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No matter what kind of tank, ornamental fish tank or grass tank or sea tank or whatever, after a long time, there will always be some inexplicable creatures in the tank, some are fine, only if it increases the biodiversity in the tank, but some are more hateful. For example, the dragonfly larvae that may appear in the grass tank, will prey on small ornamental fish, the mantis shrimp hiding in the living stone in the sea tank, and the ultimate hidden killer Bobbitt worm in the sea tank, etc., these creatures are accidentally brought into the tank, and have a negative impact on the ecology in the tank.
This article, without talking about the above, talk about the most common and easily overlooked pests in the tank, planarians! Whether it is an ornamental fish tank or a grass tank, planarian worms may appear.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > what planarians are and what are the harms of planarians</h1>
Planarians belong to the flat animal phylum, the body size is small spindle-shaped, the body color usually has a white yellow brown and other colors, if it erupts in a large area in the tank, densely clustered together, far from looking like a bunch of creeping maggots, very disgusting.
Planarians raging in the grass tank
Planarians have a strong vitality
Planarians have a strong vitality and survival ability, especially their ability to regenerate severed limbs, making it difficult to completely remove them from the tank, like earthworms, cutting worms into several pieces, and each segment can grow into a new individual. It is also very tolerant of hunger, can survive for years in a food shortage environment, and most importantly, the eggs laid by its mating are unusually strong, and the general heat and conventional drugs cannot kill planarian eggs.
This picture is very graphic
Dangers of planarians
Planarians are mostly carnivores, food residues, fish and shrimp carcasses, fish eggs, small fish and shrimp, etc., all in their recipes. When the number of planarians is still small, the fish in the tank eat the residual bait and the occasional dead fish and shrimp, enough to meet their food intake, and when the planarians begin to erupt, especially in the daytime, you can also see the planarians in the swing, not only the eggs laid by the fish in the breeding period in the tank will suffer, some small fish and shrimp will also be killed by their poisonous hands, reduced to the prey of the planarians. In a tank with planarian infestations, it is unlikely that ornamental fish will be propagated and common.
When eating, planarians will look for opportunities to adhere to the target prey, and then spit out a special digestive juice, which will dissolve the body tissue of the target prey, thus being absorbed by the planarian, and the final result is that the bones are gone.
How the planarians got into the tank
For most tanks, it is difficult to avoid the presence of planarians, unless it is a pure ornamental fish tank without any sedimentary wood and other landscaping, and it is possible to completely eliminate the existence of planarians without feeding any fresh and living body feed.
Planarians are generally brought into the tank with fresh bait, landscaping sunken wood and aquatic weeds, so in a previous article on the preparation of aquatic weeds, I specifically raised the problem of quarantine and disinfection before the aquatic weeds enter the tank.
Before the grass tank water grass is planted in the tank, doing these preparations will greatly improve the survival rate
However, quarantine disinfection can usually only remove live planarians, which is actually ineffective for planarian eggs, so even after sterilization and disinfection, it is difficult to ensure that no planarians are brought into the tank at all.
How to detect the presence of planarians in the tank at an early stage
Although planarian treatment is difficult to eradicate, the earlier it is found, the better the treatment and control effect.
When you find that some small fish and shrimp will inexplicably disappear in the tank, you must consider whether there are planarian worms. Planarians are nocturnal creatures, usually only after turning off the lights will come out of the activity, so the most effective way is to turn off the lights for a period of time, observe the fish tank, if you find that there are white or yellow brown worm-like worm-like insects on the wall of the tank gliding, it is generally determined that it is a planarian.
In addition, the place after the planarian slide, sometimes leaving obvious traces similar to the slug crawling through, if you find such marks on the wall of the tank, you have to check whether the planarians have erupted.
Finally, if you see planarians dangling in the tank during the daytime, especially when the fish tank lights are still on, it means that in the dark and dark place of the tank, there have been explosive breeding and survival of a large number of planarians.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the treatment of planarians</h1>
The treatment of planarians is difficult and time-consuming, and the hope of eradication is basically zero, which can only be said to control its number to a certain number, unless the cylinder is turned over, and all the things in the original cylinder are gone.
