What the Heck are these?

[wild-blue-discus]

http://i59.tinypic.com/ifwtft.jpg
http://i57.tinypic.com/23tqwsp.jpg
http://i57.tinypic.com/14derzc.jpg
http://i62.tinypic.com/a2w13l.jpg

[STHH]

Planarian

[wild-blue-discus]

i figured they were some kind of flat worm...are they going to be a problem for my discus tank?

[rickztahone]

i figured they were some kind of flat worm...are they going to be a problem for my discus tank?

If I remember correctly no. Additionally, if I remember correctly, it is a sign of overfeeding.

[STHH]

I know they can attack shrimps, not too sure about discus. Usually, if you have too much leftover food, you can have a planaria problem.

[yim11]

Yup, planaria, they let you know you feed too much and dont clean enough.

[STHH]

Here's an article on them:
http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/content.php?sid=5416

and a scary quote:
"They have been found clambering over fish, sometimes sliding into gills and other sensitive parts, causing stress and escape responses"

[Chad Adams]

Look like awfully large Planaria?

[BODYDUB]

Look like awfully large Planaria?

Yeah, I've never seen em that big before...............

[wild-blue-discus]

yep they are huge the larger ones are 1.5 to 2cm long.

Whats odd is i had heard the same about the overfeeding but the tank i've got them in has a large school of tetras in it, there is no food wastage and the water is changed about 50% per week currently as the tanks parameters are very stable and has a very low fish load

It did have quite a bad snail infestation which has been killed off though treatment over the past few weeks, could that be the issue?"

[Moon]

They appear to be large for Planaria. Could be a mutation. As mentioned before it is a sign of overfeeding. Introduce some Guramys. They will finish them off in no time.

[Argentum]

It did have quite a bad snail infestation which has been killed off though treatment over the past few weeks, could that be the issue?"

This coul be the reason if you didn't remove the dead snails

[wild-blue-discus]

ah i see, could well be the case,

I did do large water changes two days after treatment in line with protocols, but had to treat a number of time back to back, snail seem to come out of nowhere.

[Argentum]

These are planaria, non parasitic flatworms.

http://www.biologycorner.com/bio1/notes_flatworms.html

They are scavengers so they are a sign of overfeeding, feeding on uneaten food.

Feed less and don't worry about them fry and small fish love them

[wild-blue-discus]

good to get a general confirmation they are Planaria and not something more menacing

[dirtyplants]

I have never seen planaria that large how many do you have? Planaria usually break out in numbers, not in ones or twos.

[wild-blue-discus]

I counted them last night there where 28 that i could see mostly very small, a few big mamma's


I have never seen planaria that large how many do you have? Planaria usually break out in numbers, not in ones or twos.

[dirtyplants]

Having that big of Planaria would freak me out:). I would clean everything out thoroughly.

[wild-blue-discus]

I actually did a fairly major clean of the tank two weeks ago, stripped it right back to bare bottom and planted attached to driftwood only, I'm pretty sure its related to the snail infestation that was going on in the tank, I had to do a major dose off back to back to kill them but i think that the die off and egg die off may have been the cause of this.