Tubifex Worms and Copper... learning to search      4/23/12
Hi there!
<Nicholas>
I am currently conducting an experiment on the biological effects of copper contamination, and I am using Filamentous algae
<Mmm, you'll need/want to know which species... as well as the conditions of exposure, water quality>
 and Tubifex worms as an indicator of the effect of the copper.
<Cupric ion? Cu ++ I take it>
I was just wondering, will relatively small amounts of copper kill Tubifex worms in a freshwater environment?
<Mmm, need to define "small"... Tubificids, Annelids can "take" some free copper exposure... relative to other life>
Also, what other factors may lead to the death of Tubifex worms?
<Time for you to visit a large/college library. Read here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/litsrchart.htm
I know they can survive in very low oxygen levels, but I was just wondering what other factors can lead to their death.
Thank you for your help,
Love the site!
Biology Enthusiast
<Enjoy the process. What you seek (to know) is not hard to find in the scientific literature. Get a reference librarian to help you. Bob Fenner>

Gut loading worms... for food, FW    10/28/11
It it necessary?
<Generally not.>
Possible?
<If they worms are stored for a while in a compost heap or wormery, you could add fish flake to the medium, and the worms would ingest that as they go along. But being quite a balanced food because they're gut-loaded with decaying plant matter anyway, worms are okay just as they, perhaps augmented with seafood from time to time for any other vitamins or minerals that might be missing. Whole lancefish and jumbo krill for example would be good sources of calcium.>
I'm currently feeding my Tetraodon Suvattii and a few others exclusively earth worms. I'm sure its possible to break him of the habit of eating them
<Yes.>
but he has really locked onto worms as his primary food.
<Risky; when fish become hooked on one food, you can have problems should that food become scarce.>
In fact I overnighted my discus in his tank after a heater failure and he totally ignored the discus after a tasty worm nightcap.
<Wow!>
I currently employ a system where I occasionally cut lengthwise down the worm and push in dry Hikari food. I know its grisly but it works and I want to raise an uber pig nose puffer !!
<Quite so.>
Worms currently are just easy and I'm looking to make them as nutritious as possible.
Thanks again.
Rob
<Cheers, Neale.>
Re: Gut loading worms   10/30/11
Fortunately fishing bait is never in short supply around here! I find that worms are always available. Nevertheless, I am toying with the idea of an under the sink wormery full of the highest quality worms! I probably need to get out more'¦
<There was one Nebraskan Governor who's wife was into breeding worms, which she did in the governor's mansion. Can't remember which one.>
Settle a debate for me Neale, a young T Suvattii needs to eat a big red worm: 1. every other day or 2. once a day.
<Either. Provided your puffer maintains a healthy body weight, i.e., it's belly is slightly rounded and convex, then you're feeding it the right amount. Feeding small meals frequently may be beneficial in terms of water quality because it minimises the risk of a fish not eating everything and that uneaten food sitting about in the tank rotting. So while your puffer might "gorge" itself on a single large prey item every few days in the wild, that isn't what I recommend or do with my own predators. If nothing else, small, frequent meals ensure they're always looking for more food, and that keeps them alert and interested. As I sit here, my Ctenolucius are splashing about at the top of the tank trying get my attention! Of course, large predators like your puffer can easily go 2-3 weeks without food, which is great for vacations.>
Thanks man.
<Cheers, Neale.>

Are all earthworms created equal?!    8/7/10
OK, Darrel .


<Howdy, Sue!!>
I figured I'd get my round of ?'s for you over with in one fell swoop and then I won't bother you again (hopefully) for a while!


<Hey .. I've been married, divorced, raised 2 kids and run my own business with 30 employees world-wide. You can't come CLOSE to bothering me '¦ so don't give it another thought!>
Just a warning, go easy on me here.


<Me?? Go easy?? One of the things my bio does NOT mention is that I'm so abrasive that even Dale Carnegie tried to punch me in the mouth>
You'll see why in a minute.


<OK>
Here's the earthworm question I've been meaning (transl. gathering up enough courage!) to ask you about for the last couple of months. When fishing season started back up here in New England a few months ago, I went out to get some earthworms for my two turtles for an occasional treat as you always recommend. I assumed I'd walk in, ask for a handful and walk out. But instead, I was presented with . choices! Between different kinds of earthworms! . Who'd have thunk?! As someone who got dragged along to go fishing with my dad when I was a kid, I always just assumed an earthworm was - well - just an earthworm. So, was I in for an unanticipated education that day. I was presented with a choice between *European* night crawlers, *Red Wigglers*, *organically grown* earthworms, and your plain old *garden variety* earthworms (Is this just a pun - or do I venture a wild guess here - are these the *American hybrid* version?!) that grow in soil where pesticides are used. Living in a town with 3 organic grocery stores, I suppose none of this should have come as much of a surprise. So I naturally asked him what his recommendation would be for turtles. I wish you could have seen the look I got back. Needless to say, I landed up leaving there with only - confusion and incredulousness . and haven't been back since!


