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junex
Age: 41
Joined: 26 Feb 2008
Posts: 3
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Hi all.
On a trip to a LFS selling dwarf shrimps, my son insisted on buying some black/blue shrimp of his own. Since we had an extra tank I decided to buy him some. A few days after getting them we noticed a "worm" attached to one.
Soon thereafter we had an infestation of these "worms." Some shrimps having as much as 4 attached. They would sometimes detach from the shrimp and we would find some attached on driftwoods or plants. A few days ago I found one attached to a piece of moss and I was able to get a video of it moving: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzV0ogDzOVo
A closer picture of the "leech" in question. Sorry for the clarity, I don't have a decent macro lens.
One thing I've noticed is if I put the infected shrimp in a tank containing 100% water direct from the tap, the leech would fall off dead after a few minutes. Unfortunately I don't have any testing equipment so I don't know what's in out tap water that's killing the leeches. Right now I'm thinking chlorine. BTW, the shrimps survive this treatment.
I believe the leeches came with the black/blue shrimps. I currently have 4 shrimp tanks. 1 tank for wild Neocaridina & red nose, 1 tank for RCS and tigers, 1 tank for crs and the last for the black shrimps. My driftwood and plants come from similar sources. I also have a collection of hydras, planarias and limpets in all the tanks (collections sounds much better than infestation... ). But the black shrimp tank's the only one with these leeches.
Any ideas? |
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emorsso
Crustaforum-Team
Age: 34
Joined: 07 Mar 2008
Posts: 16
Location: Singapore
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Hi Junex,
Looks like Planarian to me, but I can't confirm.
These are pests! They multiple rapidly and are harmful to shrimps.
They are very hard to get rid once they dominate your tank.
The best is to quarantine your shrimps before introducing to your tank.
Try not to use the water or plants that came from the LFS. |
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junex
Age: 41
Joined: 26 Feb 2008
Posts: 3
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Hey emorsso,
Thanks for the input. I ruled out planarias early on. In the video I uploaded, the movement of the "worm" is definitely leech-like. All the planarias I've seen seem to glide over surfaces. This "worm" looked like it had anterior and posterior suckers and moved inchworm style.
One sucker would be attached to something (i.e. shrimp, driftwood, plant) and the sucker on the other end would be "waving" around. Interestingly, when something approaches the "leech" the free end would investigate. I've seen this happen when I tried probing it with a pair of tweezers.
One other thing, planarias are flatworms and on some of the preserved specimens on these leeches I have you can see that their body is segmented.
All the articles on planarias I've read doesn't indicate them attaching themselves to animals.
Some one also said it looked like a hydra but I ruled it out also mainly because of the absence of tentacles. Also all the articles I've read on hydras indicate that they attach themselves to plants or rocks but I've never seen an article mentioning they attach themselves to animals. Hydra movement is also described as somersaulting.
Good news is it's been more than 48hrs after transferring them to a new tank and using the tap water treatment and I've yet to see another leech. All the adults and shrimplets look healthy. |
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Ulli Bauer
Crustaforum-Team
Age: 34
Joined: 04 Mar 2008
Posts: 295
Location: Weinstadt
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Hi,
if they move inchworm style they're definitely leeches.
You might get those with wild-caught shrimp (or with shrimp that have been in contact with wild-caught ones).
Good for you if the water treatment worked! (Bit scary, though, thinking of what might lurk in your tap water  )
If those leeches return, you might want to try a Flubenol (kills snails) or Panacur treatment.
Some more input re parasites: http://www.shrimp-diseases-online.com/suckingworm.htm
Cheers
Ulli |
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If it ain't broken, don't repair it. |
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Devil-Crusta10
Crustaforum-Team
Age: 45
Joined: 23 Jan 2008
Posts: 69
Location: Köln
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junex
Age: 41
Joined: 26 Feb 2008
Posts: 3
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Thanks for the links, interesting reads.
So far I haven't seen any leeches on the shrimps since I transferred them.
The old tank is another story though, the leeches have started to breed. They begun making their cocoon-like egg sacs. |
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Ulli Bauer
Crustaforum-Team
Age: 34
Joined: 04 Mar 2008
Posts: 295
Location: Weinstadt
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Hi junex,
how do you treat your old tank?
I got rid of all my snail leeches by using Panacur in a tank full of shrimp, MTS and ramshorn snails. No side effects on them.
If there are no other inhabitants in your tank besides the leeches filling the tank with very sparkling mineral water for 10 minutes should also do the trick. This only affects very delicate plants, most won't suffer any harm from this. Or maybe your tap water, who knows.
Both methods don't the eggs affect, therefore you should repeat the treatment after two weeks or so.
Cheers
Ulli |
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If it ain't broken, don't repair it. |
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