Within the course of putting along your aquarium environment, you may introduce a selection of living organisms: plants, invertebrates, "living" rock and different media for helpful bacteria, and of course fish. However, as in any environment, parasites might find their approach in. One common parasite which will be damaging to your aquarium atmosphere and harmful to your fish is that the leech.

A leech is an annelid, or segmented worm; it is flattened, with a sucker on both the tail and the mouth. Leeches propel themselves forward by using each suckers, manufacturing a motion kind of like that of an inchworm. Most live in water; there are freshwater, saltwater, and terrestrial varieties. Many leeches, given the chance, can attach themselves to humans and alternative creatures, sucking the host creature's blood. It was common medical follow within 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 medicine wrongly held that the body was composed of 4 principal fluids, or "humors," and that an imbalance among these humors was the most reason behind disease. Blood was one in all the humors and was usually thought to be in excess; therefore, bleeding a patient helped bring the level of blood back to balance with the opposite humors.

Leeches are usually straightforward to identify in your aquarium: it's unlikely you may see any of the larger varieties, however freshwater leeches that might find their manner into your aquarium can still be up to a pair of inches long. Leeches swim in an undulating motion. If they're connected to a fish, they'll be heart-formed, as they curl up onto your fish's body, fins, or gills. The odd leech bite isn't going to hurt your fish in any major method, but an infestation will cause major problems, inflicting fish to become listless and thin. Leech bites will render fish vulnerable to different diseases; open wounds will become infected. And a leech can transfer microbial diseases from one fish to another.

Leeches might 1st enter your tank via live food that comes from leech-infested waters. If you depend upon live food that you just grow yourself, you'll be able to greatly scale back the prospect of a leech infestation. Leeches can additionally come back via new fish that you just introduce, or new plant life. Be positive to examine new creatures or plants thoroughly; if you're concerned, you'll be able to keep new fish quarantined for a period of time before permitting them to mix with your existing specimens. And you'll be able to place new flowers during a potassium permanganate resolution, five mg/l, for regarding an hour before introducing them to your tank. The potassium permanganate will kill any leeches that may be hiding in the foliage.

If you find a leech connected to your fish, do not be tempted to remove it with a try 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 about fifteen minutes in an exceedingly 2.5 percent saline solution. This should cause the leech to giving up, or to loosen its grip such that you'll be able to 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 resolution will not work; you will want to medicate your entire tank by adding one milligram of trichlorofon for every gallon of water in your tank. The trichlorofon might be harmful to some plants, thus it might be best to get rid of the plants initial and treat them with potassium permanganate, as described above.

Though leeches are not everybody's idea of a perfect aquarium pet, they're attention-grabbing creatures in their own right, and some folks do keep them, sequestered in their own small aquarium of course. They're simple to stay and do not demand abundant food: a little piece of meat or an earthworm every week is typically enough to keep a leech happy. They are quick to seek out food sources, but, and can reply to your finger rubbing along the surface of the tank yet on shadows passing overhead. If you retain substrate in your leech tank, the leeches tend to burrow; they're conjointly glorious scavengers. Most leeches are freshwater, but as a result of there also are marine varieties, be sure you know what kind of water your leech will need.

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