# Flatworms probably mistaken for planaria



## DUKENDABEARS

I get flatworms even in my tanks with no livestock, not sure how they get there.. Even have them in brand new tanks with just aquasoil no plants or shrimp.. Show up about 10-14 days into cycling, i used to confuse them for planaria too, thanks for the post.


----------



## Clemsons2k

Heres a couple more pictures to help people easier identify these guys in their tank without using a magnifying glass or macro photography.


----------



## FriendsNotFood

Oh this is timely, I just saw one of these in my former betta tank last night and figured I had a planaria infestation. Good to know they're harmless!


----------



## snakeskin

I thought I might have planaria as well. I was freaking out! I just saw some pics/video of planaria, what we have is wayyy too small.


----------



## ravensgate

They are rhabdocoela. OFTEN mistaken for planaria and they aren't affected by meds used on planaria. They are harmless.


----------



## Clemsons2k

ravensgate said:


> They are rhabdocoela. OFTEN mistaken for planaria and they aren't affected by meds used on planaria. They are harmless.


Glad someone confirmed the name. I had seen that name in a google search last week, but forgot to bookmark the page and couldn't find it again. roud:


----------



## Vermino

yeah have a few of those guys + hydras.. not to worried about anything besides the infamous planaria .


----------



## Destroyer551

Vermino said:


> yeah have a few of those guys + hydras.. not to worried about anything besides the infamous planaria .


Hyrda are certainly something to worry about if you plan on having baby shrimp.


----------



## Vermino

Destroyer551 said:


> Hyrda are certainly something to worry about if you plan on having baby shrimp.


yeah just have adult amano's in the tank - im good =)


----------



## Bananariot

Yep freaked the first time I saw these guys, but they're harmless. 
I keep a school of pygmy corydoras to keep the critter population down.


----------



## aznrice247

hmm I feel like there might be a relation to this flatworms and amazonia... I have the same thing.


----------



## snakeskin

> hmm I feel like there might be a relation to this flatworms and amazonia... I have the same thing.


Not necessarily, I have fluorite and black sand and I have them too.


----------



## ravensgate

aznrice247 said:


> hmm I feel like there might be a relation to this flatworms and amazonia... I have the same thing.



Nope, they come from overfeeding mainly, sometimes they show up even when you don't feed the tank. They are in all my tanks, inert pea gravel, FSS, Up Aqua, doesn't matter. Has no correlation with substrate at all IME.


----------



## aznrice247

hmm then I really wonder how they come... air? water? oh jeez I hope its not from the water.


----------



## Vermino

definitely water.. ever play "spore" the video game? life is created all in water till the flatworm sprouts legs and crafts a spear to destroy your village haha.


----------



## sapphoqueen

i got these and many more from a water plant i got from a mountain river


----------



## Clemsons2k

Vermino said:


> definitely water.. ever play "spore" the video game? life is created all in water till the flatworm sprouts legs and crafts a spear to destroy your village haha.


:icon_lol:

Yea my substrate is inert Petco sand. They either came on plants or in the water.


----------



## ravensgate

I've had them show up in tanks with no plants. So they either develop in the water or eggs are in the substrate and then hatch. And this is both with straight RO water or straight up tap.


----------



## Mizuhuman

Phew. glad to know these things aren't dangerous to my tank inhabitants. I had hundreds of them show up on my aquarium glass. might be from my new plants but not sure.


----------



## Dolfan

I just noticed I have a few of these crawling on the walls of my 10g RCS tank. Is there anything I can do to get rid of them. I will cut down on feeding as this may have caused them. I don't want them to get out of hand. There is only shrimp and 1 nerite in the tank so nothing is going to eat them. Any recommendations on what I should do?


----------



## hambone870

well maybe i had these rather then planeria but i used a safeguard treatment and they all died...

are we sure that these cant be killed by normal planeria treatments?

nuked those and the hydra, tank is back to pristine...


