New cycling tank pests

[KaridinaGal]

So I am currently in the process of cycling what will be a new tank for my Caridina mischlings. I filled it & had the first filter running a week before adding a bunch of driftwood & plants & some cholla wood (& 1 snail - hoping it's not already full of eggs) & ran it for another week.

Then added a sponge filter & a couple more plants, some mineral rock & balls & the feeding station. Now into week four & i've just noticed that the sponges are loaded with micro worms & some seed shrimp [emoji32] they must've come in the plants eeesh! So should i do something about this? There is literally only the one snail tank inhabitant & I started the whole setup off with an already cycled/seeded filter, so was hoping to add the shrimp this week. I'll try & get a pic of the sponge for reference.

 

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[jayc]

Do you keep any fish?

One fish will make short work of the pests.

[KaridinaGal]

So I am currently in the process of cycling what will be a new tank for my Caridina mischlings. I filled it & had the first filter running a week before adding a bunch of driftwood & plants & some cholla wood (& 1 snail - hoping it's not already full of eggs) & ran it for another week.
Then added a sponge filter & a couple more plants, some mineral rock & balls & the feeding station. Now into week four & i've just noticed that the sponges are loaded with micro worms & some seed shrimp [emoji32] they must've come in the plants eeesh! So should i do something about this? There is literally only the one snail tank inhabitant & I started the whole setup off with an already cycled/seeded filter, so was hoping to add the shrimp this week. I'll try & get a pic of the sponge for reference.
 
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Two "giant" angel fish which I wouldn't trust in there. There are three albino Cory's & 3bristlenose catfish in their tank that I could probably do. The only others are my sump-fish. Two baby guppies (only 1cm long) & 4 pygmy cory's. Which would you suggest?

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[jc12]

Baby guppies. :)

[KaridinaGal]

Ok, well turns out the baby guppies are Endler guppy's & have now had babies of their own lol. Most of the initial two types of pests seem to be gone, but i'm still seeing a mixed bag (microworms, blackworms, seed shrimp, small black things that look like leeches, tiny flat white slug like things too) Blimey how many more pests can one have in a single (new) tank. It's been cycling now 3 months & only jyst had ammonia drop to zero a couple weeks ago (then I popped the two guppies in there).

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[jayc]

All those pests are usually a sign that the water is good.

[KaridinaGal]

All those pests are usually a sign that the water is good.

Yes i've heard that. Even the leeches though?

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[Baccus]

If they are leeches you maybe in luck (?) and have ones that predate on snails instead of fish or shrimp. Leeches I am pretty sure are also a species that requires good clean water, rather than polluted/ or chemically imbalanced.

If you are concerned about the possible leeches I have done battle with them twice. Once was when I got some wild (or pond bred) shrimp sent to me and the shrimp had leeches attached to them, tiny little black ones. These I killed off by giving the shrimp careful salt baths, as soon as I saw the leech had dropped off I put the shrimp straight back into fresh water. Thank goodness leeches react quickly to salt and the treatment didn't appear to do any harm to the shrimp.

The other time I ended up with leeches (still unsure how they entered the tank but I suspect plants) I tried manually removing them which was a frustrating and seemed fruitless task. I ended up scrapping everything in the tank even the substrate and starting from scratch. I don't know if no planaria or other such products may kill things like leeches. At least the leeches that ended up in the tank never seemed interested in attaching to the shrimp or fish in the tank, so I suspect they may have been ones that specialised in feeding off snails. I am pretty sure certain fish species would also happily eat leeches, just as they will scoff down most of your other unwanted tank inhabitants.

[KaridinaGal]

That's what I was concerned with, if the leeches hurt or killed the shrimp.  I suspect they came in on plants too.  I scrutinised the new shrimp under a magnifying glass before adding them to my tank, so am pretty confident they didn't hitch a ride on the shrimp.   I seem to only find them on the glass at substrate level so far not on the shrimp.   It'd be half my luck if they eat snails, it is a constant battle removing them from my tanks.