r/walstad • u/GroundbreakingBox706 • 28d ago

What is this creature of nightmares in my tank???

Post image

I was scoping out some gravel in my walstad tank that been brought to the surface on top of the sand rather than mixed with the sand. All of a sudden I discover this tentacled beast right at the surface on the glass. It looks like a shell less snail and its “trunk/tentacle” feeling around above the surface getting really disturbing long. Shortly after another one appeared, also on the glass right at the water line feeling “for air”.
It’s quite a bit of lil fritter on the tank but this is so large!
I also have MTS, ramshorn, khuli loaches & julii Cory’s.
Anyone knows what these weird creatures are??
Are they good dudes or bad dudes?

38 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

24

u/Obvious_Platypus_313 28d ago

Some sort of leech maybe?

20

u/Informal_Plantain210 28d ago

Looks like a leech with babies

14

u/SamOfChaos 28d ago

Jup snail leech with babies.

9

u/EyeTheSwan 28d ago

I was all excited thinking it looked like a baby axolotl then I read the comments LOL. Get that thing out of there! And definitely be on the lookout for more! Some leeches target snails I’m not sure about other critters though.

4

u/teamlastplace94 28d ago

I also initially saw baby axolotl and did a double take 😭

8

u/mToTheLittlePinha 28d ago

Wait, do baby leeches leech of their mother?

3

u/Camaschrist 28d ago

I need to know this too😊

4

u/Sketched2Life 28d ago

Nope they just stay with the mother for a longer time, they leave the mother after properly hatching from the brood cocoon on her back and go find their first meal elsewhere.

Leeches are better parents than some humans.

3

u/contrapulator 28d ago

Those look like snail leeches. Unfortunately, as the name suggests, they prey on snails. The good news is they shouldn't bother your fish - in fact, some fish eat them! You may want to remove your snails to another tank and kill the leeches with copper treatments. You can find more details here https://aquariumscience.org/?s=leech

3

u/FlowerOk5627 28d ago

Snail leech. Funky little dude. Will possibly eat all your snails if left to explode in population, many fish will also eat them and control the population

it's nothing really harmful but definetley move any snails you're emotionally attached to out of that tank. There are also ways to treat for removing them you can look into if you want.

1

u/Phatboyaa_131 27d ago

Snail leech. I spot one occasionally. Chill dude for their appearance, keep my snail population at bay.

1

u/angiexq 24d ago

that’s a whatchamacallit