Planaria, Wiggly Detritus Worms, in Aquarium, Glass & Water

PLANARIA (often confused with Detritus Worms) and other Incorrect Internet Aquarium Answers

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Updated 11/23/11

Sadly since Googles horrible new Panda/Farmer Algorithm update, the extreme misinformation resulting in misidentifying Detritus Worms as Planaria has hit an all time high.
See the summary section for more about this misinformation


Detritus Worms (below)
This post was/is inspired by the many questions I have read or been asked from readers of my articles or forum members (Everything Aquatic) as to Planaria, which most of the time have been misidentified (in sites such as Yahoo Answers, Aquarium Wiki, Aquarium Fish.Net, Fish Deals, or About.com) and are actually Detritus worms which are an "Annelid" not even closely related to Planaria.

The other part of this confusion by these “cut and paste” sites/articles is even when correctly identified, Planaria are still attributed to the same water conditions that cause a Detritus Worm population “explosion” which is simply not true and can lead an aquarium keeper to address non existent problem if they believe this misinformation from sites such as Aquarium Wiki.

Sadly a Google search brings up these extremely inaccurate articles at the top, so these aquatic lies continue to be spread.

The problem with this confusion of these two very different worms is important since infestations of each of these different worms has very different implications for your aquarium, So Please Read On!

These Detritus Worms are normally not a problem and often go un-noticed living in the gravel aiding in breakdown of wastes. When the population explodes these worms often leave the gravel and cling to the sides, usually close to the surface as oxygen depletion due to the cumulative effects of increased organic mulm, cloudy water and simply too many Detritus worms drive them from the oxygen poor gravel.
The population explodes generally due to high amounts of decomposing organic mulm (often resulting in cloudy water, pH drops, etc.), which is often an indicator of a tank with poor filtration, poor cleaning practices, too high of a bio load, poor Redox balance, poor feeding practices (not always over feeding, sometimes simply feeding foods that do not digest well) and other reasons as well.

For further information about the subject worms, please see my Aquarium Answers Blog post: * “Aquarium Answers; Trematodes and Nematodes in Aquariums” which includes information about these worms near the bottom of the article.


Planaria (below)
In the case of Detritus Worms, no one has bothered to check with any zoological, biology are similar research site. These article mills (and some department store type pet shops as well) just keep pumping out repeated misinformation built upon other misinformation. In the case of Detritus Worms (AKA Planaria, but incorrect) I checked several sources to confirm what was a baffling amount of poor information in aquatic sites, yet all the biology sites confirmed the rather obvious difference between Planaria and Oligochaetes Worms (the family of worms that compost in water that includes tubiflex, naidid, and similar worms.

Planaria are tiny flatworms that live in freshwater and marine environments, and on plants throughout the globe.
Planaria live in fresh water ponds and is a carnivore. The pharynx (the passageway leading from the oral cavity in the head to the esophagus) can be protruded from the mouth which is in the middle of the ventral side of the animal. The diet consists of such foods as insect larvae, small crustaceans, and other small living and dead animals, Not decomposing matter as Detritus Worms do.

Planarias reproduce asexually and sexually; individuals have both testes and ovaries.
A single one can be cut into hundreds of pieces and each will grow back into a whole planaria —a remarkable feat regenerative capacities.

The implication of a true Planaria infestation is VERY different from the much more common Detritus worm infestation, which is why this correct identification is so important.
Planaria can harm some fry, fish eggs, or even occasionally resting or weak fish, and are generally not an indicator of a dirty aquarium as is the common myth.

Planaria is normally transferred into an aquarium from live plants normally grown in a pond. Ponds have more incidence of Planaria.

Where as Detritus worms are primarily decomposters that cause little harm unless their population explodes which then they compete for oxygen with fish and are an indicator of poor tank conditions in general. When Detritus worms are out from the gravel crawling on the glass, etc, this is a sign of a “dirty aquarium” with implications of high amounts of mulm and lower dissolved oxygen as noted earlier.

