# Sucker Fish Babies or something else ???



## Regina_SK (Apr 18, 2004)

I got a question
I got 3 poecostomus "Sucker Fish" which I keep in a 20 gal tank which I now use to quarinteen Commets I feed my Piranhas ... Today I see small white things on the sides of my tank ... there are a fair amount of these things all crawling on the sides and I am not sure what they are or where they came from ... a friend said that they where the offspring of the sucker fish I have in the tank but I dont want to feed these commets to my P's if they are some kinda paracite ...

Not really sure what else I can say to describe these things but if I can answer a question to help determine what they are I will try.

I also have a single Snail in the tank, but I dont think they are from that as I got snails in my other tanks and they lay small round Eggs on the sides of the tank glass from what I can see...

Any help would be greatly welcome and Thanks in advance


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## lemmywinks (Jan 25, 2004)

they probly came from the goldfish. goldfish are really nasty amd arent very good to feed to fish.


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## Regina_SK (Apr 18, 2004)

Here are what the Sucker Fish I have look like ... Upon further research I have found out that they are most likely the "Hypostomus plecostomus" Species...

If I can find a digital camera I will try and take a picture of these little things


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## Fruitbat (Jan 2, 2004)

Sounds to me like the little white things crawling on your glass are Planaria....free-living flatworms. They feed on all sorts of detritus like uneaten food in the gravel and large numbers of them are usually a wake-up call that you might be overfeeding your fish.


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## Regina_SK (Apr 18, 2004)

Just worried that the I will have to flush the fish in the tank and clean it out from head to toe as I cant afford (atleast atm) to buy anything to treat the tank and Kill what ever these little White (Worm like) creatures without harming the other Legit fish / Snails in the tank


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## Fruitbat (Jan 2, 2004)

If, as I suspect, you're dealing with Planaria then you don't really have to treat the tank to get rid of them. Vacuum the gravel thoroughly now and then be sure to vacuum it about once a week (easiest to do while you're changing the water if you have something like a Python). Cut back on the amount of food you're giving your fish. The Planaria population will drop pretty quickly when their food supply dwindles.


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## Regina_SK (Apr 18, 2004)

so would it be ok to put the fish in this tank into another tank ?
that has other fish in it ??? I ask cause I dont want to move these other worm like things into the other tank which is spanklin clean


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## Polypterus (May 4, 2003)

Planaria if this indeed is the animal you have, are harmless unless you are
activly breeding egglaying fish, They are not Parasites and do not attach
themselves to fish, Some fish will eat them.

Fruitbat, stated a very good way of cutting their numbers.


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## shutter13 (Jun 23, 2004)

1 tbsp of salt per 10 gallons.. pre-dissolve the salt


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## acestro (Jul 7, 2003)

I second Fruitbat and Poly, planaria are harmless but a sign of overfeeding. Solve that, they'll go away. Be glad you're seeing an early warning as opposed to any late warnings!


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