<heh. I'm still stuck on organic earthworms. We live in a society where not only to do people pay actual real money for bottles of WATER (and don't even get me started on "Farmer's Markets" Are people under the impression that their local Kroger has the vegetables flown in from Jupiter or something???) but now they're growing organic earthworms???? Sheesh>
OK, so let's first start with the *variety* question - *Red Wigglers* vs. *European* night crawlers for turtles - does it matter which?! Is any species of earthworm OK for turtles?!


<Any worm that you'd eat yourself is fine for them! OK .. let's back that up. You probably don't eat many worms except for the ones that are embedded in all those 'naturally raised' vegetables and fruits at the Farmer's Market, so let's just say that any worm that was raised in dirt will be just fine. They SAY '¦ that some worms are higher in fat than others (How they know that and WHY they know that is something that I find amusing '¦ however we don't feed enough worms to really make that much difference to the turtle>
2nd . does size matter? (I mean when it comes to what size earthworms to feed to smaller size turtles?!) The European night crawlers were quite a bit larger (both longer and thicker) than the Red Wigglers. I wasn't sure if they might be too thick and/or long for my smaller turtles to swallow. Especially my Painted, Shelby, who is just a baby and has a very tiny mouth. And Shelly to some extent as well. Shelly's mouth is slightly bigger as he is a juvenile - but still not as large as a full grown adult turtle. (I had to ask this question about worm size, because remember a ways back when you told me NOT to cut the worms up, but rather feed them whole?)


<Well, I wouldn't put in a worm big enough to swallow the turtle, but beyond that it's really about the mess left over. I use worms called 'night crawlers' from my local pet store that look JUST LIKE the worms my dad used to collect back in Niagara Falls each night before we'd go fishing: Just wet the lawn at dusk and wait for them to come out>
And finally . does it matter whether the earthworms are *organically grown* or from pesticide treated soil? Is rinsing them off with water going to make them safe enough for the turtles to eat, or do I need to go organic on this one? I can't believe I'm writing this, AND, . I'm almost afraid to read what your response is going to be ; )


<Worms are typically grown in the same fashion as mushrooms - placed in soil and covered with poop, so in my opinion '¦ also known as the "right" or "correct" opinion: WORMS ARE WORMS!!!! TOSS IN A WORM AND LET 'EM EAT '¦ OR NOT!. BUT THEY'RE JUST WORMS FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD!!! ORGANIC WORMS???????? There is something seriously and systemically wrong with a society that even HAS organic worms. Where do you get Organic Worms? At a Farmer's Market, I'm sure. Who uses Organic Worms? The same people who watch The Real Housewives of ANYWHERE and actually DO keep up with the Kardashians!! A kid down the block was over looking at my tortoises last week and we got to talking. He has enough ink on his neck and arms to look like he went through a mimeograph machine and enough piercings on his face that he could have fallen face-first into a box of fishing tackle '¦ and he complained that he can't for the life of him figure out why he can't get a job... I'm going to suggest that he sell organic worms at the local farmer's market>
-Sue


<Darrel!>

Compost Worms?   4/6/10
Hello,
<Hello,>
I have one of those worm/compost bin things in the backyard that contains several stages and what I thought were earthworms, though now I'm thinking they might be some sort of red worm since I'm told these are usually used
for such bins(?). Anyway, I'd like to capitalize on this already useful source of critters and start to feed them to my new Oscar.
<By all means do so.>
Is it safe to use worms from a compost bin like this?
<Yes.>
I know there are no pesticides, chemicals, etc., but my concern is about what other nasty creepy crawlies could be living in the rotten decomposing food that wouldn't be present in ordinary garden harvested worms. Is there a higher risk of bacterial/parasite infection for my Oscar if I give him compost worms?
<Virtually all infections fish get come via aquatic organisms in bodies of water where there are other fish. This is why "safe" live foods come from bodies of water where there are no fish, such as ponds set aside to cultivate daphnia. Land invertebrates -- assuming they aren't sprayed with pesticides -- have minimal to zero chance of carrying any parasite or pathogen into the pond. Such animals would rarely end up in freshwater habitats in the wild, so parasites haven't evolved to use them as a method for getting into a fish. Earthworms, spiders, woodlice and land snails are all safe, nutritious foods. Slugs are generally not eaten, but more because they seem to taste bad than anything else.>
Thanks a bunch,
Jessi
<Cheers, Neale.>

