# Leeches?!?!?!?!?!?! (eeeeewwwww)



## Lymric (Feb 27, 2011)

ok, so I recently (last thursday) started an aggressive cleaning of my tank, to cut back on the number of detritus worms, (gunk) under my UG filter... and in the process I realized there are LEECHES  in there as well, so the tank got broke down immediately!!!!! (i HATE leeches) all the filters i own are now running in a big tote with about 40g of the old tank water to get them cycled, and loaded with bacteria for the new startup... the fish are all in a 35g (poor babes) with their own tank water... NONE of them are showing any sign of these leeches (non parasitic???) 
When i broke down I left enough water to cover the substrate (25ish G) and poured in a 1000 grams of kosher salt :bigsmile: let it sit for about 48, then moved all the gravel out in a tote to rince and clean it all... after 3 days!!! of this I thought i had all the dead nasties out, and came across one remaining LIVE leech  like seriously it's still below freezing here at night!!!!!!! either way I'v put my tank back together with the UG in place, and 3 HOB's ready to go in... but I wonder...
SHOULD I ADD SALT??? I have an Oscar, a common Plecky, Red Claw Crays, and goldfish... I have read that a small amount of salt will be benificial, but have NEVER added it to my FW tank b4 (other than to KILL things) so 
A) is it safe for what I have? and 
B) how much to use per gal???
thanx in advance for any advice


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## JohnnyAppleSnail (May 30, 2010)

Do you really need the UG Filter? Years ago when I first started out they were the craze but they are definitely out of Fashion nowadays,your 3 HOB's should be enough filtration for your Tank. Just knowing all that Gunk as you put it is festering underneath your substrate would definitely give Me the Willys,personally I'd pull the UG out,I really feel they do more harm than good.


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## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

JohnnyAppleSnail said:


> Do you really need the UG Filter? Years ago when I first started out they were the craze but they are definitely out of Fashion nowadays,your 3 HOB's should be enough filtration for your Tank. Just knowing all that Gunk as you put it is festering underneath your substrate would definitely give Me the Willys,personally I'd pull the UG out,I really feel they do more harm than good.


+1, those things can be nitrate factories once theyre all full of gunk too, I'd pull it out and do good gravel vacs when u do water changes


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## jkam (Apr 21, 2010)

Where did the leeches come from...?


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## CRS Fan (Apr 21, 2010)

Are you sure they are not Planaria? Although I sometimes see leeches in California blackworms.

Best regards,

Stuart


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## Lymric (Feb 27, 2011)

*couldn't tell ya*



jkam said:


> Where did the leeches come from...?


Their not the typical type of leeches, like in the lake... their small, and brown, and move like a leech (sucker on both ends) I've looked them up, and their definitely a leech, just smaller... were on well water (makes me wiggly all over thinking they could come from there) 

and yes I kindof do need the UG for now  the HOB's are WAY too small on their own, it did take 2 years for it to get this gunked up though , I'm starting to believe that what I thought was an abundance of Detritus worms (usually quite welcome), was actually the leeches. Were presently building on to the house, and will be relocating the tank INTO another (as of yet non existent) wall in a couple months, at which time I will be doing a major upgrade to the filtration :bigsmile: **SUGGESTIONS WELCOME** 
just hoping to keep it healthy till then... and salt sounded like a good plan...


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## Lymric (Feb 27, 2011)

*yup*



CRS Fan said:


> Are you sure they are not Planaria? Although I sometimes see leeches in California blackworms.
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Stuart


definitely not planaria (their not flat, and they dont have the right "face")


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## `GhostDogg´ (Apr 22, 2010)

So the eggs came from your tap water? 
Maybe try throwing in boiled water, if you have nothing living in there right now.
That should zap the nasties I would think.

Hope you get the leeches all cleared up.


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## Ursus sapien (Apr 21, 2010)

leeches can come in on snails or plants. most of the ones you find in aquariums pay no attention to fish or shrimp, and are harmless.


