Something growing on my yabbie.

elmo

Hey everyone.
a few months back i was bought about 20 yabbies from a bush dam in the kimberlys, they have all been doing very well living in my daughters old swimming pool in the backyard.
Recently ive discovered some babies and found that 2 of them are berring.
i decided to take one out and discovered a group of white things living on his back and in his joints.
the are about 1-3mm long and very well attached to him at one end (but i have found them alive and not attached to a yabbie), the other end of them seems to have thin tentacles like things that it uses to move around and i assume eat things. i do have photos but they are not very good at all, when i figure out how to get them up on here i will do.

Ive done a little research and havent been able to find anything about them so i kept the yabbie and his new friends is a separate tank, the next day he was dead. ive also put a baby yabby into the same water to see if they would attack and within a few hours he was a goner as well.

Can someone please help me or point me in the right direction, the only thing ive found on google in about planria and i really dont think that what this is. i will soon be putting fish in there and dont want this to be an issue with the fish.

I look forward to hearing from you

mr_c265

Alrighty, ill do my best.

I'm going to take a guess here, does this sound right?

"Themnocephalid flatworms are 1 to 110mm long leech-like animals, and their eggs are laid on the soft under surfaces of the crayfish. These worms are not true parasites but commensals because they feed upon particles of food scattered in the water while the crayfish is eating. They are not actively harmful to the crayfish."

I'm not sure how to get rid of them.There really isn't much else to go on.

Also, just to make sure, did you want to post a picture? First you have to host it on another site, like PhotoBucket.com and you then click the button that says image above where you type your comment, it will then ask you for the url of the image which you will have to copy off photobucket. Welcome to the forum too!

Doug

sounds like flatworms or maybe even hydra (given the tentacles). Few ways to get rid of them but we need to know what they are first.

Mooo

Photo ? :-?

elmo

Thanks guys,
i have look into these flat worm, white worm and planaria, none of them seem to resemble what it is at all.
I have got one theory tho, could they possibly be the young of a muscle, i have read somewhere that they attack themselves to fish scales and gills.
I will work on getting these photo up asap, they are of the greatest quality but they might give you an idea.

elmo

elmo

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elmo

They are the best of about 20 photos i managed to take haha hoping it helps.
they are really good quality so zoom in to have a good look.

Mooo

Looks like big FAT Hydra...Use Kusuri wormer or BigL wormer..:D Doesn't harm my shrimp , I don't know about yabs tho..Those tentacles are stinging ones, so any small fish or critter smaller than the yabby eats, crawls past that yabby, it's dinner...

mr_c265

Yeah, Hydra nearly 100% sure. Apparently pond snails and tri spot gouramis eat hydra, but getting onto the yabby's back is another matter. Chemicals are probably your best bet though.

elmo

Thanks heaps mate, ii defiantly agree with you now ive done some research on hydra.
Not 100% sure if i am going to try get rid of them or not yet, they seem fairly harmless to anything bigger than a baby yabbie, the yabbies ive seen in my pond seem to be living along side them fairly fine.
The yabbie in the photo didnt look or act like it was in distress so i think they were just hitching a ride on him.
Heres a link if anyone else would like to read more, they are quiet amazing little creatures.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydra_(genus)

elmo

mr_c265 said:

Yeah, Hydra nearly 100% sure. Apparently pond snails and tri spot gouramis eat hydra, but getting onto the yabby's back is another matter. Chemicals are probably your best bet though.

i dont like chemicals. its an aquaponics pond so i try avoid it as much as possible. if anything i may buy some western pygmy perch and see if they like to eat them.

Mooo

By Aquaponics, Do you mean, you grow food to eat? I would not worm waters I am using for food growth, But in general in non food ponds and tanks...Worming your aquatic environment, will not hurt the inhabitants...& is a most beneficial tonic I find..

elmo

yes, chillies a few herbs and im trying lettuce. i think i got the bulk of them out when i removed the yabby with them on him.

Mooo

Oh yummy, I wouldn't hit it with animal wormer then, But Good luck with it

Bob

Hi Elmo,

Not something I have researched previously as I have not had a hydra infestation. I did a search for the hydra lifecycle, plenty of diagramatic explanations of the cycle, and, with this new understanding I very much doubt that you have removed/reduced the overall population of hydra in your pond by very much at all.

See here,

http://www.google.com.au/search?q=hydra+life+cycle&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-au:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7ADFA_enAU478&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=UiioUIHUD6SUiQeAw4DQCA&ved=0CCAQsAQ&biw=800&bih=457

Regards,

Bob

elmo

Hey Bob,

All i can say is wow and i hope this doesnt get out of control.
over the last few days ive been cchecking my muscles and yabbies and havent found any more of them. the small fish i have also havent been effected so its fingers crossed at the moment.