Black worms

[D.J]

Just wondering if any one has ever feed their discus with black worms?
I am tempted to try it as a very well known lfs in my area actually fed his dicus display tank which is full of beautiful discus with the black worm, just to prove to me that his culture of black worms are clean.

Have not seen a discus that was that eager to feed, like what I saw today.

Any respond will be good, and many thanks.

Donald.

[Essayons89]

Live blackworms would be fine to feed. I feed them every so often as a treat to my discus, angels and cories. All of them go crazy for the blackworms.

There is always a risk of introducing some sort of disease, parasite or pest into a tank through the feeding of live foods. As a precaution, I keep the blackworms in fresh, clean water. I change the water out every day with fresh, dechlored water for a few days before feeding them to the fish. Healthy blackworms will be lumped together, almost forming a ball of them.

Try it, they go nuts over them.

Bryan

[flukes]

I also feed black worms every now and then, though im a bit scared of desease so i soak them in a multi cure containg mech green and meth blue.

Not sure it really does anything but lets me sleep easier

Also helps young fish grow fast and induces spawning in adults.

Just dont feed too much other wise they wont eat any thing but.

[kalebjarrod]

i don't feed them black worms because i am paranoid of problems

i am never very good when my own fish get sick i lose more then i save so i try not to get the problems to start

just my opion though, but when my guys get a little bigger i will see rod @ sunshine and get his trick's, he's always breeding and if your local breeder uses them well i will give it a go too

[D.J]

Thanks for the input guys, reallr appreciate it.

I change the water out every day with fresh, dechlored water for a few days before feeding them to the fish.

If we do clean the blackworms every day for a few days before feeding them to discus, how long is it before they are not good (expired)?

Do you also keep them in your fridge? and how much do you feed them?
as I was on a site yesterday and this guy only feed them 2 blackworms/fish, which I don't think is enough.

Donald.

[mtchye]

Hi guys,

There are 2 ways to make sure the blackworms are 'clean' for your fish. If you buy small batches and want to clean them for short term (1 - 2 weeks) you can keep them in a shallow container with plenty of room, with just enough water to cover the worms. Plenty of aeration and water changes as often as you can do them. When you do water changes the trick is to blast the clump of worms with a stream of water tip the container on its side, the dead worms will float while most of the live ones will sink back to the bottom, pour off some of the water and replace.

For longer term you need a lil sponge filter and you can fill a tank like a 2 footer. Some ppl use a substrate, others don't, just maintain the water conditions and do those water changes. The worms can stay alive without food in colder water for quite a while. However you can feed them small amounts every so often too, just dont over feed as any deterioration in the water conditions can cause a chain reaction of deaths and some VERY smelly water

I dont know about feeding them to discus. I am thinking about it. In my apisto tanks I have the worms in there all the time, and the apistos condition up very fast, and spawn often. They don't predate on the apisto fry or eggs either, and you really can't overfeed because they stay alive if you have enough O2 in the water.

However one of the local discus guys who is pretty experienced, says anecdotally that worms are a high risk of disease. The documentation out there is conflicting but there seems to be bit of research indicating that the worms are not a common host for parasites as many sites lead you to believe. The main worry I guess would be bacteria present in the worms, or developing in dying worms, so I guess thats what we purge them for.

In addition to this, I'm lucky in that my LFS does keep them in very clean conditions with lots of purging already. Also the wholesaler that cultures them does so without any fish in the water. I think alot of the old concerns stemmed from the wild collected worms which came from pretty dodgy waters. I doubt there would be many stores in Aus stocking wild caught worms these days...

[kalebjarrod]

i was under the impression that thier are paarsites and bacteria present through alot of black worms that won't affect other fish only discus

hence the paraniod approach.

but hay i have been wrong in the past and i will probaly be wrong in the future

i would just make SURE i was wright on this, don't want to loose a grand worth of fish just because i didn't check it out properly first

[Bad Inferno]

I used to think I was doing the fish a favour...and got them worms once per week for 18 months.....Then my number was up, My wife fed them worms that had been sitting in merky water for a couple of days and within 2-3 hours two discus got very sick. It just ain't worth it ! and if you do feed them get some Metro for when they do get sick....as I said I lasted 18 months before it happened to me. Never again

[weird]

Hikari black worms are fine ... pinch ... wake up, hikari don't sell black worms ... steer clear for long term discus health I reckon ... my personal opinion. Nothing is more disturbing than a sick discus.

I feed my discus,

morning ... brine shrimp
midmorning / afternoon ... color bits
around 7.00 pm ... discus food/beef heart
9.00 - 10.00 pm ... blood worms (hikari)

They get 4 types of food in the day, no need to add something I would be worried about.

[flukes]

Yeah but live black worms are great for the fish if they are healthy.

It just takes a little more care too look after the worms.