Mechanical trapping
This is the most commonly used way to remove planarians, buy a planarian trap online, put some bait in the planarian trap after returning, and then put the planarian trap in a relatively light-protected place in the tank. The work to be done after that is to check the planarian trap from time to time and remove the planarian traps caught in the trap. Until the number of planarians caught in the trap gradually decreases and does not increase anymore.
Planarian trap trap is a palliative but not a cure, there is no way for planarian eggs, usually only for a period of time to suppress the number of planarians, so that the presence of planarians in the tank is not too much.
Planarian traps
It is not recommended to use tools such as tweezers to catch when finding planarians on the wall of the tank, because the body of the planarian is quite fragile relative to the work of forceps, and once it is crushed in the cylinder, it may eventually not only be that the planarian is not caught, but there will be several new planarians reborn from the remnants of the body in the tank.
Biological control law
The use of organisms to control planarians is not very reliable. Few ornamental fish will eat planarians, individual legends will eat planarians such as peacock fish, dragon whisker lamp, fighting fish, plum perch and some aliens, etc., it is estimated that only in the case of food shortage will eat planarians, so, personal opinion, if the target ornamental fish species in your tank do not have the above varieties, then there is no need to deliberately put these fish into it, because whether it will eat is still unknown, and some of the fish species listed above such as fighting fish have a strong territorial awareness and aggression, Rushing into it may have a negative impact on the original creatures in the tank.
drug therapy
If the number of outbreaks is too large, cannot be controlled, and you do not want to turn over the cylinder, then choose to take the drug. The generally used medicines are special planarian insecticides, which are called small black bottles by players, and there are intestinal insect clearances and so on. However, if the drug is taken, it will hurt the organisms in the tank, especially some fish and shrimp that are more sensitive to water quality, and if the dosage is not well controlled, it is likely that the planarians have not killed, and the fish and shrimp have died first. Therefore, before use, it is best to isolate the organisms in the tank to other tanks for temporary breeding, and then put the fish and shrimp back after the end of planarian treatment and after changing the water. Drugging belongs to the practice of killing a thousand enemies and self-inflicting eight hundred, which is not recommended until it is a last resort. And drug treatment, or can not kill the planarian eggs.
Reduce the pH of the water body
Data show that planarians cannot survive in water with low pH values, so we can use this to control planarians. For straw tank players, because of the carbon dioxide bottle and supply equipment, it is more convenient to operate.
The first thing to do is to remove the fish and shrimp in the tank and other organisms, the extremely low PH value and the rapid change of the PH value in a short period of time, the vast majority of aquatic organisms can not accept, the aquatic weeds can not be removed, and the short-term low PH value can still be adapted to the aquatic weeds.
Then use plastic wrap, etc. to completely close the fish tank to the tank of carbon dioxide, while monitoring the PH value of the water body in the tank, to 4.5 as the standard, about 24 hours, planarians have basically died, just remove the plastic wrap, while stopping the input of carbon dioxide, when the PH value returns to the original value, the fish and shrimp and other organisms put back.
The method of reducing the PH value can be said to have the least impact on the entire ecosystem, but unfortunately it is also impossible to kill planarian eggs.
Flip the cylinder
This is the ultimate solution, and it is also a path that many friends will eventually choose. But after turning over the cylinder, everything is not all right, especially when preparing to reopen the cylinder. Before reopening the cylinder, it is necessary to comprehensively clean up the fish tank filter material and sedimentary wood and other landscaping materials, the simplest way is to heat the water temperature to 45 degrees, put the filter material and the sunken wood into it, and carry out high temperature killing, although the same can not kill the planarian eggs, but the planarians will basically die. For the cleaned aquatic weeds, if you are still ready to continue to use, you also need to carefully clean up and remove the planarians.
The above several methods, no matter which one, can not effectively cure planarians, especially for planarian eggs, basically ineffective, so the control and management of planarians is a long-term struggle process, is the process of repeated treatment, the number of which is controlled in a very small amount, and the harm of a very small number of planarians to the tank is minimal.