----------



## Clemsons2k

I'm sure they can be killed the same way. They're both related and probably have the same physiology for the most part.


----------



## hambone870

Clemsons2k said:


> I'm sure they can be killed the same way. They're both related and probably have the same physiology for the most part.


Yeah I think Ravensgate said it earlier about the meds not working. She would have more knowledge then me but whatever I had is gone... And for that I'm glad


----------



## Dolfan

I dosed with safeguard last night but I still see the small white worms crawling on the glass. I used 1/10th of a 1 gram packet for my 10g tank with cherry shrimp (I moved the nerite into my 40g tank). Do I need to just wait longer? Should I use a 2nd dose? If so, should I use 1/10th of a gram again or change dosage? These worms are so small, I can't tell if it has the arrow shaped head like a planaria. They move around in random directions, mainly going in a straight line then changing directions. They contract/shorten when poked or when changing direction then elongate back to normal. I can't really get a good picture of them as they are so small, camera just takes blurry photos. But they look like the photos that Clemsons2k posted to me. Any advice?


----------



## hambone870

Dolfan said:


> I dosed with safeguard last night but I still see the small white worms crawling on the glass. I used 1/10th of a 1 gram packet for my 10g tank with cherry shrimp (I moved the nerite into my 40g tank). Do I need to just wait longer? Should I use a 2nd dose? If so, should I use 1/10th of a gram again or change dosage? These worms are so small, I can't tell if it has the arrow shaped head like a planaria. They move around in random directions, mainly going in a straight line then changing directions. They contract/shorten when poked or when changing direction then elongate back to normal. I can't really get a good picture of them as they are so small, camera just takes blurry photos. But they look like the photos that Clemsons2k posted to me. Any advice?


id wait the full 24 hours and see what it looks like, mine were still moving around and visible for quite a while after dosing


----------



## Rilly10

Thanks! Great pics/ I just saw two of these yesterday and was starting to worry!


----------



## Clemsons2k

Dolfan said:


> I dosed with safeguard last night but I still see the small white worms crawling on the glass. I used 1/10th of a 1 gram packet for my 10g tank with cherry shrimp (I moved the nerite into my 40g tank). Do I need to just wait longer? Should I use a 2nd dose? If so, should I use 1/10th of a gram again or change dosage? These worms are so small, I can't tell if it has the arrow shaped head like a planaria. They move around in random directions, mainly going in a straight line then changing directions. They contract/shorten when poked or when changing direction then elongate back to normal. I can't really get a good picture of them as they are so small, camera just takes blurry photos. But they look like the photos that Clemsons2k posted to me. Any advice?


From what I've read it usually takes between 2-3 days for them to start disappearing. And thats if the medication is working. Seems to be mixed accounts of whether these guys react the same to dewormer as planaria do.


----------



## MABJ

These are unaffected by normal doses of Safeguard type meds. Jamie is right. 

Perhaps overdoses may kill them. 

I kinda like these guys. They don't gross me out like planaria.


----------



## Destroyer551

My tank is overrun with these guys now, thanks to the recent copepod explosion. Thankfully they decimated pretty much 90% of the 'pods in one night, so at least my water isn't cloudy from those little things now. I'm assuming they'll begin to disspear now that their food source is depleted.


----------



## Dolfan

Well it seems the single dose of safeguard worked for me. I used 1/10th of a gram on my 10gal on Wed. night, and I don't see any of the small worms today. I'm still not sure if what I had was planaria, flatworms, rhabdocoela, or whatever. I just know they look a lot like your pics Clemsons2k, thanks for those pics btw, as my camera can't nearly get closeups like that. My RCS are doing good, very active and seem unphased. I plan on giving the meds one more day to work, than I will do a water change, and put in some carbon, to help clean things up. How long before I can put my nerite snail back in? Would a week be good, or should I give it more time? Thanks to everyone for the advice and help in knocking out the worms before they became a problem.


