they are not planaria, but are one type of parasite, they just "tumpang" on shrimp head

try compare with the video



i always give them a salt water bath (aquarium salt + water) for around 10sec.. specially newly bought shrimp before putting them in my tank those parasite will just fall down

where you brought the GEX soil green? saw some GEX soil in NA but didn't check it out. Got the benibachi shrimp soil instead(not yet use  ).
Came across a guy in singapore using the GEX green soil + ADA aquasoil in the tank, he updating his tank progress..maybe u can follow it.
http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum/showt...ons-4-feet-tank

for me i won't use the recycle GEX soil for CRS unless you can clean out all the debris left over from previous planting (plant root, rooted leave etc),
CRS need water to be very clean , better free from organic pollutant,  if you have to use the Gex soil i suggest you get seachem purigen in your filter to help clean/absorb all the organic pollutant, but this will cost you around rm45 for the 100g purigen(treat up to 400litres water capacity) .

ADA soil , the problem is the long ammonia leeching period , took around 1 mths b4 the leeching subside, although a cycled tank will keep
the ammonia level under control , it will easily leech ammonia if the soil is disturbed in first month or so, a sudden spike in ammonia will wipe/kill
your CRS. (ADA soil need longer mature period and extra care, I'm using ADA new amazonia in my crs/shrimps tank  cos i started as planted tank then converted to shrimps tank).

my choice i will add in ADA soil into current Gex soil for planted tank and get benibachi soil for the new CRS tank , for shrimps tank an inch thick of soil is sufficient. fyi benibachi soil 5Litres cost rm120 at NA(bargain abit, stated price is rm130)

No, u can cycle a tank with ADA soil < a mths with sufficient bio-media and good filters just that the ammonia leeching of the ADA soil can continue > a mths, with capable bio-filters those ammonia will be neutralize in time, just that if u itchy hand and stir/'kacau' the soil a sudden ammonia spike may appear and may kill/wipe ur nearby CRS when the aquasoil soil is still new. This is due to the fragility of CRS.

You can keep HC or others nice plant, but what is your priority , plant or CRS? for me i choose shrimps that y i remove my C02 system, throw away my HC , carpeted Glosso & other plants.  Keep mainly moss and marimo ball now. I using seachem iron, potassium,excel & borneowild lush, they are safe for shrimps, just don't overdose and to be safe use half recommended amount, now i seldom use those, only dose a very little once every 2 weeks.

if your wish is have nice planted tank(with HC, glosso etc) and keep CRS, i recommend that you build up the aquascaping/planting part first, when all things settle down(tank parameter stable ,plant healthy and growing) then only you start learn/keep more hardy shrimps like Red Cherry/Fire red first then only CRS. (u will save alot on lesson fee, as the CRS cost more then x5 the price of an red cherry).

Beside driftwood, you can also tight moss to lava rock ,ryu stone, dragon stone,stainless steel/plastics mesh, etc, but make sure the rock/stone won't release substance that alter the PH. (exception is lava rock which lower PH abit ,unless you pour in the whole 'guni' sack of it.)

Confirm safe what I use, using those for > 6mths, just remember use half dose of what recommended on the bottle.  fert other then the one I mention early you need to search if it shrimps safe in the internet.
Fyi borneowild growth is not shrimps safe but the manufacture reply me said it still can be use but half the amount.(of course I wont take the risk and exchange it to BW lush.)

we on same boat, vampire crab, 8 of them perish in my noob hand, now i have the Qian Hu sponsor RM20 terra tank, i try to redeem my sin, but still scratching head how to care for them. i'm setting half sand half water as well, put in star moss and fissden on lava rock for them to chew on, lucky they are small eater if not both moss goes bald in no time.

i neglected my new shrimps tank , found 2 fire red report to heaven, suspect nitrate build-up as my water lettuce melted producing lot of waste.
and didn't water change for 2 weeks