Does anyone have experience with marine leeches?
I've been FW dipping every other day to control in infestation on a small Snowflake eel I ordered for a customer for about 3 weeks now. I'm assuming they are leeches (could they be some other kind of annelid?) because they look just like the pic of Malmiana sp. on the web page listed at the bottom of this post.
When I remove them from the dipping water back to a sample of tank water for observation, they move like an inchworm. The dips have produced fewer & smaller worms being removed from the eel each time. What I'm wondering is:
1) If I can no longer see these worms attached to the eel, how much longer should I wait before sending the little fishie to it's new home?
3) Are these leeches host specific (please, please, please...)
2) If there are unhatched leech cocoons in this tank (it is a 10 gal. reef), will they hatch without a fish host, & if so, how long will they live w/out a fish host?
3) Would these cocoons be on any of the corals or rock in the system?
4) If there are worms still in the tank after removal of the eel, how long will they live without a host? I've read (Rupert & Barnes)that leeches can take a mighty long time to digest a good meal...
Platybdellinea
I've been FW dipping every other day to control in infestation on a small Snowflake eel I ordered for a customer for about 3 weeks now. I'm assuming they are leeches (could they be some other kind of annelid?) because they look just like the pic of Malmiana sp. on the web page listed at the bottom of this post.
When I remove them from the dipping water back to a sample of tank water for observation, they move like an inchworm. The dips have produced fewer & smaller worms being removed from the eel each time. What I'm wondering is:
1) If I can no longer see these worms attached to the eel, how much longer should I wait before sending the little fishie to it's new home?
3) Are these leeches host specific (please, please, please...)
2) If there are unhatched leech cocoons in this tank (it is a 10 gal. reef), will they hatch without a fish host, & if so, how long will they live w/out a fish host?
3) Would these cocoons be on any of the corals or rock in the system?
4) If there are worms still in the tank after removal of the eel, how long will they live without a host? I've read (Rupert & Barnes)that leeches can take a mighty long time to digest a good meal...
Platybdellinea
