Parasites

[ghostrider6630]

hi folks well i am back after a few weeks of good production in my tank.

what i want to discuss is parasites i beleive i have some
they are approx 1cm long only as thick as a hair andthey seem to struggle swimming in water . does anyone know what they are should i be concerned and what can i do to get rid of them

my tank set up is gravel fake plants some wood
my fish are 2x bristle nose cat 2x corydora 6x neon tetra 6 x platties


on another note i am surprised to find i have a few tiny snails which have appeared i certainly didnt put them in my tank, also whats appeared is a few very tiny fish species unknown but they look like transparent platties but are very small(could my fish be breeding)

 

[AJ Tudor]

hi folks well i am back after a few weeks of good production in my tank.

what i want to discuss is parasites i beleive i have some
they are approx 1cm long only as thick as a hair andthey seem to struggle swimming in water . does anyone know what they are should i be concerned and what can i do to get rid of them

my tank set up is gravel fake plants some wood
my fish are 2x bristle nose cat 2x corydora 6x neon tetra 6 x platties


on another note i am surprised to find i have a few tiny snails which have appeared i certainly didnt put them in my tank, also whats appeared is a few very tiny fish species unknown but they look like transparent platties but are very small(could my fish be breeding)

Hi ghostrider, firstly your parasites; Do you know for certain they're parasites? You mention they struggle in water but do they bother your fish in any way? I'm not brilliant when it comes to parasites but I can't think of anything these could be.
Your snails are a bit strange, do you have anything in your tank that was bought from an aquatics shop (Except the fish) that was being kept in a tank there? If you have they probably hitchhiked in on that! I have quite a few snails that were brought in on plants and they're useful, they keep my substrate airated by burrowing. Can't really say on your possible baby platties, your best bet would be to segregate them to prevent them being eaten or sucked into the filter and wait and see. Hope you find some of this helpful

AJ

 

[Schmill]

Regarding the babies, the only live bearers in the tank are the platies, so if you have fry I would say that they are going to be Platies
Also yes, if you have 6 platies, and a mixture of male / female then there is a good chance they will be breeding.
If you want to keep the fry then as said above segregate them, (you can get fry 'nets' which are effectively a box that allows water to flow through it, sitting inside the main tank, and keeping the fry safe. The other option is 'nature' and you can let the fry take their chances.
To be honest unless I actually WANT to increase my fish stocks I usually go with the 'natural' option, as I figure than then any fry that do survive have already proved themselves to be strong fish and should be decent quality (whereas if you raise them in a fry bath even your 'runts' will grow). Of course using this option if you have hungry / aggressive fish, or even not enough places for the fry to hide you do risk ending up with no baby fish, but thats the luck of the draw