EEK! An alien intruder in a catfish tank!

Post by **Dinyar** » 15 Jan 2004, 04:11

Found in an aquarium full of recently imported fish. In all my years of fish-keeping, I've never seen this before! What on earth is THIS!?? And how do we treat for it?

Thanks! -Dinyar

Charly EON · Post by **Charly EON** » 15 Jan 2004, 04:34

Hello

At first glance this lovely little animal seems to be some kind of tropical planaria. It could also be an atrich /oligotrich annelid but it seems to be less likely. A close up pihto would help.

Anyhow a treatment with flubendazole or oxfebdazole in the 1 to 2 mg/l range shoud do the trick.

Hope this help

Charly

Post by **Dinyar** » 15 Jan 2004, 04:43

Thanks, Charly. We thought it was kinda cute too, but weren't sure our fish would share that view.

Anyway, it's tiny, 1 mm curled up and maybe 3-4 mm fully extended. I'm not sure we can take much better pictures with our existing camera, but we'll try.

Now to figure out which US products contain the things you mentioned.

Dinyar

metallhd · Post by **metallhd** » 15 Jan 2004, 06:03

looks like a planaria to me too, or maybe some kinda little leech . . .

Post by **Silurus** » 15 Jan 2004, 09:09

It's a planarian, not a leech or any other annelid. It's fairly easy to tell, because it's not segemented (annelids, of which leeches belong to, are segemented).
Planaria are largely harmless (they are mostly scavengers). You might want to keep it as an interesting pet, but I realize it usually grosses most people out.

Cheese Specialist · Post by **Cheese Specialist** » 15 Jan 2004, 13:39

Silurus wrote:You might want to keep it as an interesting pet, but I realize it usually grosses most people out.

I quite like it

Post by **Silurus** » 15 Jan 2004, 13:45

Actually, on looking at it more closely, it IS a leech. Looked like a turbellarian planarian until I remembered planarians don't locomote in peristaltic waves (as yours is doing). The prominent oral sucker (which I overlooked) is another clue.
Maybe you don't want to keep this as an interesting pet after all.

Post by **Shane** » 15 Jan 2004, 14:01

Dinyar,
Keep it for fun and just make one of Rusty's chores to keep his arm in the aquarium a few minutes everyday.
-Shane

Post by **Dinyar** » 15 Jan 2004, 15:57

Thanks guys. Now how do I get rid of them (without sacrificing first born children)?

Dinyar

Post by **Shane** » 15 Jan 2004, 16:16

Dintar,
I have on a few occasions collected fishes with leeches attached. I have just pulled them off and treated the wound directly with Meth Blue. Just drop the leech in a small cup of Formalin or household bleech.
-Shane

Post by **Dinyar** » 15 Jan 2004, 16:28

Thanks Shane. That's more or less also what Untergasser says, but it is is going to be tough to do. We need to do a leech census of some kind, but my impression is that they're dispersed all over the aquarium. Would they all find a host soon? Even if they were on fish, there are some 200 fish imported in this batch, the leeches are quite tiny, and I'd be spending all day everyday looking for leeches with a magnifying glass.

No systemic treatments that can be recommended, huh?

Sid Guppy · Post by **Sid Guppy** » 15 Jan 2004, 17:34

There's a truckload of leechspecies that look exactly like that, and they're scavengers, and at worst eggrobbers, but rarely bloodsuckers.
the ones that such blood from fish usually have very big, obvious suckers on both front- and rear end.....

gross as it may be, this beastie is probably harmless. I've encountered thingies like that too, and on a few occasions saw a tank overrun with them.
After treatment with an anti-worm medication (the same you use to kill off gill-flukes and nematodes), they were gone. Of course that's quite heavy medication, usually.

Another option might be to introduce certain fish. I've seen certain cats (Callichthys, Ituglanis, Trichomycterus) and others (Mastacembelus, Trichogaster, Limia, Ameca, WC Poecilia cf mexicana etc) EAT these....

