Found planaria worms in my aquarium

Question
Hi Trish,

I have a 29 gallon freshwater tank full of Mickey Mouse Platy adolescents,
with hornwort, java fern and rill plants on a gravel substrate.

Today I noticed white worms or "planaria" crawling across the front of my 29
gallon tank, probably because I have been over-feeding my fish and the
gravel is pretty dirty.

My question to you is, are these white planaria worms toxic to humans? I had
an allergic reaction and my left arm that was submerged up to my elbow,
broke out in raised welts that later turned in to red streaks. My arm was
submerged while cleaning the tank for a few minutes. I went to Urgent Care
and they gave me benedryl and prednesone and the welts and red streaks
disappeared. That has never happened to me before.

Do I have to worry about the planaria worms getting inside my skin? I.e.
Hermitasis? The water temperature in my 29 gallon freshwater tank is at 79
degrees too. I'm not allergic to the plants in my tank as I've had them in their
for 8 months and never had an allergic reaction before.

How can I get rid of the planaria without having to get my skin wet? Should I
see a doctor? Will gravel syphoning be enough? Should I remove my Mickey
Mouse Platy to another tank and completely clean out/throw out the plants,
gravel of my 29 gallon tank?

Thanks for your help.

Jennifer

Answer
Hi Jennifer.  Jeeze, I'm sorry to hear about what happened. I cannot find any evidence anywhere that these "planaria" are harmful to humans. Did you put any chemicals in the water that could have made you have the allergic reaction?  That's the only thing I can think of. The only other thing (longshot) is if you shave your arms and just shaved them prior to putting your arm in the water.  Reason I said this is because that just happened to me the other day.  I shave my arms, then was cleaning my fishtank, then my whole arm turned into a tomato looking thing, so I washed it real well and took Benedryl and it went away. It was just that my skin was sensitive at that point.  Weird, lol...but I hate hair on my arms!!

Anyway, planaria are a HUGE nuisance and even harder to get rid of. I'm going to give you a website that explains how to irradicate these things.  It's going to take time and cleaning though.  I would suggest you invest in some rubber gloves if you don't want to come in contact with the water.  Here's the website:  http://www.aquariumfish.net/information/having_trouble_p2.htm

Now, these come, as you know, from overfeeding and under cleaning.  It is very important that you try to do maintenance on your tank once a week, cleaning the gravel and doing a partial water change of 15-20% every time (after you irradicate the planaria).  2 other suggestions is to use aquarium salt according to the instructions on the box, AND make sure your gravel is only about 1/4" deep.  If your gravel is too deep it will be too hard to keep clean.

Please let me know how things turn out, or if you have any further questions, I'd be happy to help you along the way.  

As far as the doctor....that's a personal choice.  The way I see it is it can't hurt if you are concerned over the breaking out part.  But planaria cannot infest your or harm you (other then gross you out), so don't be worried about that part.  I certainly would use gloves though, those things give me the willies!!

Good luck!!  I'll wait to hear from you to see how you make out.    ;o)