Live black worms or no?

[musicmarn1]

So mysteriously yesterday my fdbw were gone!! Was half a bag left and the cats I think dragged it out and are some, dropped the bag and dogs ate the rest. I left the cupboard open for a few mins, shame on me!

Anyway I have been useless at my white worm culture it just keeps a low count I'm either too cold or doing something else wrong :( so I dipped into my earthworm or red wriggler culture for the first time and it was a big hit, ok I struggle chopping worms up I have to say! But I think they die quicker chopped right? Anyway should I try the live black worms since I suck at culturing ?

How many of you use live with zero issues ? He anyone fed live and had an issue? Or should I just stick to fdbw? Would love a show of hands please!

[nikond70s]

live blackworms are a stable diet for all my fish. been feeding it for 8 years. never had a problem. nothing beats live food in my opinion. very clean food to feed. and when the fish dont eat all of it. they can survive for awhile in the tank till they get eaten up. i primarily feed live blackworms. and when im out i feed frozen blood worms. tho, i currently dont have discus anymore for now. but when i kept discus a pound of blackworms would last me a month heavily feeding 4-7 times a day. was cheaper then feeding other food.

i love blackworms. tho some swear it made their fish sick. just be sure to buy healthy lively ones that are in dark color and active.

[Second Hand Pat]

Marnie, I do feed live black worms now and again. Generally I get them to target a fish which is not eating. I do believe I had one occurance where the black worms caused at issue but I have no proof. You will find many differing opinions on live black worms.

[John_Nicholson]

I have tried them several times though the years and I have always said the same thing....Nothing will grow your fish faster, get them to spawn faster, have bigger spawns, or kill them faster than live blackworms.....

Now I do get FDBW's from Dan and think they are a great but I avoid the live ones.

-john

[Skip]

you will get strong statements from both sides..

I MOSTLY agree with John based on my experience.

[Ryan]

I used them once for a brief time and then ended up with issues in my fish that I never resolved. It could have been coincidental, but it was enough to put me back on frozen foods. Live foods are great but I would still only feed them in moderation. Feed live everyday and you'll have spoiled fish eventually that refuse anything else. You also have to consider the cost if you're having the food shipped to you.

[Poco]

I will say stick with red wrigglers and white worms, just research on white worms you can get the culture going.

As Ryan said, feed just live food will spoil the fish and they will refuse other foods.

[Skip]

Adult brine shrimp is a good treat if your lfs gets them.. they will go to town. And being salt water. No nasties get past...

[LizStreithorst]

I use them all the time. No problems. I'm a big fan of them.

[nevsfish]

I would agree also never had a problem with live black worm,one of the best foods for conditioning wild discus.the only problem I have is they love it so much the 250 grams I buy only lasts about 1to 2 weeks.regards lawrence

[nc0gnet0]

I only use them when my discus refuse to eat and are being medicated for internal issues. At that stage I figure I have nothing to lose. they are pretty easy to gut load with a medicated flake, and if your sick discus won't eat a live blackworm, prognosis isn't that great at recovery. Personally I think the majority of the issues people have feeding live blackworms is thier failure to keep them properly, but in the presence of other great foods why take the chance unless neccesary.

[LizStreithorst]

I really like them for very young fish. You toss some in in the morning and they graze on them until you get home from work. and they don't foul the water.

[tonytheboss1]

:bandana: Personally never had an issue. I guess it ends up being once every 8/10 days in rotation w/ several other staples. Place them in two cones so everybody's happy. "T"

[mrblah00]

I used to use them until i looked at the water they showed up in under the microscope. I will probably use them again. I agree with the statement that nothing make discus grow faster.
Sam

[musicmarn1]

That.....right there is worth $500. Period



I have tried them several times though the years and I have always said the same thing....Nothing will grow your fish faster, get them to spawn faster, have bigger spawns, or kill them faster than live blackworms.....

Now I do get FDBW's from Dan and think they are a great but I avoid the live ones.

-john

[musicmarn1]

And that!!! For the one fish I have who is under par is BRILLIANT! Hospital tank and live only diet or its cull time. I want to figure it our for future fish but not done it yet, that might just be the trick?


K, is it bacterial death John or what are we talking here? ill experiment on the "behind" guys, I have only one right now but of course ill have more and it's worth an experiment. The goal being= a faster recovery from illness (not jeopardising other fish]






Marnie, I do feed live black worms now and again. Generally I get them to target a fish which is not eating. I do believe I had one occurance where the black worms caused at issue but I have no proof. You will find many differing opinions on live black worms.

