Planaria in Crypt tank

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chris81

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Mar 31, 2008
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Hi all,

I have recently discovered planaria in my planted tank. The aquarium is planted with crypts and no fish nor shrimps are currently present.

While browsing the web I came across a site claiming that anti helmintic medication Like de worming tablets can be used at a dose of 0.02mg/L (Mebendazole, ALbendazole Fenbendazole.)

I am honestly not too keen on adding such medication however since i have no live stock in aquarium except plants this would be the right time to do it... Does anyone of you guys have any experience with anti Helmintic medication.

I was going to introduce a shoal of harlequins to the tank would you think they would solve the problem or would it be better to treat just the same with de worming medication.

I was thinking of removing the activated charcoal from my filter during treatment and re installing it after 2 weeks as treatment must be repeated after 2 weeks as treatments doesnt kill eggs..

Any help ideas or comments would be more than welcome..

Thanks for your time and patience...

Chris....
 
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nipat

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May 23, 2009
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Ages ago, I used Mebendazole to kill snails. It was a success. But it also killed
my Cory, Oto, made the hair of my male L010a fallen, and other stress to other fish.
Changing water alone didn't help. I had to change substrate, filter media
to rectify it.

I did that because I had seen some successful cases, so I followed...

After the incident I found many cases about the danger of Mebendazole
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fwsubwebindex/fwwormdisfaqs.htm
(very hard page to read, the format is very confusing it's hard to distinguish
which one is a question which one is a reply... try finding the word "Mebendazole")

http://www.koivet.com/a_supaverm_closantel_mebendazole_flukes_koi.html
(100% of goldfish treated are dead)

I will never use it again.
 
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chris81

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Mar 31, 2008
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Nipat, may i ask what dose of Mebendazole and which product you used??

Thanks for your time guys...

Chris
 
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chris81

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Mar 31, 2008
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Nipat, may i ask what dose of Mebendazole and which product you used??

Thanks for your time guys...

Chris
 
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nipat

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May 23, 2009
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It's Benda 500.
http://www.allrealmeds.com/vermox-generic-benda-p-2559.html

I dosed 1/4 tablet which resulted about 1.5 PPM for my 83 liter tank.
(That wetwebmedia case is 5 PPM).

It won't dissolve well and falls down to substrate. It will be degraded
with light. But being in substrate, light can't reach there.

Anyway, the dose you said is far lower than mine.
So I don't know if it will still be dangerous.

If you want to use one, I would encourage you to
use Flubendazole. It's more widely used in this hobby,
more references, and seems to be safer.
 
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nipat

Guru Class Expert
May 23, 2009
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In case it's overlooked. I look at the dosage of the koivet case.
It's very low (2 ml of 75 PPM Mebendazole per 1000 liters of water, resulting in 0.00015 PPM Mebendazole).
 
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Biollante

Lifetime Charter Member
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Jun 21, 2009
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Buy A Magnifying Glass

Hi,

Planarians in your aquarium simply means there is a food source, usually that source is over-feeding. Since you do not have fish, there is obviously some other tasty stuff around. :)

Unless you are breeding egg layers there is no particular danger and they may just be ridding you of some potential nastiness. :gw

The cures mentioned are worse than the ailment. :(

If there is no pressure, just let the cute little critters do there work, they will go away on there own. They are fascinating little guys.:)

If you must rid the Planarians, who after all they are just trying to eek out a meager living while providing a service:

  • Clean your tank, poke around a little to see what they may be feeding on.
  • Depending on your substrate, clean it…
  • If your substrate is capped with something easy to remove, remove the top quarter inch (7 millimeters).
  • Clean the glass and any hard-scape/equipment you can without doing damage.
  • Large water changes of course
  • Add a little salt, depending on your plants, up to 3 teaspoons (19 grams) for each 5-gallon (20 liters) of water.

If you feel you must use “medication” 5% Flubendazole is certainly the better choice.

Better yet invest in a good magnifying glass and enjoy the bonus. :cool:

Biollante
 
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chris81

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Mar 31, 2008
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Thanks for your reply Guys,
What the planrians can be feeding on is possibly decaying plant matter which is not too much i assure ya i do weekly more than 50 percent water changes and all the parameters are fine. I dont particularly mind them being present however they are a bit of a bother crawling around the glass... i am kind of a perfectionist!!! I have been spot dosing easy carbo on the critters which seems to kill them or something...

I am still thinking on whether to dose or not.... I have found a suspension with mebendazole containing 20mg of substance per ml. I only need to use 3.6g for my 140 L tank meaning i onlu need 0.2 ml of suspension.

Biollante.... Will they go away on their own or will they continue to multiplicate....

AAAAaaaaaa What to do !!!!

Chris
 
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Biollante

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Maybe You Could Cut Them In Halves Or Thirds Or Even Lengthwise

Hi Chris,

As a perfectionist then you know you have created the perfect environment for planarians! ;) Congratulations!:D

As long as there is a good food source available, as with snails and many other, so called infestations, they will multiply to the level of available food and other favorable conditions.:)

I seriously doubt the flat worms are living on decayed (or otherwise) plant material, they are perhaps dining on the critters, living and dead that live(d) consuming the plant matter. :eek:

Planarians are quite an efficient clean-up crew. :gw

To beat the freshwater flat worms (often referred to as triclad planarians) without resorting to chemical warfare requires that you out clean them. Otherwise the conditions that led to the “infestation” will remain.

The other upside is the CO2 added to the tank in diffused form. :cool:

Biollante
 
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ArnieArnie

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Dec 22, 2010
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Planaria comes in different forms from big to small. I had a small variant gliding/swarming over the window, at the time I only had shrimps. When I introduced my cardinal tetra's (directly after release) they started picking them from windows and eating them. Since then haven't seen any on my window.
 
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chris81

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Mar 31, 2008
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:p

biollante... I tried to annihilate them via co2 toxicity... But the nasty buggers are quite resistant... I reverted back to normal co2 levels as was afraid the crypts would melt..... !!! I ll give biological control a try i guess... I ll introduce fish... with minimal feeding.... so they eat planaria... I was planning on a shoal of 30 harlequins and some amano shrimp... and see how it all goes....

Will c....

Thanks guys..
 
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chris81

Prolific Poster
Mar 31, 2008
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Me again guys...

I have finally decided to opt for mebendazole 20mg/1ml suspension... I ll dose o.2 ml once and see how it does.. As its a suspension i came to the conclusion that dissolution will be much better (even though its banana flavour) the syrup i think would be the best one to use.. As dissolution would be better so would distribution and eventual degredation.....

Im giving it a try will keep u posted... Cant take them any more :p
 
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nipat

Guru Class Expert
May 23, 2009
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OK, anyway I would advice you to wait for at least 3 days after dosing to see result.
The snails in my case died within about 3 days. It's a slow process.

Banana flavor... is there a mango one? :rolleyes:

Good luck.
 
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chris81

Prolific Poster
Mar 31, 2008
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Wahahahaah.... :p Unfortunately only banana flavour...

I also intend to keep a filter with charcoal handy...

Will keep u posted....

I hope that by killing them i dont disrupt the balance in the aquarium.... If only they didnt have the nasty tendancy to pile up on the front aquarium panel... I wouldnt mind them

Well they have brought it on themselves....

Extermination team.... In position :p

Annihilate :p
 
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