Leeches! OMG!
E.W. Marshall
bowl with some water. Well, she decided to leave the water in the
bowl sit for a few weeks, and her daughter (I think) then found some
life forms in it - namely leeches.
Anyone ever have to deal with leeches in their aquarium water? Are
they harmless to the fish? My hair is still standing up. Do fish eat
them? Are they parasitic to fish? What do leaches eat? I don't see
any in my aquarium, but I KNOW they are there....lol Any info would
be much appreciated.
E.W. Marshall
Colorado Rockies
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PlantedTank
of leech geek) Here's my theory about this:
There were no visible leeches on any of the Frogbit that you gave me
and none that I could see in the water (I looked) at the time. They
only became visible after three or so weeks through a close up lens. I
suspect we all have these in our tanks, but when they are that small
the fish must eat them with apparently no ill effects. Maybe in that
smaller stage they aren't particularly dangerous to fish and actually
make a good meal?
I know leeches are very commonly found on plants because I seem to
find a large one in plant shipments at least half the time I order
plants. I've looked around the web for references to them as being
parasitic to fish and haven't found much to go on. But I did find a
very interesting historical reference about leeches and Napoleon's
troops. It seems his troops drew water for their canteens from streams
and waterways in Egypt and Syria. Many of Napoleon's men died because
the leeches infested the soldiers throats, airways and sinus cavities,
engorging and eventually suffocating the men. Ewww. So, I can only
imagine that they are able to do some kind of similiar damage to fish.
Emmett, think of those leeches as a link back to history...lol.
What conclusions can we draw from this? I haven't got a clue, other to
to sum it up with one word: Yuck.
JoAnn
E.W. Marshall
wrote:
>OK, it was me who found them (this definitely puts me in the category
>of leech geek) Here's my theory about this:
There you are!......"Microscope Person" How are your amoebas doing?
LOL
>Maybe in that smaller stage they aren't particularly dangerous to fish and actually
>make a good meal?
I have had that thought also - along with at least one very strange
nightmare so far. I sure hope your theory is true.
>I know leeches are very commonly found on plants because I seem to
>find a large one in plant shipments at least half the time I order
>plants.
Maybe they eat algae as well as sucking one's blood? This still
doesn't quite seem to balance anything out for me.
>I've looked around the web for references to them as being
>parasitic to fish and haven't found much to go on.
I know, my mouse hand still hurts from scrounging the net for answers,
and I need to make a run for some coffee.
> Many of Napoleon's men died because the leeches infested the soldiers
> throats, airways and sinus cavities, engorging and eventually suffocating the men.
Wow, this is kinda close to the nightmare I had.
>Emmett, think of those leeches as a link back to history...lol.
I used to be a happy person. Honest.
>What conclusions can we draw from this?
Simple actually: DON'T DRINK YOUR AQUARIUM WATER NO MATTER WHAT!
>to sum it up with one word: Yuck.
Excuse me, I need to go away for a minute.
Brian Burch
Fish love to eat leeches. In fact, leeches were trapped from ponds devoid
of fish. If there where fish in a pond you didn't bother trying to trap
leeches because they would all have been eaten by the fish. However, I'm
not sure that we are talking about the same type of leech (there are many
different varieties).
There was a variety of leech that swam in Lake of the Woods that was huge
and had a very mushy consistency and the fish didn't like those.
As as far a leeches affecting peoples airways, I had a friend who recently
competed in the ECO Challenge in Borneo where there are many different types
of leeches. One is called a thread leech. It will attach in your throat if
you drink the water that they are living in.
That about exhausts my leech knowledge.
Brian Burch
Gregory Simmons
P.geometra
P.milneri
Red or whitish circles on the body of your fish are often signs of feeding
leeches. It is said that the leeches rarely cause great harm to the fish but
the leeches can spread and the wounds can promote disease. Inspection of
your waste water after a gravel vacuum is a good way to spot them. My first
experience with them came with spotting little circular holes in the fins of
one of my male Betta's. Though suspect, my Neon's never made a move on the
big guy while I was watching. Then I found the leeches in the waste water.
They are not easy to get rid of.
Good Luck, Greg
"E.W. Marshall" <emm...@direcpc.com> wrote in message
news:dpbkptkbquhbolmib...@4ax.com...