Removal (Treatment) of Planaria:

There are several remedies that can rid a tank of Planaria, here are a few:

*Clout; this is probably the most effective treatment which contains 4-[p-(dimethylamino)-)O-Phenylbenzylidene]-2,5-cyclohexadien-1-xylidene dimethylammonium chloride; dimethyl (2,2,2-trichloro-1-hydroxy-ehtel) phosphonate; 1,2-dimmethyl-5 nitromidazole and inert ingredients as non toxic binders.
A negative of this treatment is it cannot be used with Piranhas, Metynnis species, scalelesss fish, bottom feeders, Marine Sharks, or Lion Fish

*General Cure; Not as strong, but still often effective and less harsh on delicate fish. General Cure contains Metronidazole & Praziquantel

*Jungle Parasite Clear; As with General Cure, not as strong as Clout, but still often effective and less harsh on delicate fish.

*Most Medications/Treatments that contain Trichlorfon (although this is very harsh on silver fish, arowana, and similar)

*Copper at .25 ppm can be effective for Planaria

Other references:
*http://www.exploratorium.edu/
*http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/



The purpose of this post is to bring attention to readers (who keep and maintain aquariums and ponds) to be careful about believing everything written, blogged, etc. here on the internet when it comes from some aquatic sites.

What I have noticed being in the maintenance and also research side of this business is that someone will write and anecdotal article with no research behind it and then others will pick this up and run with this poor information. This is especially common with information spam sites like about.com which were created purely for advertising revenue.

Besides experience I have gained in the maintenance business, research, seminars, I still do not assume that what I know is correct and re-research often and I often research out side the aquarium industry in areas such as microbiology, the lighting industry, medical, and other research and outside industry sites.

There are several more subjects with vast amounts of poor information, such as nitrifying bacteria, what they are, can they be packaged and whether or not antibiotics will kill them. The fact here is that true nitrifying bacteria belong to the family Nitrobacteraceae and REQUIRE oxygen and are gram positive while most pathogenic bacteria in aquatics (freshwater and even more so in saltwater) are gram negative. This means that these bacteria can live short periods at room temperature in a liquid. Admittedly there are new packaging innovations and cool storage that can stretch the life of these bacteria, Bio Spira by Marineland certainly has been better than most (although shelf life and poor handling certain impacts the quality of this product as well). Unfortunately most products use Heterotrophic Bacteria which store and reproduce much easier, however they do not have nearly the same ability to remove ammonia and nitrites as true Nitrifying bacteria.
The other poor information aspect to this is many sites, forums, blogs that state that most all medications will kill your nitrifying bacteria, while this is certainly true of Erythromycin or Tetracycline which are gram positive this is NOT true of Kanamycin or Nitrofurazone which are primarily gram negative (these antibiotics do have some gram positive abilities as well and so overuse can and will harm nitrifying bacteria).
Finally it is often amazing how many persons will recommend a primarily gram positive antibiotics such as Penicillin or Tetracycline for gram negative disease such as Aeromonas, Septicemia or Columnaris.

For further information about medications and treatments, please read this article: “Aquarium Medications and Treatments and how they work” .

Summary of Misinformation provided by Google Search Results!
Here are just a few of the websites from a page 1 Google search with misinformation about this subject (& proof Google is not interested in accurate content, only cut and paste spam):
*http://www.onedersave.com/ (This is simply a SPAM site, yet Google gave this terrible site rank #1!!)
*www.fishdeals.com/fish_diseases/planaria_white_worms/
*www.aquariumfish.net/information/having_trouble_p2.htm
*www.theaquariumwiki.com/Planaria
*www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/general-aquarium-plants-discussions/67061-planaria-surprise.html
*http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/freshwater-beginners-archive/9313-planaria-help-please.html
As well many persons often think that Wiki has it correct, yet they are dead wrong and even misidentify the type of worm these are calling them a nematode as well as stating they "feed on dead and decaying organic materials"
*http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Planaria

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Readers of this article may be interested in this article too (another aspect of aquarium keeping where there is a lot of Internet misinformation):
UV Sterilization
This article deals with many of the facts and myths of UV Sterilizer use including flow rate, UVC penetration, water turnover, and maintenance (such as when to change your UV Bulb)

Another excellent "worth reading" article is:
Aquarium Silicone, Tank Repair, Applications, DIY; this article has informationabout the correct use of aquarium silicone, tank construction, how to check for weak seams, and siilcone sealants to avoid (since many silicone sealants sold are NOT aquarium capable or totally fish safe).