Anyone freeze their CBWs?

[GWdiscus]

I'm going away this weekend and had just bought a small quantity of CBW from a LFS. The guy that who went in the back gave me too much, his boss gave him a hard time about measuring, I got about three times what I ordered (lucky me). Anyway, too much for me to keep while away for 5 days. I was wondering about freezing them and feeding them to the discus when I return?
Does anybody see any problems with this?

thanks
Michael

[fcdiscus]

They die- fall apart when thawed and will kill your Discus. Don't do it! Frank :o

[Carol_Roberts]

I believe I've read they turn into mush if frozen and thawed. You might want to try freezing a small amount tonight and see what happens.

Perhaps you can rinse them really, really good before you go . . . . perhaps put thin layers of worms in several broad containers in the fridge so they aren't crowded . . . . my worms last for over a month in the fridge with daily rinses

[Nightowl]

GMW: Here's an idea: buy a cat litter tray from pet shop, place in worms, rinse well, & then leave them w/ a small stream / trickle of cold water(flow relevant to amt. of worms) while your gone. Many pet shops do this successfully, even w/ chlorine in water. Later, J(Nightowl) :vanish:

[Bruce]

What a coincidink. Put a small amount too close to the fridge fan and they froze completely solid overnight. Thawed them with warm tap water and they all came back alive. Two days later and I don't notice any degradation in their condition from the freezing experience. If they are okay frozen overnight, would the nature of freezing have the same effect for a week or more? No guarantees, but it worked for me this one time. Will not intentionally freeze them again, but if I do, would it not be the same as buying frozen CBW? How would it become nasty upon thawing?

[Aquatic_Design]

GMW,
I would not freeze them. I have tried it and they do turn to mush. Very nasty.
I would try Carol's suggestion of rinsing well and separate into many containers. Only a thin layer in each container. I would also keep them VERY cold without freezing them.
HTH,
Donna :)

[Darren]

I went on vacation for 7 days. They stayed in the fridge for those seven days without any rinsing. When I got back, I rinsed them and they were fine and fed for another two weeks. Don't sweat not rinsing them for a few days.

Darren

[fishfarm]

DON'T FREEZE THEM AND FEED YOUR FISH, THEY WILL KILL YOUR FISH. I DON'T KNOW WHY BUT THEY DO.

[gary1218]

Sorry, but I have to disagree here. If you freeze them and then feed them to your discus they do not kill your discus. In fact doesn't Hikari sell frozen blackworms?

I got the idea to do just that when I first started feeding CBWs a few years back. What I did was rinse them well and then pour them onto a piece of the egg crate type of light diffuser. After they froze I popped them out and had these really great 1/2" frozen cubes of CBWs. I thought I was on to something. But, as others have stated, it turned into a big mess. They ended up mushy and the discus didn't eat them nearly as well as the live ones.

I did continue to feed them for a little bit and I did not loose even one discus.

GARY

[brewmaster15]

I think the prob is The turn to mush part . I believe what happens is as you all say.... They turn to mush...and in a few short hours... bacteria bonazia... discus eat...discus die.
The key is how long the mush is in the tank :)

-al

[fishfarm]

I just know a friend killed off a whole tank of his fish with frozen blackworms. Ken

[GWdiscus]

Great discussions, thanks everyone for your input. I think I'll just clean out the CBW very well and save them since I have only had them for less than a week now and not risk freezing them although some people have been successful.
thanks
Michael

[discus_nw]

Someone will need to explain to me how freezing cbw's will kill a discus more readily than a live one. Even polluting the tank wouldn't kill one that quickly unless the O2 level dropped to a critical level, and then you would see the bacterial bloom and know that it was water conditions that caused the deaths and not because they ate a frozen cbw dinner. :)