Robert H
It is highly unlikely that you would have true leeches. I have never
heard of a case of leeches ever showing up in an aquarium. What you
are seeing is more likely planaria or hydra... an aquatic flatworm
that are very common and found in almost every outdoor body of water.
You can find a detailed article about with pictures here:
http://www.aquabotanic.com/worms.htm They are usually tiny white
worms less than an inch long. Some species move like an inch worm,
others kinda slither. They often partially bury themselves in the
gravel with parts of their body sticking above the gravel waving in
the water like grass. Hydra have little tentacles from their mouths,
but when they are small you need a magnifying glass to see them. They
will stick to the glass or plants like a suction cup. Read the
article. This article also appeared in my newsletter.
Robert Paul H
http://www.aquabotanic.com
E.W. Marshall
news:28fdf811.01090...@posting.google.com...
> It is highly unlikely that you would have true leeches. I have never
> heard of a case of leeches ever showing up in an aquarium.
Okay, we're off to a great start - you've got my complete attention! LOL
> What you are seeing is more likely planaria or hydra... an aquatic
flatworm
> that are very common and found in almost every outdoor body of water.
> You can find a detailed article about with pictures here:
> http://www.aquabotanic.com/worms.htm
Hey, those are GREAT drawings/images. Hey Microscope Person. Did you look
at them? Did what you see look like this?
Are you sure what you saw are leeches?
I think I'm going to have to duplicate PlantedTank's efforts - ie, letting
some water sit in a container for two weeks and trying to see what she saw.
I was searching some more tonight on the Internet, and I did come across a
lot of people's posts who think they had leeches. Some even had pics of
leeches clinging to caudal fins of fish, etc. I've also been looking for
products to wipe them out. So far I've come across these products:
"Clout"
"Life Bearer"
"Trifon"
They all claim to wipe out leeches, but who knows what they do to plants and
fish? I'd like to believe I don't have leeches, but but but...............
Tyke
spores/parasites. I think this will help maintain your recent algae free
environment as well as kill such critters and be much less harmful to the
fish.
I recently installed one on my 29gal tank. I did this as part of algae
control, but I like the comfort of knowing that whatever parasites are in
the water column and pass through the UV unit will be killed.
Dave Paine.
E.W. Marshall <emm...@direcpc.com> wrote in message
news:ZhHm7.57$YP....@news.cpqcorp.net...
Waywardcat
rid of the leeches and the tank survived.
The beasties that you see are probably planaria or hydra, as others
have already pointed out to you. The leeches that were in my tank
grew to be about 1 cm long and 1 mm wide. I don't know how big they
could have gotten. I cleaned them out before they got any bigger. :)
They hunted and killed all the snails in the tank (every last one). I
don't know what they would have done to fish since there were no fish
in the tank at the time.
I positively identified the leeches using this website:
http://www.amonline.net.au/factsheets/leeches.htm. The leeches in my
tank looked and behaved exactly as the freshwater leech described in
the fact sheet.
I tore down the tank to get rid of the leeches. I heated the gravel
to the boiling point and rinsed it well. I washed the tank and all
the hardware in hydrogen peroxide. I soaked the plants in potassium
permanganate. In retrospect, this was probably over-reaction and
overkill. It took about four weeks for the tank to recover from the
resulting ammonia spike. Some of the plants did not survive.
My tank is beautiful now. It gives us great pleasure. I certainly
did not want to raise leeches in it though. :)
If you still think you have leeches after visiting
http://www.amonline.net.au/factsheets/leeches.htm, and you want more
information, let me know. I have some scanty additional information
that I collected from my research.
cindie
"Tyke" <ty...@enter.net> wrote in message news:<JHKm7.148$7d.3...@newshog.newsread.com>...
E.W. Marshall
down yet considering that I just built up, but........
GOOD NEWS!
I came across a *very* promising remedy. There is a drug called
"Ivermectin" that is used to deworm cattle, sheep, swine, guinea pigs,
dogs, birds, salmon, EVEN people, etc. It is VERY potent stuff.
I found several accounts on the Internet of it's usage in aquarium
systems to destroy all invertebrates in freshwater - which would
include leeches of course.