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## Lymric (Feb 27, 2011)

*.*



`GhostDogg´ said:


> So the eggs came from your tap water?
> Maybe try throwing in boiled water, if you have nothing living in there right now.
> That should zap the nasties I would think.
> 
> Hope you get the leeches all cleared up.


 I sure hope not!! 
we've tested the water, and have really good filters for the well, we dont drink the water from it without boiling it first (smells like sulfer)... so probly not, but I will look at any possibility rite now! 
The last time I added anything new was about 6.5 months ago (probably just long enough for this population "bloom") I've otherwise always had a nice balance between fish, food, and filtration  it was some cheap floating plants, they took over like a weed!!! not duck weed, water hyacinths, or water letuce... never looked it up, sorry... I assume they hitch-hiked on those... apparently they really like roots.
I plan to do frequent gravell vac's as in At Least once a week for a few months, then it will be incorporated into the "new" WC regiment twice a month, whereas I will vaccuum EVERY TIME, instead of just drain some off and replace it (used to be a rare occasion for me to do the gravell) I hope it wont disrupt the nice "chi" I had going with this tank 

I still really need to know how much salt to add to the tank, If any. TY


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## oakley1984 (Oct 10, 2010)

just fyi 500g or less of ceramic rings would obliterate the biological capacity of an UG filter..... not to mention they will fit cleanly even in the smallest of HOB filters

food for thought.

with an under gravel filter the amount of gravel vacuuming your doing is nowhere near sufficient. you need to vacuum/clear debris from gravel in UG filter setup, at minimum weekly(at least thats what i did, even then, i STILL had problems with water quality due to debris making it under the plates and rotting.)


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## Lymric (Feb 27, 2011)

what are these rings you speak of? like I mentioned, I absolutely want to upgrade, just not sure to what... theirs so many filters out there, but i know they cant all be the best LOL
Iv never had to do gravel cleaning and all that b4, it was biologically sound till these damn leeched showed up  always had healthy fish/plants/roots, and great water parameters... just this all of a sudden (probly took some unnoticed time) came at me, I know everyone hase these AAAAAAAA moments, but I guess I'm not accepting it well :O


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## Brisch (May 13, 2010)

salt is good, but will likely kill any plants you have. But 1 teaspoon per 10 gallons is what is suggested. Ditch the undergravel filter ASAP, they cause major issues with water quality ei. Nitrites, up to 40ppm Nitrates are actually safe. Canister filters are the way to go, they do an awesome job and are almost completely silent. Make sure to buy an over sized filter for your tank as oscars create a lot of waste. I personally like Fluvals, but not everyone does. Even with a good filter you should still be vacuuming the gavel every water change IMO.


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## Lymric (Feb 27, 2011)

Hi all, just wanted to let everyone know MY leeches are gone, and the tank parameters are back to awesome, i went back to my LFS, and stirred up a few tanks (I used to work there so I was allowed to get away with this LOL) and found leeches in ALL the planted tanks  so... they are doing some major tank renoe's, and not exactly glad I found the issue in their tanks  
Thanx again Brisch for the salt amounts, that info helped a LOT with a few things (I got some water mould or something) before i added it, was quite an issue, it was on all my rocks, wood, and my poor crays... but i added salt according to the ammounts you gave me, and it all cleared up     THANK YOU!!!!


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## mikebike (Sep 8, 2010)

I still use UG filters on some of my tanks.
I remove the hood and put the pickup hose from my canister filter down the rigid tube and suck everything I can out.
at the same time I agitate the substrata to dislodge and detritus. The discharge from the canister goes to my garden.

I also have a 8 gallon bucket of UV & treated/prime aged make up water that has been circulating thought the UV.

I then drop a 250 GPH water pump with 1/2" hose into the make up bucket and put it down the other UG filter tube to flush material toward the suction.

I have also used an 1/4 rigid air line @ 10 psi to agitate the gravel while running a couple of over sized HOB filters to suck up the detritus.

I up sized all my HOB filters today.
10 gallon has an AC 30
20 gallon 50
33 gallon 70
40 gallon 110

I changed 200 gallons of water yesterday and today.
Another 200 tomorrow.


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