[AquaticLife] Re; Parasites
I’m not sure how they get into tanks in the first place but I would suspect that maybe flying insects might carry the planaria eggs from one source to another. I guess they could come in on live plants also but I’ve seen them in peoples tanks with no live plants so I’m guessing flying insects would be the primary way in those cases.
In fish tanks, they eat excess detritus in the substrate. They will also eat any dead/decaying fish, shrimp, snails, etc.
I think planaria are naturally nocturnal but like everything else, they don’t always read the same things we do so I’m sure some don’t pay attention to the lights being on if they are hungry. I have them in my Cherry Shrimp tank and I know I’ll occasionally see one or more crawling on the glass during the day when the lights are on. I can’t clean the gravel in the Cherry Shrimp tank as well as I’d like since there are always dozens of baby shrimp crawling around so I rely on the plants, snails and planaria to keep the detritus in check.
Lenny Vasbinder Fish Blog - http://GoldLenny.blogspot.com
Category: Philippines Internet Koi Society