The people who used it mention that it's pretty much "one shot, one
kill" for nearly everything that doesn't have bones. They also claimed
that the fish and plants were not affected at all - cept that it rid
them of these nasty parasites. They say it eliminates all snails as
well. Since I don't raise snails in my display tank - this is a moot
point. At least one individual obtained their "stock solution"
directly from a veterinarian who recommended it for this purpose. They
posted that the bio filter is not affected by this treatment - another
"plus."
I noted that Salmon farmers use it on regular basis to remove worms,
although this use appears to be illegal in some countries - if not
all?
Back when I bred German Shepherds, 15 years ago, I used it as a
heartworm preventative since the daily tablets were outrageously
expensive then. This was under the advice of a veterinarian/friend who
wasn't out to remove all my $$$ from my wallet. Compared to the price
of a bottle of Ivermectin that lasted for years - the "HeartTabs"
seemed like a total ripoff to me, and contained the very same active
ingredient. It never crossed my mind that this could possibly be the
solution to leeches, planaria, etc in an aquarium, but it does make
absolutely perfect sense to me.
Since at least two people on the Internet were kind enough to post
recommended dosages of Ivermectin for aquariums over the years on the
Internet, I am seriously considering going this route should I be able
to reproduce PlantedTank's leech findings here at home. I'm not one to
rush into adding any drug to my aquarium, but having leeches might
push me across that line. Please read my CYA disclaimer below.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
I DO NOT recommend that ANYONE DO ANYTHING that I am talking about
above. This post if for informational purposes ONLY.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
First of all, it might be an illegal usage of the product. I am
planning to call my vet tomorrow morning and find out the scoop.
Secondly, if one screws up on the dosage - it could be disastrous I am
sure. I doubt there is much margin for error with this stuff. Third,
this stuff is a poison to invertebrates so having a concentrated
amount of it laying around could be really dangerous in a home. I'd
hate to think what could happen to someone who drank it, or absorbed
too much into their body somehow. I strongly urge anyone who even
thinks about using it for any reason to discuss Ivermectin with their
veterinarian beforehand who MAY then prescribe it's usage for their
situation - as I plan to do.
On 9 Sep 2001 11:24:49 -0700, waywa...@hotmail.com (Waywardcat)
wrote:
E.W. Marshall
Waywardcat
effort. I'm not sure that we would do it the same way again. The
tank had only been set up a few weeks before we found the leeches.
Now that it is growing beautifully I would certainly not tear it down
and start over. I'm very careful what goes into the tank. :) The
leeches were introduced to our tank on some dormant aquatic bulbs. I
figure that the egg cases were dried on the bulbs just waiting for
water to hatch.
I saw the Ivermectin method after we had "sterilized" the tank or I
would have definitely tried that method first. What are the
recommended dosages?
Be prepared for an ammonia spike after you treat the tank. Whatever
you kill in there is going to decompose.
Good luck. Please post your results. I found very little information
on removing leeches from aquaria or ponds. We have both aquaria and
ponds. It would be good to know how others deal with this situation.
Cindie
E.W. Marshall <emm...@direcpc.com> wrote in message news:<cnnnpt8tpd61900qo...@4ax.com>...
E.W. Marshall
news:d3773962.01090...@posting.google.com...
> Yes, removing the leeches from the tank using our method took enormous
> effort. I'm not sure that we would do it the same way again. The
> tank had only been set up a few weeks before we found the leeches.
I feel worse for the person I gave the Frogbit to than for myself. I
believe she
has mystery snails so she won't be able to use the method I am thinking
about. I was
holding back on treating new plants before putting them into my aqaurium,
but from
now on I am going to do exactly that. I am already trying to come up with a
safe and
effective method I can live with.
> I saw the Ivermectin method after we had "sterilized" the tank or I
> would have definitely tried that method first. What are the
> recommended dosages?
I am reluctant to post any known dosages to the newsgroup at large, because
I just know
someone out there is going to use the wrong stock solution, or make a
mistake, and then
lose all their fish and blame me. When I get home work tomorrow, I can email
you the
information from there if you wish.
> Be prepared for an ammonia spike after you treat the tank. Whatever
> you kill in there is going to decompose.
Yes. That crossed my mind today also. My plan is to call the vet tomorrow,
and then
get a culture of my tank water going to verify the existence of these things
in my tank.
I want to get ahold of PlantedTank first and find out more details about the
water and what
exactly was seen. I've got a magnifying glass, but it isn't that strong.
