Planaria And Corys

[twodoctors]

Hi,

I am having problems with planaria again...

I am feeding my fishes less already and hardly any of the flakes falls to the bottom. The only ones that does are the bottom feeder food (tablets and pellets) which I put in every night and they disappear by the morning. Cleaning my tank today I see a lot of planaria in the gravel. My bottom feeders are 6 3-lined corys and a liver catfish. Would they eat the planaria from the fine gravel, or should I feed them even less to reduce mess?

Adrian

 

[Katch]

yeah they'll eat them - feed 4 days out of 7 for a few weeks.

large numbers are a sign of overfeeding - there will always be a small population.

 

[KittyKat]

+1 above.

For more permanent feeding routine.. I generally feed as much as will be completely eaten in 30 seconds, twice per day with vegetables 1-2 times per week, frozen foods 1 time per week and no food on one day per week. Bottom feeders are only fed every other day.

 

[twodoctors]

I feed mine once a day mostly as I work long hours. I feed them tetra pro colour and spirulina (alternating) and every 2-3 days frozen food. The bottom feeders don't get a look in with the frozen food because my barbs and rainbowfishes mop it up very quickly. I started feeding the bottom feeder at night when my barbs are asleep because my liver cat is very shy and very afraid of my sajicas (even though they stopped chasing him/her now). However I think my sajicas and rainbowfishes are eating the sinking food rather than the bottom feeders, which is why I starting putting a bit more in different places so they would at least have a chance.

The planaria is still within the gravel only. I started the hobby 3 months ago now and I did have an infestation 2 months ago when I was using coarse gravel and food keeps falling between the gaps. Now that i am using fine gravel, I suck the top layer of gravel out so I can the uneaten bits out as well. That's when I realise I still have planaria.

Oh well, it's live food for the bottom feeder I supposed!

Adrian