Bloodworms: THE NAKED TRUTH

[ShinShin]

Bloodworms have a far greater nutritional value than white bread. The main reason many are skeptical of bloodworms is that they have the same capacity as tubifex and CBW's to transmit pathogens. Many bloodworms are harvested in the Orient in ditches next to pig farms. The water is less that "clean", much like tubifex habitat. Back in the mid '90's I bought some Asian raised bloodworms at That Fish Place at a really great price. I don't recall the brand, but there was a Cardinal Tetra on the lable. One day I was watching the clump dissolve in the tank, and noticed several different worm types falling off the clump. I later ID'd 5 different worm type creatures in the sample I looked at under the microscope, including tubifex.

I feed only HIkari to my discus. About 10 years ago I had a conversation with Al Johnson of Rocky Mountain Discus when He was still in the Rocky Mountains. He told me he had 3 biologists working for him and there rountinely microscopically the bloodworms and never found any parasites or their eggs in the BW's.

Mat

[Don Trinko]

I have tryed several types; the Hikari and Arizona something brand are the cleanest.
I think of the FBW as a treat for the discus. They have nutritional value but I would not cosider FBW as the only food. All IMO; Don T.

[Rod]

I have freeze-dried bloodworms from Omega One. The nutritional content is 55% protein, 3% fat, and 5% fiber. Let's assume bloodworms (mosquito larvae) have the same water content as us = ~67% water. Normal bloodworms would then have approximately 18% protein by wet weight. This is a decent source of protein.

Now look at the nutritional content of frozen bloodworms. That is around 4-5% protein, 0.3% fat, and 0.8% fiber, but 94-95% water. Why such a discrepancy from what we expect the wet weight of bloodworms to be? The companies add about 3-times the wet weight with supplements dissolved in water. So while frozen bloodworms give you more nutrients in terms of added vitamins and minerals, you are also feeding less bulk protein. For growing discus larger you want to make sure they are getting enough of the major nutrients so they can grow, in addition to getting sufficient micronutrients. The micronutirents they get from frozen bloodworms will be what has diffused into the worm bodies. Most of frozen material is still water solution and that will just get diluted in your aquarium water, but the fish still get enough from the little bit that got trapped in the worms before consumption.

My instincts tell me discus need both - bulk food to grow, and supplements to make sure they get everything they need and obtain nice color. So you can either feed them loads of frozen bloodworms, or also give them other food that is meatier. Just something to consider as you feed them.

I also make my own concoction similar to Eddie's and Discus Hans' recipe. It is a meaty mixture fortified with vitamins and other goodies. I find my fish get full faster with this than anything else. So I know they get their bulk protein and their vitamins/minerals at the same with this as part of their diet.

Nothing to add, but i want to say that this is a great post

[poconoboss]

I feed my discus only white bread.

[ShinShin]

daboo,

You are assuming much. Some questions are: how would adding nutrients to frozen worms reduce the protein content? If they are increasing weight by 300%, where is all this weight going? How would nutrients dissoved in water pass through the chitin membrane wall of the worm? It is my understanding that Hikari's method is a bioencapsolation process and is how water soluable nutrients and vitamins remain viable. Also, mosquito larvae and bloodworms are two different creatures.

Mat

[DiscusFreakaZoid]

I eat Fruity pebbles cereal everyday and never get sick of it and very Healhy

Bloodworms = Fruity Pebbles

[Don Trinko]

This thread seems to be disintigrating in terms of usefull information.
Variety of food is my opinion. Don T.

[poconoboss]

Also, mosquito larvae and bloodworms are two different creatures.

Mat

You are correct.

Althought some bloodworm packages describe the contents as red mosquito larvae, this is incorrect.

They are midge larvae and they are red because they contain heboglobin, a chemical that helps them obtain oxygen since they often live in low oxygen environments.

[TURBOFROG]

This is all my fish will eat. I have tried the Tetra bits and they wont touch it. I toss some fbw in there and they rip it up!

[rich815]

This is all my fish will eat. I have tried the Tetra bits and they wont touch it. I toss some fbw in there and they rip it up!

I mentioned this in another thread but thought I'd repeat it here too. This has been my issue too (except for some reason with my two pigeons that seem to eat everything).

I made a version of Eddie's mix a month or so ago but to little success at feeding time (no offense to Eddie, it's my discus, not his recipe).

What I decided to do recently was a moderate defrost of some PE Mysis shrimp, some Hikari Bloodworms and some of the earlier Eddie's mix I had made and still had in the freezer. The ratio for this batch was about 25%/25%/50%. I mixed them together in a tupperware bowl, then put the mush into a quart-sized ziploc freezer bag, laid it down, pushed the air out, sealed it, and flattened it all out to about 1/8-1/4" thick and froze that sheet. Now I break-off a chunk at feeding time and hand-feed to my 7 discus. At first they were not sure but were hungry so they tried a few pecks. As it slowly melted the mysis shrimp and FBW infused in the mix became evident to them and they went at it, devoured it and have done so since, pretty much eating all the other ingredients in my mix as well (shrimp, white fish, spinach, vitamin drops, spirulina flakes, garlic, paprika, omega super color flakes, NLS discus pellets and tetra color bits).

I plan to slowly cut back on the amount of FBW and Mysis shrimp in the mix over the next few batches maybe down to about 10/10/80 eventually. But for now I am not starving them to get them to eat something else, they are getting a good amount of a nice mix of foods including some greens and vitamins, yet still get have FBW and Mysis, which they seem to love. In the last 3 weeks of doing this they have colored up beautifully and seem to be more aggresive at feeding time, less shy in the tank over all and seem to have notched it up a bit in growth too.

[William Palumbo]

Hey Turbo...you have to feed them more than that. Bloodworms are a nice addition to their diet, but they can't be THE diet. That's why those lil ones you picked up from me eat everything. I know fish can be picky, but if fed properly, you can feed live and processed foods, and they attack it all the same...Bill

[TURBOFROG]

What would you suggest I try feeding them Bill?

[rich815]

What would you suggest I try feeding them Bill?

You don't like my idea above?

[William Palumbo]

Rich's idea above is good. Try it like that, mixing the new food in with the old, or starve them. I myself, like mixing the foods together. Give them that mixture in the morning when they are usually the hungriest, and at night...when they have all night to pick at it...Bill

[Eddie]

Definitely not advised to use bloodworms only, there have been experienced hobbyists on here who have studied separate batches of the same spawn, feeding only FBW to one group. That group was smaller, less colorful and I am sure overall health was probably at an all time low as the fish genetically need way more nutrients/vitamins.

Eddie