# omg a leech!????



## raffi (Aug 30, 2008)

ok i have lava rocks that i anchor plants to in my tank, they look nice, theyre heavy and they do the trick. so i was picking them all up out of the tank and rearranging today. i was turning one over and resting the plant against it to decide which side i thought would be best for it, and i noticed a shiny spot on it. i tried to take a picture but it didnt really come out fabulous. it looks like a leech? but im not sure i dont think ive ever seen a leech before ... so um i grabbed a tweezer and went to poke it a lil and as i did it just clutched the rock harder. i tried to pry it off and it like squished itself into a hole. so now ive got the rock out baking in the sun cuz i dont know what it is, but i think i want it dead and not in my tank .. 

so another question i have is, ive seen these things that look like well kinda like a slug sorta but much smaller and they stretch and contract and crawl along the glass. theyre like a milky color. are they like baby leeches? god im so grossed out.

ok so if these things are leeches, are they a problem? 

some info about the tank ...

its a 20 gal tank with bout 20 female bettas in it, one pleco, 5 apple snails (the big apple sized ones), 10+ golden asian clams, 100+ ramshorn, 100+ MTS, and an over abundance of plants - brazilion sword, amazon sword, christmas moss, java moss, windelevs fern, marimo balls, spaghetti moss, anubias. the tank is so full of fish and plants that theres really not much "empty space". i feed them fresh chopped veggies, as well as betta flakes, and some dried shrimps.

oh and i just remembered .. a long time ago i used to have a turtle in this tank - but hes been in the 50 gallon now for at least a year. ive seen leeches on turtles outside but they were HUGE like the size of my finger, this thing is like smaller than a pencil eraser


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## MediaHound (Jul 19, 2006)

If it looks like a leech and acts like a leech, well.. .maybe its a leech!  

BTW tank sounds beautiful, kudos.


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## djrichie (May 15, 2008)

I like to see a clear picture of if and the other things you discribe.... You peaked my interest


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## ntiggr2 (Jan 17, 2008)

I know leeches can be introduced to the tank on plants and snails, either the leeches themselves or their eggs. I guess the little ones could be ones that hatched out.
If this is leeches, they can harm your fish, so if you could get a clear pic maybe someone on the boards can tell you exactly what they are.

Good luck,

Donna


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## gmikeb (Jun 25, 2009)

I was doing a water change today and was shocked to come across three leeches hiding in java moss. I put one on a white background and took a video:
YouTube - Leech from aquarium

These were in a new 72 gallon aquarium I set up in March. I had 4 mystery snails and two died after 2 months. I wonder now if they were killed by leeches. I have angels, swordtails, mollies, pearl gouramis, bronze corys, snowball plecos and harlequin rasboras in the tank. Everything seems healthy.


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## fishfinder (Aug 31, 2008)

Sure looks like leeches to me. I'd be wondering how they traveled into your 72 g tank from your twenty. Did you transfer fish, plants or decorations, or use the same equipment such as nets in both tanks? Did you buy new fish from the same store or supplier for both tanks? What type of water are you using, ie. tap water, rainwater, surface water, RO water?

The treatment for leaches is the same as for flukes. You can use fluke tabs to treat the tank. Alternately, you could empty your tank, let it dry out for three or four weeks, or try to trap them using red meat hung on a string. Just keep removing and tossing the meat, and then replacing it with more meat. Depending on the fish in your aquarium, you could add aquarium salt at 3% dosage which is very high. I don't know how the math works out there, perhaps someone else does. Good luck with your problem. Depending on the type of leech they are, they could be very harmful to your fish. Of course, if your fish have leeches, they will need to be treated, as well as the tank. I'd most likely go with the Fluke Tabs if it were me.


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