----------



## Clemsons2k

Dolfan said:


> Well it seems the single dose of safeguard worked for me. I used 1/10th of a gram on my 10gal on Wed. night, and I don't see any of the small worms today. I'm still not sure if what I had was planaria, flatworms, rhabdocoela, or whatever. I just know they look a lot like your pics Clemsons2k, thanks for those pics btw, as my camera can't nearly get closeups like that. My RCS are doing good, very active and seem unphased. I plan on giving the meds one more day to work, than I will do a water change, and put in some carbon, to help clean things up. How long before I can put my nerite snail back in? Would a week be good, or should I give it more time? Thanks to everyone for the advice and help in knocking out the worms before they became a problem.


Personally I would wait a week to be on the safe side and run carbon the entire time.

And you're very welcome. Theres not too much info on these dudes on the various fishy forums when I searched google so I wanted to help people who may do searches in the future.


----------



## snakeskin

I felt reassured reading this before as I also have hundreds of these little boogers. But I am wondering how big yours get? I have two or three that look a little bigger and have some brown pigmentation... I thought those might be planaria but they lack the arrow shaped head and are still way smaller that the planaria I've seen in youtube videos.

I'm wondering if I could put a male endler in my shrimp tank for a week to help me out. None of my yellows are berried yet so it would be at least a month before I have to worry about shrimplets


----------



## Subtletanks91

Looking at this, and these pics, I'm positive I don't have planaria but I was still going to use safe guard to try and get rid of these guys, as I like my water crystal, do you think it is worth it?


----------



## MABJ

Subtletanks91 said:


> Looking at this, and these pics, I'm positive I don't have planaria but I was still going to use safe guard to try and get rid of these guys, as I like my water crystal, do you think it is worth it?


Simple answer, no.


----------



## Clemsons2k

snakeskin said:


> I felt reassured reading this before as I also have hundreds of these little boogers. But I am wondering how big yours get? I have two or three that look a little bigger and have some brown pigmentation... I thought those might be planaria but they lack the arrow shaped head and are still way smaller that the planaria I've seen in youtube videos.
> 
> I'm wondering if I could put a male endler in my shrimp tank for a week to help me out. None of my yellows are berried yet so it would be at least a month before I have to worry about shrimplets


Like I said in the OP, the biggest they get is around 2mm long and 0.5mm wide. Reference the picture of one next to my thumb.

And yes an endler should help reduce the population, but don't quote me on it. I know some of the members here use endler or guppy fry to take care of unwanted pests in their tanks.



Subtletanks91 said:


> Looking at this, and these pics, I'm positive I don't have planaria but I was still going to use safe guard to try and get rid of these guys, as I like my water crystal, do you think it is worth it?


I wouldn't. No point hitting the tank with meds if they aren't harmful. Plus I bet you they will just come back later on.


----------



## Subtletanks91

So aside from feeding less than I do wich is once a week, there no other way to control the population?


----------



## Clemsons2k

Subtletanks91 said:


> So aside from feeding less than I do wich is once a week, there no other way to control the population?


Feeding less will just reduce their population, but they will always find something to eat. I didn't have any added food sources in my tank for about a week and they still gained in numbers.

You can try creating a trap for them similar to the Gush Pen.


----------



## Subtletanks91

That looks like a druggy contraption haha, what does it do, or how do you use it


----------



## Soothing Shrimp

Bait it, place on the substrate and it's like the roach motel. Bugs check in, but they don't check out.


----------



## Polahbear

Jumping in here for questions on these guys. I have noticed 2 in my shrimp only tank.
I have some nerite snails with cherry shrimp. i also have ramshorn and trumpet snails along with plants, (vals crypts and moss balls) and driftwood.
Now I am moving my office into a smaller space, and have set up a new smaller tank that is cycling now. I don't want to bring the pests to the new tank. So I got new wood, and a few new plants,I was thinking the pests could hitchhike on any thing. But seeing someone mention guppies or endlers as potential ways of removing the pests, would it be smart to add some of my guppies from a different tank to the old shrimp tank and let them clean up? these are small males that are smaller than the shrimp adults, they may get some of the shrimplets but the it will be hard to catch all of them anyway once they hide in the moss? If I let the guppies clean up, would it be safe to transfer some of the plants then?


