I would find out where the shop you bought them from got them because there's only one producer in the USA that freeze dries and there's Australian
Jeanne
Al’s cubes are super clean. I store mine in the cabinet under my tank. Never had an issue.
I would find out where the shop you bought them from got them because there's only one producer in the USA that freeze dries and there's Australian
Jeanne
There’s one producer of freeze-dried blackworms in the US. It’s called aquatic foods out of California.
Pat
Your discus are talking to you....are you listening
They are Aussie blackworms it's right one the packaging.
I haven't lost a single fish over it and other than the cloudy water I haven't noticed any adverse effects. I'd hate to throw all of it out as I feel the food itself is not in anyway harmful to the fish. I have German rams in the tank which I my opinion and experience, can be just as finicky about water quality as discus and they are doing great. In fact, 2 have paired off and are showing breeding behavior.
That tank has been running for a better part of 2 years. I recently did a major re-scape but still using the orginal filter's. It's only cloudy during the feeding of the blackworms. It's stays clear after a few hours of feeding the blackworms and is not present when feeding flake or pellets.
Maybe I'm being over cautious. It might just be a dusty batch. I have no idea how these are processed and maybe this batch missed some final cleaning or refining step. That's my thinking right now. It's obviously not normal as many of you have shared your experience with your blackworms (thank you by the way) I'll give them a good rinsing to help minimize the problem and perhaps order from someone else in the future.
I should ask Al of he ships to Canada.
Seems to me that if the packaging does declare that the product are "freeze dried black worms" that the packaging should also state the name of the company that packaged them. Last time I asked for black worms at the LFS they said they had them. Turned out the worms were tubefex which they called "black worms".
I can tell you there is a difference in what California blackworm are fed and what the Australian blackworm are fed ,I even contacted Al outside the forum when I received my Australian blackworm so as not to turn the forum upside-down LOL, and I also contacted the Australian blackworm company because I noticed a difference, I would say no worries it's just the difference in what they're fed.
Jeanne
Al here. I used to ship to Canada in the past years but do not any more. I am sorry. If you ever are stateside, let me know. I don't know anything about the supply lines in Canada right now but you can always drop the farm in Australia a message with your concerns. Its always possible that what you bought were old stock. Contact the Farm here.. https://www.blackworms.com.au/default.asp Be sure to have all the details for them as to where you bought them and when.
I will say that as a freeze Dried product they are subject to breaking and powder can accumulate when handled alot or re-bagged as might happen with packing for retail.. I screen mine here as carefully as I can to minimize that but it does happen, and more so when repeatedly handled or overly dry. These bits and pieces are not harmful to the fish , but can temporarily cloud the water.
Best always,
Al
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I pre soak my FDBW (from Al) then add it to the tank. If you dump everything in it does create a bit of haze in my 75 gallon tank. I pre soak my loose FDBW so that most go into the water column instead of floating on top. I too dislike the clouding so I rinse my worms a few times then add it into the tank.
Koji
75 gallon bare bottom, minimalist discus tank.
16 gallon salty with way too many BTAs and 2 clowns.
I saw someone mention it being a beneficial bacteria issue, I don't think it is at all. I get some clouding and it comes directly from the cubes.
That aside, I've just started feeding this to my discus. I'm not sure of the portions I should be using. I'm currently using 1 cube on 7 discus. It took me three feeds for them to accept it but now they go absolutely insane for it. The discus are all juvies. The largest being 10/11 cm head to tail. Please advise.
Recently my tank has clouded. I thought algae but after reading this thread I am wondering if it is the FDBW. I have increased the feeding of FDBW so I will experiment by cutting back on them by changing to TetraColor bits and frozen shrimp and blood worms.