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| FAQs on Freshwater Worm Parasitic
Diseases: Leeches (Hirudineans)
Related Articles: Freshwater
Diseases, FW Disease
Troubleshooting, Ich/White Spot Disease,
Choose Your Weapon: Freshwater Fish Disease
Treatment Options by Neale Monks,
Invertebrates for Freshwater Aquariums by Neale
Monks,
Related FAQs: Worm Parasites,
Worm Parasites 2,
Freshwater Worms, (Freshwater Worms of All Kinds) &
FAQs on: FW Worm Disease
Diagnosis/Identification, FW Worm
Disease Treatments, & FAQs on Parasitic Worms by Group:
Platyhelminths/Flatworms: (Flukes,
Planaria,
Tapeworms), Acanthocephalans,
Nematodes/Roundworms (e.g. Camallanus),...
Anchor "Worms": See FW Crustacean Parasitic Disease, &
Aquarium Maintenance, Freshwater
Medications, Freshwater Infectious
Disease, Freshwater Fish Parasites, African
Cichlid Disease 1,
Cichlid Disease, Ich/White
Spot Disease,
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leeches? 3/26/09
Hello crew. Its been months since I have needed to contact you for any sort
of problems as everything has been going great for the past few months.
<No news is good news, eh?>
My golden rams even spawned again, (albeit in a community tanks so the eggs
were as good as gone).
<Perhaps no great loss. Unless you actually want to breed fish, dealing with
hundreds of baby fish can be a chore.>
However, while cleaning out a filter cartridge today I found two of what I
suspect are leeches.
<Usually come in with live foods.>
The largest one was about an inch at full extension, and the smaller one was
maybe about 3/4ths an inch. They moved in a slinking method, stretching out
first, then for the lack of a better word, curling up. None of the
inhabitants seem to be bothered (in fact I haven't lost a single fish since
I set the tank up 7 months ago). I tried to include pics but they are rather
low quality. From the pics, and my description do these sound like leeches?
<Yes.>
If so do you think they arrived as live plant hitchhikers? Also how should I
go about finding if there is a secret leech meeting place somewhere in my
aquarium. If you can't guess leech or not they are in a bucket of water and
I can put them on my finger and see if they clamp down. Thanks.
<Contrary to popular belief, not all leeches are parasitic. Many are simply
predators that catch and eat invertebrates of various types. These are the
ones you find in ponds where there aren't any fish. While I can't be sure,
it's likely that your leech came in from either a plant nursery or a live
food farm, neither of which would have fish swimming about. So in all
likelihood, this leach is relatively harmless (unless you're its favored
prey, perhaps snails or crustaceans). You may still want to remove it
though, just in case. If I could tempt you with the idea of a room
temperature invertebrate tank, you might find this leech the star
attraction. All you'd need is a sunny spot so algae would grow, a 5 gallon
tank (if that!), some gravel, and ideally an air pump sufficient to keep the
water stirred. Add the leech, a bag of daphnia, a few algae-covered stones,
and let nature take it's course! Add any flatworms or other interesting
beasts you see in local ditches and ponds. Some, like damselfly larvae, can
be extremely beautiful things. Cheers, Neale.>
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Re:
leeches? 03/26/09
Thanks for helping me out. Perhaps these guys were my savior in destroying
the overwhelming amount of snails in my aquarium. While the idea of the
invertebrate aquarium does sound very appealing, it doesn't look like a
possibility now as I'm a college student with very little spare cash to
spend. However if there's still some leeches in the aquarium when I get
some money I'll most likely give it a shot.
<To be honest, if you've not seen any sign of bites in the last seven
months, there probably aren't blood sucking leeches. Leech bites are very
distinctive: they're circular, with a ring of teeth marks (often three
teeth). In any case, the main thing is not to dump the leeches anywhere they
could work their way into natural waters;
even though it's unlikely, they could carry diseases from your tropical fish
into the 'wild'. Cheers, Neale>
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Salt- Koi- Goldfish... and Anchorworm
evidently, maybe Leeches as well 8/5/08
Dear WetWeb Crew, Could someone there tell me the correct amount of salt
to use for medicinal purposes-salt bathes. My Koi and Gold fish have a
parasite on them. It looks like a barb or needle sticking out of the base of
the dorsal fin. Also how long should I leave them in the salt solution. I
would greatly appreciate your help. Thanks for your time. John.
<The following is a table modified from "The Interpet Manual of Fish
Health", a useful little book:
---
0.1% (1 gramme per litre): General additive for livebearers or in tanks
where fish show physical damage (i.e., lesions, fin damage). Use in the
aquarium.
0.3% (3 g/l): Reduces nitrite toxicity or to treat physical damage. Use in
the aquarium.
0.3-0.5% (3-5 g/l): To control Hydra. Use in the aquarium for no more than 5
to 7 days, then change water to gradually reduce salinity.
1% (10 g/l): To treat ulcer disease on coldwater fish. Acclimate fish
gradually and then reduce salinity gradually once fish are cured.
2-3% (20-30 g/l): To remove leeches from pond fish. Use as a bath, with fish
put into bath for 15-30 minute dips.
---
In your case, it sounds like you have leeches or anchor worm. Salt dips will
certainly deal with leeches, but anchor worms will need a specific treatment
of some sort. Salt won't help because the free-living stages are in the
water column, so even if the adults are killed, another generation of anchor
worms will find their way onto your fish. See here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/PondSubWebIndex/contrpdparasit.htm
Your local pond supplier may well have a variety of other treatments
available.
Cheers, Neale.>
Leeches
For the reader that was trying to control leeches, Dimilin or Formalin will
work, but care must be used in selecting dosage. Be careful! Formalin will
cause problems in bio-filters if applicable. Also try:
http://www.state.me.us/dep/blwq/doclake/leech.htm
Craig>
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