[musicmarn1]

That's very helpful where did you get tours, what are the main risks, and how do you SEE that? So I know if I have a problem, for so many mixed answers yours was 8 years right, unless you didn't account deaths to BW? Just asking because I want to be sure, dark worms check, what else? Thank you so much for answering, I'm on day two of red wriggler I had nothing else to feed they shun all seven types of organic beef heart I've home made and its a ***** on my water Q.



live blackworms are a stable diet for all my fish. been feeding it for 8 years. never had a problem. nothing beats live food in my opinion. very clean food to feed. and when the fish dont eat all of it. they can survive for awhile in the tank till they get eaten up. i primarily feed live blackworms. and when im out i feed frozen blood worms. tho, i currently dont have discus anymore for now. but when i kept discus a pound of blackworms would last me a month heavily feeding 4-7 times a day. was cheaper then feeding other food.

i love blackworms. tho some swear it made their fish sick. just be sure to buy healthy lively ones that are in dark color and active.

[nikond70s]

That's very helpful where did you get tours, what are the main risks, and how do you SEE that? So I know if I have a problem, for so many mixed answers yours was 8 years right, unless you didn't account deaths to BW? Just asking because I want to be sure, dark worms check, what else? Thank you so much for answering, I'm on day two of red wriggler I had nothing else to feed they shun all seven types of organic beef heart I've home made and its a ***** on my water Q.

marnie, i used get mine on a group buy over at monsterfishkeeper i use to get it for $10 a pound. and that would last me over a month. and when i had discus. i would feed them heavily 4-7 times a day of blackworms. but now i get them from my local fish store. at $17 a pound which is still a good deal. all my blackworms comes from dan. he's a vendor on here. u can look up his site on the sponsor section.

as for risk, im really not sure. cuz honestly, i have never had any crazy parasites/breakout/death or anything. the only disease i ever had on my discus was ich. but that was easy to get rid of. like someone said. the problem people run into is not keeping their worms healthy and or buying non healthy blackworms to start with. and yes i have fed blackworms for 8+ years since i started seriously keeping fish. tho, feeding blackworms can spoil your fish. but i like spoiling my fish and keeping blackworms is super easy to me and cheaper then any other food. i hate feeding dry food or beefheart. its messy as heck. the worms are super clean. does not foul the water. i am keeping wild altums right now. and their main diets are live blackworms.

the mix reviews are just people that hate and blame blackworms for their death of their discus and they dont have any proof. its like people who have sick discus. but never feed blackworms...do they blame it on the dry food or beefheart they feed to their discus? but to each of their own. i do what works for me i dont follow certain rules when it comes to fish keeping.

[pcsb23]

Can't comment on the specific risks with feeding live blackworms as we don't have them available in the UK. In general I like to take a risk averse approach to fish keeping. Over the years I have fed allsorts of foods to allsorts of fish including discus. You only need one major issue which can be attributed to the food fed to make you change your opinion on a given type of food, when that issue costs you thousands you either learn quick or go bust.

I disagree slightly with John though about growth rates, albeit my experiences were with mosquito larvae and the like ... I have experienced slightly better growth of discus using a fish based diet and not just in terms of size but vibrance and fecundity too. The differences were small, but so was the sample size so it is hardly definitive. One day I may repeat the experiment.

[krislewis3]

I raised my juvies on live black worms, and WOW, we're they a hit!! Once they reached adulthood, I went to freeze dried, for no other reason then the convience factor!! I got tired of the daily rinsing!!

[John_Nicholson]

The issues that I have had did seem to be bacterial but I have not fed the live ones in probably 10 years. I tried them at least 3 times in the past and the fish always loved them but I would always start to have issues that I was not having before. Always able to fix it with extra large wc's and no live blackworms.

-john

[Chicago Discus]

I feed live black worms to my breeders once a day in evening our beef-heart mix in the morning. We feed live brine shrimp soaked in spirulina or vita-chem everyday keeps everyone bright and regular. Now as with any food Live, frozen, freeze dried or Flake cleanness and storage is very important. Close all containers and store them at proper temperatures and when feeding your fish don't cross contaminate your food with your tank water meaning if you grab some food and touch your tank water don't stick your hands back in the container. Wash your hands take out what you need and feed your fish.

As far as live goes, Black worms need to stored in the refrigerator in proper containers and rinsed daily with fresh water. You can use a flow system next to the sink where they can constantly get get fresh water flowing into the container or you can use R/O waste or a nice slow flow from your faucet wont make a difference. Always look at the worms before you feed if any are white throw the whole thing away as the batch is contaminated.

Live brine need to be kept in a tank with constant airflow and at room temperature and perform a water change once a week as to keep the water fresh. Feed daily with Spirulina or any powder food.

This is what we do hope it helps.....Josie

[musicmarn1]

Thank you so much this is all very helpful!!

[BillyTRichVa]

I have a lfs that gets quite a bit of live BW every week. I usually get 8 portions (each portion is a capful) per week. I feed them live worms every other day. I rarely have problems, but when I have any concern, I just toss them.