THIS is one of the REAl big bad leeches:
Piscicola geometra

pturley · Post by **pturley** » 15 Jan 2004, 18:32

Dinyar,
A bit of copper salts will take care of them (Copper-Safe, whatever). Just don't try to grow any plants in the tanks after treatment. A short dip in saltwater (more like brackish) will also work. This will also chase off any that are currently feeding on the gills of your fish.

Post by **Dinyar** » 15 Jan 2004, 19:42

Paul,

Aquarisol is the only copper salt-based med I have on hand. Would that work? What dosage would you recommend?

This is in a 30 g quarantine tank, thin layer of gravel, no plants, vigorous water movement. Inhabitants are Hara, Laguvia, Gagata, Mystus, Somileptus gongota (a cobitid). The fish seem to be doing OK, minimal losses so far. Don't want the cure to be worse than the disease.

Dinyar

pturley · Post by **pturley** » 16 Jan 2004, 05:25

I am not too familair with the concentration in Aquarisol or what else is in it so I can't make a recommendation.

Leeches aren't likely to kill you fish overnight. If they are small and not too numerous, they're more of an annoyance (both to you and your fishes)than an outright threat. I'd pick-up some Copper Safe when you can then use it at the recommended dosing.

Dinyar Wrote

Don't want the cure to be worse than the disease.

Well put. From your list of species the only one I'd be too worried about would be the Gagata.
I've only kept them once several years ago and unfortunately far too short of time. IME they can be somewhat fragile.
Looking back, I likely didn't have enough dissolved oxygen in the tanks they were in.

metallhd · Post by **metallhd** » 16 Jan 2004, 05:30

oh go on, just stick your hand in, get over it - what's the worst that could happen??

Chrysichthys · Post by **Chrysichthys** » 16 Jan 2004, 18:28

Silurus wrote:Actually, on looking at it more closely, it IS a leech.

He was off by an entire phylum. Will we ever be able to trust him again?

Post by **Silurus** » 16 Jan 2004, 18:36

Will we ever be able to trust him again?

No, and stop believing in anything I say. ;)

clothahump · Post by **clothahump** » 16 Jan 2004, 21:31

Looks similar to the ones we used to get on our legs whilst hunting for "Millers Thumbs"
Thought this would be of interest Dinyar, from The Innes Book 1966 19th edition.

YouTube · Post by **Jools** » 16 Jan 2004, 21:36

They hate nicotine - hey - a theme emerges! Mind if I move this to the speak easy?

Jools

clothahump · Post by **clothahump** » 16 Jan 2004, 21:40

Nicotine was used for various problems, one I always remember was as an insecticide in Greenhouses.
Paste it in DZ's thread.

coelacanth · Post by **coelacanth** » 16 Jan 2004, 22:02

Silurus wrote:Actually, on looking at it more closely, it IS a leech. Looked like a turbellarian planarian until I remembered planarians don't locomote in peristaltic waves (as yours is doing). The prominent oral sucker (which I overlooked) is another clue.
Maybe you don't want to keep this as an interesting pet after all.

If this was in the UK I would say it is one of the molluscivorous leeches. Send it to someone with a Melanoides problem....

spiny · Post by **spiny** » 17 Jan 2004, 18:11

I've encountered leeches on several occations, and actually had them in a tank many years ago (found on fish, and caught with net), both small and larger species.

Many blood suckers do have these larger mouth discs, but not all. I have seen sucking ones with very small mouth parts, attached. I once caught a specimen by hand looking very similar to the ones you have, but some bigger.

Some areas are just crowded with such nasties, and it is not nice when they cling to your feet and wherever they get a grip.

If removing some from fish (and people!), just be sure that all parts of the head is removed, otherwise bad infections can be expected. They kind of make star shaped wounds. If in fish gills, you will not see them easily. The larger species may drink large ammounts of blood, and can do bad damage.
If I remember right, they may multiply rapidly, but unfortunately I have forgot a lot of what I once knew. At least some are hermafrodites. And, the thinnest end are their mouth, mostly. Some just live of smaller water animals, that they just swallow.

From which area did you get the leeches?

When fishing for Bass in the US, many people use leech imitating jigs or flies! Effective on many species!