----------



## stealthypotatoes

I made this


----------



## apisto84

I thought planaria are harmless as well? I know they will eat eggs but they are a non parasitic worm and are in the flat worm family are they not?

Sent from my Android using Tapatalk 2


----------



## Destroyer551

apisto84 said:


> I thought planaria are harmless as well? I know they will eat eggs but they are a non parasitic worm and are in the flat worm family are they not?
> 
> Sent from my Android using Tapatalk 2


They are non-parasitic but can overpower larger shrimp when in numbers and they will certainly eat newborn and young shrimp.


----------



## acitydweller

Planaria release toxins which kill shrimp. then the proceed to devour their prey.... you only need one opportunistic planaria to kill any sized shrimp. 

The ganging up tactic is typical of assassin snails against larger prey.


----------



## snakeskin

I got a male fancy guppy today and he got straight to work eating my flatworms... At his rate I will be wormless in days I think! 

He doesn't seem to notice the shrimp (which are about 1/3 his size) and none are even berried at this point so I won't worry about predation until later!


----------



## Subtletanks91

How far in the substrate do you put it?


----------



## Clemsons2k

Subtletanks91 said:


> How far in the substrate do you put it?


You just lay it, opening down, on top of it. Don't bury it.


----------



## Subtletanks91

. This is the best picture I could get with my phone. You see the worms on the back on the tank. I'm not sure if they are to cause but I just found one of my females dead.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/picture.php?albumid=12337&pictureid


----------



## Kalyan

Hello people , recently i saw this on my 50 gallon planted tank , and after reading this i came to know that its not harmful but how to get rid of this totally ? if i do frequent water changes will it help ?


----------



## Clemsons2k

Kalyan said:


> Hello people , recently i saw this on my 50 gallon planted tank , and after reading this i came to know that its not harmful but how to get rid of this totally ? if i do frequent water changes will it help ?


Should help a little, but I doubt you'll ever totally get rid of them unless you nuke the tank with medication.


----------



## rcs0926

I just noticed these little guys in my 2 gallon tank last night. There were a handful crawling around the sides of my tank. I was a little worried, but now I know I don't have to be.


----------



## Daisy Mae

*"Rhabdocoela!" my new favorite response to "got planaria?"*

Went away for a week and found these all over the glass in my Spec III RCS tank. Remembered reading about it before, so did a quick search for "planaria" since I could only remember the "rhabdo" part of the name. 

Thanks very much for the helpful photos and tips!

I think I'll just leave them alone. Considering that I have four berried females (two more than a week ago), it sure sounds like the less I mess with this tank, the better.


----------



## Griffith Sky-Treader

I'm an idiot. I thought those things were planaria and added some No-Planaria in the water. Now, NO SNAILS can even survive in the tanks- I have 10 dead nerites to prove that. Though all shrimps are fine as that is a shrimp-safe product. Damn. I suppose I'll have to wait till next year till all the remains of that No-Planaria stuff is gone... :c


----------



## ravensgate

About the No Planaria being shrimp safe...I used it on a tank of mine, even UNDER the recommended dose and lost almost 20 breeding adults and no telling how many juvies. And now I have a super low baby survival rate in that tank compared to what it was before. It's been over 6 months since I used it. Will never use it again and will have to reset that tank at some point. I know others haven't had an issue from it but I sure did.


----------



## Teebo

Thanks Clemsons2k I was freaking out too, Daisy Mae forwarded me over here and I feel reassured now. I managed to capture some photos and even macro video for everyone: https://youtu.be/zaVzI_9N66U


----------

