants, like all the other small animals which show up in our tanks.

[Crazie.Eddie]

The advantage is, you can collect them and sell them. They are good fish food for those fish who can eat it.