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Found a leech, Sluggish, tensed, anxious triton.

Diana82

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My Paramesotryton that was very tamed and social, always curious and with a big appetite, has turned depressed and anxious .
First incident i saw him climbing on the rocks out of the water and drying out, eventhough the water was recently cleaned. After 2 weeks this behavior repeated, and he started hiding away, having a defensive posture, his appetite has lessened, the earthworms he used to love no longer interest him, or better, he seems kind of scared of them!
Today my tank kinda broke, so i moved everything in a big container before ordering a new one, and discovered a good 5 cm long not stretched red leech, looking like an earthworm inside the previous broken tank. It was also filled with blood...
This all new behavior has been going on for a bit longer than one month, i suppose that the leech was harassing my newt, causing him to get anxious. I also had a moss ball in the water. My suspicions are that the leech was hiding inside of the moss ball, since I used to clean the tank fully (with the rocks) almost every week.
I have no clue where that leech came from, since I had no new plants, but i have a new worm dealer, and his packs of soil with earthworms contain... some also strange little white worms.... could the leech come from there?
Please help me get rid of potential possibilities of leech infestation, and help my little one to regain his courage and love for food.
 

Otterwoman

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Re: Found a leech, Slugish, tensed, anxious triton.

I used to bring plants from the creek into my tanks, and ended up with some pretty large leeches that way. I lost a newt d/t those leeches. I am much more careful now. THe ones that come with blackworms don't grow big like that.
 
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