# Planaria or Rhabdocoela flatworms?



## kashif314 (Oct 11, 2017)

I seen two when switched on lights. They do have triangular shape head but they are not white. Are they Planaria or rhabdocoela flatworms or something else? Very worried. Please select high quality to see better. 

https://youtu.be/EXBJ7-T6smc

Please look closely and advise. Thanks


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## natemcnutty (May 26, 2016)

Planaria. Spear shaped head gives it away


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## waterblossom (Jun 19, 2018)

I took a glance at the video and I am pretty sure that's planaria. Planaria are not always white, they can be a range of colors but what really gives it away is that triangular head  Hopefully there arent too many in your tank.


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## kashif314 (Oct 11, 2017)

natemcnutty said:


> Planaria. Spear shaped head gives it away <a href="http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/images/smilie/icon_wink.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Wink" ></a>





waterblossom said:


> I took a glance at the video and I am pretty sure that's planaria. Planaria are not always white, they can be a range of colors but what really gives it away is that triangular head <a href="http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/images/smilie/icon_sad.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Sad" ></a> Hopefully there arent too many in your tank.


Thanks for the reply. Need to nuke them now. Huh.


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## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

Another vote for planaria... as if you needed one. They can be white, brown or pink from what I've seen. Never dealt with them though....


Just make sure there's no fancy snails in the tank before treating. Don't expect to put any fancy snails in tank for several months aftewards as well.


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## Adasha (Aug 10, 2018)

If going the dog dewormer (Panacur / Fenbendazole), I highly recommend using the goat version instead, as it is already in suspension, and is a lot easier to use. It can be found on Amazon and elsewhere. Hope that helps!


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## mgeorges (Feb 1, 2017)

As others have stated, undoubtedly planaria...sorry.

The solution of Fenbendazole is called Safe-Guard. I've used it, works well. You dose .25ml/10 gallon of water. It will kill your nerites, so if you have any, they'll need to be moved. I've done several water changes since dosing this, ran carbon, weeks later and nerites still die if I add them back into this particular tank.

Shrimp and fish seem to do fine, though I haven't had a single baby shrimp since dosing this...not sure if it's coincidence or not. Females are berried, but the eggs never make it.

Additionally, if you DO have rhabdocoela in your tank, they will be unaffected by this. They aren't an issue anyways and stay very small.


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## Axelrodi202 (Jul 29, 2008)

Yes, they are planaria. Do two fenbendazole treatments, spaced out by about 3 weeks apart. FBZ doesn't kill the eggs so you need to wait for them to hatch


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## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

@mgeorges - quite possible that the Fenbendazole caused issues with your tank. Nerites can die even months later after dosing. I often recommend using Fenbendazole as a last resort. I have used it myself, and regret doing so.

Here are my reasons why
https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/fenbendazole#section=GHS-Classification
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11356-014-3497-0


Now, it doesn't mention shrimp specifically, but it does talk about how damaging it can be to aquatic life. Some people use Fenbendazole without issues and others, perhaps like you and me, have issues after dosing.


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## mgeorges (Feb 1, 2017)

Zoidburg said:


> @mgeorges - quite possible that the Fenbendazole caused issues with your tank. Nerites can die even months later after dosing. I often recommend using Fenbendazole as a last resort. I have used it myself, and regret doing so.
> 
> Here are my reasons why
> https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/fenbendazole#section=GHS-Classification
> ...


Well great....  Very unfortunate. I guess maybe a prolonged run of carbon and many, many water changes? 
@Zoidburg Of course, the pond snails and limpets continue to multiply like crazy. Funny how the stuff you DON'T care about just keeps on chugging along...


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## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

mgeorges said:


> Well great....  Very unfortunate. I guess maybe a prolonged run of carbon and many, many water changes?
> @Zoidburg Of course, the pond snails and limpets continue to multiply like crazy. Funny how the stuff you DON'T care about just keeps on chugging along...


I can't tell you how long it may take. I've struggled a long time with Neos and the only thing that really helped was finally changing their diet. (after correcting water parameter issues) Which worked for a short period of time and then my tanks were poisoned... lost a new colony of YKK's but there were enough Neos that they at least survived. Still lost several of them. And yeah, still have ramshorn and bladder snails. (bladder snails are small, with small antennae, the pond snails get bigger, have thicker antennae)


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## Axelrodi202 (Jul 29, 2008)

Yes, there are long-term concerns for fenbendazole and aquatic animals. This is why I qt all new plants before they go into my tanks with shrimp. Plants are seemingly less affected. One study (don't have the link on me right now) found fenbendazole was a good substance to use for sterilization of plants in preparation for tissue culture.


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## mgeorges (Feb 1, 2017)

Zoidburg said:


> I can't tell you how long it may take. I've struggled a long time with Neos and the only thing that really helped was finally changing their diet. (after correcting water parameter issues) Which worked for a short period of time and then my tanks were poisoned... lost a new colony of YKK's but there were enough Neos that they at least survived. Still love several of them. And yeah, still have ramshorn and bladder snails. (bladder snails are small, with small antennae, the pond snails get bigger, have thicker antennae)


Mine are definitely pond snails. The ones reproducing are around 1/2" with...we'll call them triangular antenna. I frequently cull them in my shrimp tank, the shrimp go to town on the snails once they're dead. Figure it's a good protein source for them. I switched foods to Kens Veggie Sticks and NLS Algae Wafers. They love the sticks, don't seem to care much for the algae wafers...snails love it all so there is rarely any leftovers.

Bump:


Axelrodi202 said:


> Yes, there are long-term concerns for fenbendazole and aquatic animals. This is why I qt all new plants before they go into my tanks with shrimp. Plants are seemingly less affected. One study (don't have the link on me right now) found fenbendazole was a good substance to use for sterilization of plants in preparation for tissue culture.


Prevention is the best route, definitely. I used the fen to treat my tank for Hydra. I transferred some plants from one of my other tanks to my shrimp tank, completely forgetting that the other tank had previously had Hydra. Oops...never dealt with the Hydra so they ended up in the shrimp tank. One of those mistakes you hope you only make once.


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## kashif314 (Oct 11, 2017)

I did eradicate them by shrimp safe medicine. Sl aqua bio protector z1. I can confirm that all the baby shrimps were not harmed. I took out nerites and pond snails and wont be putting them back. Planaria wiped out like 50 high grade crystal red shrimps. Unfortunately i found out too late that its Planaria. A huge loss to pocket and poor shrimp lives.


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