bad blackworms, fish stopped eating

[GulfCoastDiscus]

You're funny Mat... ;D ;D ;D

Can you tell us your experience with cbw? I like to know why all this animosity towards cbw.

Dan

[discuscartel]

sorry to hear about your troubles jaydaman - hope they clean-up.

i learned to never - i mean never bash the blackworms. they will tar and feather you real quick on this board.

my new motto is feed those blackworms until your discus explode! LOL


good luck, john

[susankay1]

Here's an interesting article I pulled from the archives.
http://ukdiscus.com/spironucleus.htm

[discuscartel]

jay,

i was just thinking - i would raise the temp in the tank to 88 - 89 degrees also as well as the meds brewmaster suggested. i would also refrain from feeding for three or four days.

hope this helps, john

[discus_nw]

DanD,

Simply stated, I used to have all the diseases and other health related "issues" up to and including MDS(mysterious death syndrome) that I read about on these forums that all the people who feed cbw's have. I quit feeding them, and now the only fish I have that have tapeworms, capillaria, and mysterious protozoans are from people that feed cbw's. This is not to say that every discus has come with a free gift, just that many have.

There was a mass "let's jump on the CBW bandwagon" here a couple years back, and the tide has yet to turn because too many people starting out raising discus are depending on the "forums" to raise, feed, and breed their discus for them without having done their own homework first, having none to very little practical info or experience of their own. Sooner or later, some will do as I did and link the problems to a source and realize they would be better off feeding other foods that are not only safer, but cheaper and just as nutritous.

There are many breeders of discus, bettas, guppies, and dwarf cichlids that will not feed these worms to their fish again after experiencing the same health problems that many of todays discus keepers are experiencing while feeding cbw's. Check out some of their web pages and forums.

Mostly, though, the reason I continue to post warnings is not to argue the point anymore ( The arguing has been done for years, over 4-5 different forums), but to let some of the really novice discus keepers know that to be successful in not only raising, but also breeding discus, not one cbw is required, not ONE. There are many other food options available.

[Nightowl]

Well folks, Discus NW has stated the fact: you can raise healthy discus without feeding a single blackworm, so why spend the money, risk or no risk. Do you have any idea how much homemade b/heart formula costs to make? you can pay for the food processor for less than 2lb blackworms. I started buying the online worms last spring....suddenly I had all these charges to pay off...it simply wasn't worth it.
Also, re: getting worms from an LFS, there are too many people who associate the letters "LFS" with ineptitude. You folks need a serious wakeup call. It is you, the customer, who is responsible if you feed worms that are questionable to your fish, not the person at the store who was acommodating you by selling them to you. Even if they were bad when they were sold to you, you should then realize this and say"thanks, but I think I'll pass", or ask them how are the worms today...are they fresh? If you think you're getting better or different worms online...wrong!!! I use blackworms that come from Florida. They are fresher and cleaner than any I ever bought online. I only use them on discus that were already fed worms....not on any others. My catfish like them too!! J.T.

[quote author=discuscartel link=board=4;threadid=16578;start=30#msg172769 date=1077599940]

i learned to never - i mean never bash the blackworms. they will tar and feather you real quick on this board. [/quote]

Bash Blackworks all you want flogger.....you only get Tarred and feathered when you state opinion, speculation and assumption as "FACT". Much like youve done in the not so distant past...If its your "OPINION"...then state it as such. If its stated as a "FACT" then follow up with links, referances, etc.

Tony ;D

[jaydaman]

hi all, they seem to have fully recovered after the metro treatment. thanks to all for your input, once again the helpful people on this board have helped me through another crisis. thanks again, jason p