In the course of putting together your aquarium environment, you'll introduce a selection of living organisms: plants, invertebrates, "living" rock and different media for helpful bacteria, and of course fish. But, as in any setting, parasites may find their manner in. One common parasite which will be damaging to your aquarium setting and harmful to your fish is the leech.
A leech is an annelid, or segmented worm; it is flattened, with a sucker on each the tail and therefore the mouth. Leeches propel themselves forward by using each suckers, producing a motion almost like that of an inchworm. Most live in water; there are freshwater, saltwater, and terrestrial varieties. Several leeches, given the opportunity, can attach themselves to humans and alternative creatures, sucking the host creature's blood. It had been common medical practice in the Middle Ages to "bleed" a patient by attaching a leech to the patient's body and allowing the leech to drink his fill. Medieval medication wrongly held that the body was composed of 4 principal fluids, or "humors," and that an imbalance among these humors was the main explanation for disease. Blood was one of the humors and was often regarded as in excess; so, bleeding a patient helped bring the extent of blood back to balance with the other humors.
Leeches are typically easy to spot in your aquarium: it's unlikely you may see any of the larger varieties, but freshwater leeches that may realize their method into your aquarium can still be up to 2 inches long. Leeches swim in an undulating motion. If they're connected to a fish, they may be heart-formed, as they curl up onto your fish's body, fins, or gills. The odd leech bite is not visiting hurt your fish in any major way, however an infestation will cause major issues, inflicting fish to become listless and thin. Leech bites will render fish vulnerable to different diseases; open wounds can become infected. And a leech can transfer microbial diseases from one fish to another.
Leeches may first enter your tank via live food that comes from leech-infested waters. If you depend upon live food that you just grow yourself, you can greatly scale back the possibility of a leech infestation. Leeches can also come back via new fish that you introduce, or new plant life. Be positive to inspect new creatures or plants completely; if you are concerned, you can keep new fish quarantined for a amount of time before allowing them to mix with your existing specimens. And you'll be able to place new plant life in an exceedingly potassium permanganate answer, five mg/l, for regarding an hour before introducing them to your tank. The potassium permanganate will kill any leeches that might be hiding within the foliage.
If you find a leech hooked up to your fish, don't be tempted to remove it with a pair of tweezers (or pliers!); leeches burrow themselves into your fish's body to draw blood, and forcible removal can seriously harm your fish. Instead, bathe your fish for concerning fifteen minutes in an exceedingly 2.5 p.c saline solution. This could cause the leech to leaving behind, or to loosen its grip such that you'll ease it out while not leaving any leech components inside your fish. If your fish are sensitive to salt -- for example, sure species of catfish -- then saline answer can not work; you may would like to medicate your entire tank by adding 1 milligram of trichlorofon for every gallon of water in your tank. The trichlorofon might be harmful to some plants, therefore it would be best to get rid of the plants 1st and treat them with potassium permanganate, as described above.
Although leeches don't seem to be everybody's plan of an ideal aquarium pet, they're attention-grabbing creatures in their own right, and some folks do keep them, sequestered in their own little aquarium of course. They are straightforward to stay and do not demand abundant food: a tiny piece of meat or an earthworm every week is typically enough to stay a leech happy. They're fast to hunt out food sources, but, and can respond to your finger rubbing along the skin of the tank additionally as to shadows passing overhead. If you keep substrate in your leech tank, the leeches tend to burrow; they're conjointly excellent scavengers. Most leeches are freshwater, however because there are also marine varieties, be certain you recognize how much water your leech will need.
