Shrimp Tank Problems?

[Adamy]

I have two types in my shrimp tank red rili and blue pearl, i bought from flame moss and  Fissidens Fontanus off ebay from a seller in taiwan,  they have been in the tank for around 12 weeks when i started to notice leeches and little bugs which starting turning into dragonflys, i now have 1 -2 dragon flys appearing every week and now loads a baby leeches or worms around 1/2cm.
 
Before i knew about these i had swapped some plants into my crs and cbs tanks now these also have these worm/leeches in them in my crs tank i have lost 4 red 6 black 1 red wine and 1 king kong.
 
Is there anything i can do to get rid of these pests

 

[Baccus]

Rather than leeches it sounds as though you may have planeria in your tank, they are a worm type critter that is usually found where there is excess food. They take over in shrimp tanks because there are usually no fish in a shrimp tank, other wise fish will usually eat planeria. You can treat planeria with certain treatments, (not knowing what country your in really limits suggestions on treatments) some people have reported good results, others no result and worse case lose of shrimp. Always be very careful using any chemical with shrimp.
 
As for the dragonfly nymphs you are better off netting them out as you find them and humanely killing them, since I am guessing they are not native or endemic to your area. If they are a local species then they can be safely released into local waterways. But please never release any tank hitch hikers unless you know for certain it is a native creature to your region, all other hitch hikers need to be humanely destroyed so that they can not become environmental disasters.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Very well said. 

 

[Adamy]

Hi,
 
Thank you for your advice,  i been looking online for these planeria - planaria worms and im 99.9 percent sure your right. i live in the UK  and found a treatment called Genchem no planaria, but i would like to know, what you would recommend.
 
Also i have no discovered that i don't have dragonflies, i have damselflies which i have been killing from the start.
 
Again thank you for your reply.
 
Adam.

 

[Baccus]

Because I am not in the UK I can not advise what to use since I don't know all of the products that are or maybe available to you. Although I have heard of some people having success with a product such as Genchem No Planaria  which has Betal Nut palm extracts  in it. You can also get planaria traps like this one, which is a safe chemical free option.

 

[snazy]

Planaria worms are carnivorous, meaning they can even eat a bigger shrimp when they've grown big enough themeselves and should be killed somehow to prevent shrimp deaths. They can even attack weaker fish fry.
They aren't necessarily caused by overfeeding. They need to be a hitchhiker too more than likely.
There are detritus worms that look similar, but they are thinner, like a white thread and wiggle.  These are harmless, caused by overfeeding and once you feed less, they'll disappear eventually. They are good for cleaning the substrate.
Planaria is kind of flat looking worm and if big enough you can see arrow shaped head.