Once I arrive at that
point, then I will dose the Ivermectin, and start another culture to verify
the success or failure
of the treatment. Based on what I've read so far, I am positive and
optimistic.
The idea of using an UV sterilizer seems like a good idea on the surface,
but leeches cling
to things right? I can't see ALL the leeches ever making the trip into a
sterilizer, so I also can't
really see this method being quite effective enough to rid an aquarium of
leeches. What about any
leeches that might already be living inside fish?
> Good luck. Please post your results.
Thank you. I sure will. I appreciate hearing your experiences and input on
this thread.
Robert H
OK, so maybe they are leeches, but if you have never seen them how
would you know? What did they look like? Were they little white worms?
Planaria and hydra are basically harmless. They eat decaying oranics
and microscopic invertabrates, and most fish love eating them. If you
had "leeches" you would be able to see them plainly. They dont
disappear and come back again! Planaria and hydra do not like bright
light or changing pH, and usually die off within a few days. So if you
no longer see any worms at all, then I dont think you have
any...wether they are flatworms or leeches. Leeches are also much
larger than flatworms. Leeches eat blood, and unless they can find a
host, they will die off. Flatworms most likely would get eaten by your
fish within a day or two.
E.W. Marshall
who cultured my aquarium water for about two weeks. I would never even
consider treating my aquarium unless I saw them myself. I've been
investigating methods of leech eradication in the meantime. The
learning never ends. If it does turn out to be something other than
leeches, naturally I would re-evaluate the situation.
Planaria and the like don't bother me like the leeches do.
I'll know more in several weeks.
On 13 Sep 2001 00:49:50 -0700, rober...@earthlink.net (Robert H)
wrote:
>OK, so maybe they are leeches, but if you have never seen them how
>would you know? What did they look like?
E.W. Marshall
Wayne Hepburn
concerned grew them without a host to feed on and they also grew without
predators. I would say most people have them in their tanks, I certainly do,
along with small hairy white worms and midge larvae. I encourage all of
these things as they are harmless and the fish love to eat them. You don't
need rotten conditions for planaria to thrive!
btw anyone know where I can get some of those snail killing leeches in
Australia? I will be living there soon.
I have seen real leeches in a fishtank, they are quite unmistakeable. They
where in a friends tank and he had put river sand in it without sterilising
it. The rivers and lakes around here have otters in them as well as birds
and fish, and definately leeches. They are very quick to attatch to a hand
dabbed into the water to steady a canoe, and prey on fish too! If you do
have real leeches, you will see them doing those hunting manoevres described
here a few days ago, and most certainly see damage to your fish.
Chuck Gadd
<way...@mweb.co.za> wrote:
>I would go with the flatworm/planarian option for the "leeches". The lady
>concerned grew them without a host to feed on
That's an excellent point. They would not have grown without a host
if they were leeches.
Chuck Gadd
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua
E.W. Marshall
several days, remove frogbit, wait 3 weeks). As each day goes by, I
am one day closer to seeing with my own eyes. I'm guessing that
leeches could hatch, without a host, to a size visible with a
magnifying glass, but this is a first for me. Do leeches need a host
to hatch and enter into the first stages of life in water?
E.W. Marshall
Tauni Sandy
> If you do have real leeches, you will see them doing those hunting
> manoevres described here a few days ago, and most certainly see damage to
> your fish.
Oh man, I found a leech in my tank today! It was crawling down along the
glass after I finished changing some water. It was moving like an
inchworm (I think it's called "looping") and it looked (through a hand
lens) just like the ones I saw in Zoology all those years ago. It was
about 1 cm long and dark brown or black. I am keeping it in a cup for
now, and haven't seen any others in the tank so far.
I don't know what leech damage would look like on a Platy, but some of
them seem to have a few small red or shiny spots. The leeches probably
came on that shipment of plants and Malaysian trumpet snails I got a few
weeks ago. From now on I promise to clean all plants, but can snails
bring them too?
I don't know how to treat my tank for leeches, without killing the
snails. I frequently move plants among my 3 tanks (multiple tank
syndrome hit me too :-), including the fry tank. So far I've seen no
leeches in the other 2 tanks.
Help?
Tauni
E.W. Marshall
wrote:
>From now on I promise to clean all plants, but can snails
>bring them too?
From what I've read recently, yes, snails can have leeches. In fact,
snails are prime candidates.