FEEDING LIVE BLOOD WORMS TO DISCUS AND DISEASE

[ganesan]

When I started my hobby to keep discus about 20 years back I used to feed them with live blood worms which they used to enjoy and even any discus on hunger strike were tempted to eat.After reading forums and one of my discus personally dyieng with hole in head I stopped feeding live blood worms or tubifex worms.Recently I read in a forum in which it says that if live blood or tubifex forms can be immersed in metrogyl liquid which are cheap and easily available here(costs about 20 cents for a 50ml solution for human use via IV for hospital use) for about 2 hours that would kill any harmful parasites,germs etc and discus are safe to be fed after that.Is this true or just a myth and not worth it?

[Crunchy]

go with frozen bloodworms, safe and good. Long term exposuure to meds and chemicals are noy good for the fish. there may be other stuff in the bw that are not just parasites.

[Trier20]

I was feeding frozen for a while. I actually had some worms that came back to life and started to colonize in my substrate. Kinda cool! I'd try to make a Beef heart, pork heart or seafood mix instead. I wouldn't want to have to treat the worms and then have my discus continually eating them. Can't be good for them long term as crunchy said

[timmy82]

Interesting info, I only very rarely use a little frozen blood worm for something different. FD black worm are the go with a lot higher protien %. Maybe if you submerse the blood worm in water with a small ozone processor hooked through an air stone should come up with the same result and there would be no further on going cost for treating the blood worm.

[100fuegos]

go with frozen bloodworms, safe and good. Long term exposuure to meds and chemicals are noy good for the fish. there may be other stuff in the bw that are not just parasites.


Not that safe, believe me. Mine got capillaria with it.

[Crunchy]

Not that safe, believe me. Mine got capillaria with it.

Discus can get cappillaria from anywhere, bad water quality etc. how did you conclude that it came from the frozen bloodworms and not anywhere else? While I do believe that some unknown sources of fbw can have some contaminants, but good brands like hikari and san francisco are very safe and many people have been using them over the years with no problems.

I posted a thread before for this very issue, but a discus I had who never ate bloodworms can get hex too. It's more likely water quality issues than parasites surviving being frozen, UV, etc for many months.

[nc0gnet0]

I actually had some worms that came back to life and started to colonize in my substrate.

???????????????


don't think so...........

blackworms maybe?

[100fuegos]

Discus can get cappillaria from anywhere, bad water quality etc. how did you conclude that it came from the frozen bloodworms and not anywhere else? While I do believe that some unknown sources of fbw can have some contaminants, but good brands like hikari and san francisco are very safe and many people have been using them over the years with no problems.

I posted a thread before for this very issue, but a discus I had who never ate bloodworms can get hex too. It's more likely water quality issues than parasites surviving being frozen, UV, etc for many months.

I have a scope, I did scope the worms from the bloodworms frozen block. Dead worms off course but capillaria eggs survive the freeze.

[Crunchy]

I have a scope, I did scope the worms from the bloodworms frozen block. Dead worms off course but capillaria eggs survive the freeze.

Thanks for clarifying, do you know the brand of the fbw? You can pm me mate! Thanks.

[Allwin]

Tried live black worms with hunger strike sick fish, while they were in medication and hope the medication will deworm it, in case.But afraid to take this risk with healthy fishes.

I do have got cappillaria before from unknown source,i hate to hear its because of bad water quality. since i do 50% everyday followed by 100% weekly.

Do u have any pictures of the eggs under scope?



I have a scope, I did scope the worms from the bloodworms frozen block. Dead worms off course but capillaria eggs survive the freeze.

[100fuegos]

No pictures of my actual samples but capillaria eggs all look like this (https://www.google.es/search?q=CAPILLARIA+EGGS&client=firefox-a&hs=VAJ&rls=org.mozilla:es-ES:official&channel=fflb&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=aOUBUvSjNair7Abq84HIBA&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1440&bih=709)

PM sent

[jack bauer]

I also scoped frozen bloodworms, while I couldn't identify what was wriggling about, they looked nasty.

The very well respected breeder I use here in the UK even says he won't sell fish if he thinks they will be fed bloodworm of any description.

[Mgardner]

Anyone have experience feeding live black worms?

[lipadj46]

Anyone have experience feeding live black worms?

Yes, I've fed now and again. Lately I have a good culture going that feeds my discus one meal a day. The secret to live is you need to keep them exceptionally clean or your fish will get sick and die.

[nikond70s]

Anyone have experience feeding live black worms?

live blackworms are my stable diet for my fish. been feeding it for over 8 years. never had a problem. i do keep my blackworms clean and fresh tho. but people have sworn feeding live blackworms has made their fish sick.

[musicmarn1]

Yes, I've fed now and again. Lately I have a good culture going that feeds my discus one meal a day. The secret to live is you need to keep them exceptionally clean or your fish will get sick and die.


what is the recommended cleaning protocol for worms? i am culturing white worms and getting ready for first harvest i do NOT want to make my fish sick, i was just going to rinse them.....any other suggestions? i could add garlic to the water for cleaning purposes, gosh garlic is a great all round amazing thing ! antibacterial properties, health tonic but if there is anything else i can do including changing medium from organic top soil/potting soil to something *cleaner* ??