Fry and Microworms   6/7/09
Hello!
I read through a lot of different pages and through your site about microworms. I noticed that some of them can be detrimental to fish health while others are good as food.
<Microworms, the species Panagrellus redivivus, are nematodes and a completely safe fish food. Are you confusing Panagrellus redivivus with other types of nematodes? While most nematodes are harmless, it's true that some are parasitic and can cause disease. But the phylum Nematoda is a big group, comparable in diversity to the phylum Chordata, into which we belong, along with snakes, fish and sea squirts!>
I recently started raising Betta fry and I use microworms to feed them. I am just curious, If a microworm is longer than my fry, will it be bad for them?
<It won't harm them, but when it dies, it'll pollute the tank, lowering water quality, so indirectly that's a bad thing. So yes, you need to sort your microworms before use, putting only sufficient in for feeding your
fish.>
I also found microworms in a tank where I did not intend for them to be in.
Are they the food type ones or the bad ones?
<Can't possibly tell for sure, but almost certainly they're harmless free-living nematodes likely present in most aquaria.>
If they are bad for the fry should I move my fry to another tank then?
Thanks
<Cheers, Neale.>

Emergency! - dead worms and cloudy water (understanding BOD!), & FW puffer fdg.   02/06/09 After years of healthy fish and clean water, suddenly yesterday my tank was cloudy like I've never seen it before. I thought it was a temporary die-off of bacteria -about 3 days earlier, I had removed one of those Purigen filter bags to bleach and soak it (did not put it back in yet), but there were still regular filter pads in there. Two days earlier, I had also put in some blackworms for my puffer to eat as usual - they had all situated themselves nicely in the substrate like they always do, didn't seem to be any problems. Well yesterday the worms had scattered all over the tank as if in distress. Today they were almost all dead and disintegrated and the water was really foul. All the fish were at the top looking for air. Was this due to (a) lack of oxygen due to cycle being all messed up from filter bag removal or (b) maybe the worms were diseased and when they died they set off an ammonia spike? I have changed half the water, am probably going to change another half tomorrow and start to get rid of the worm remains. Fish all seem to be still alive somehow. Thanks for your prompt response! Bob <Hello Bob. It is NEVER a good idea to add live food (or any other kind of food, other than plant material) to a tank that is not consumed within 5 minutes. Not ever. The reasons why your live food in this case died and caused problems is difficult to say, but the point is that the situation should never have arisen in the first place. Yes, when live food dies it causes the oxygen content of the water to drop. There's something called the Biological Oxygen Demand (or BOD) that encompasses not just the oxygen used by animals and plants, but also things like bacteria and fungi. Decay is a major element of this, and the more decay there is, the higher the BOD. If BOD exceeds the amount of oxygen in the water, you get an oxygen crisis, and things can die unless they can supplement their oxygen by breathing air. Lungfish and Gouramis for example are masters of this latter art, but Puffers can't do it, and obviously any bacteria stuck inside a (closed) filter can't do it either. If filter bacteria die, ammonia and nitrite processing decreases, and water quality drops. So, the "fix" here is to do a big water change to flush out any ammonia and nitrite, clean the substrate to remove as much decaying organic matter as possible, and then make jolly sure you don't add too much live food ever again! If you have excess live food, store it in a container of water in a cool place. Add a bit at a time, just enough for your fish to be nicely fed but not gorged so much it swells up. Puffers should look lean, with a gently rounded belly, and should NOT look like they swallowed a bowling ball. As for the filters, all else being equal they should bounce back within a day or two. Rinse any media gently in a bucket of aquarium water, and then put the filter back together. No long-term harm should happen. Cheers, Neale.>
Re: emergency! - dead worms and cloudy water (understanding BOD!), & FW puffer fdg.   02/06/09 thanks! <Happy to help.> I feel horrible. <Oh?> To explain, I have never had luck keeping my worms in the fridge. <Don't bother.> Despite changing the bit of water they soaked in daily the worms always died and messed up my whole fridge. <Indeed.> Therefore I have always "hidden" live food under a rock covered in java fern in the corner of the tank where even the puffer could only access a few worms at a time, and this has worked for years. <Ah...> However this time the new store I went to gave me too many worms (twice the normal amount), and I think maybe this caused the BOD problem you refer to. Maybe I'll try again with the cool storage especially after this problem. I hope everything stabilizes soon. Thank you. <Why not buy frozen? (As opposed to freeze dried.) Safer, cleaner, cheaper. Puffers take to frozen food without complaint. You can also offer a variety of things: bloodworms, blackworms, glassworms, etc. More variety = better health. You don't need live foods. Cheers, Neale.> Re: emergency! - dead worms and cloudy water (understanding BOD!), & FW puffer fdg.   02/06/09 This has been an ongoing war for years with my puffer. He simply does not do frozen. I have starved him for months feeding only frozen and he hates it. He spits it out and then finally loses interest altogether. My LFS guy said, he'll eat it if he's hungry enough but I have never seen any evidence of this even when he's emaciated. This is a very entitled and privileged animal. <Made a rod for your own back here. Do try bloodworms. My puffers (including Dwarves, Red-tails and South Americans) love them. Offer alongside the live food, mixed in. While feeding on the one, they'll likely take the other. Switch brands. Some seem more palatable than others. My puffers are less keen on glassworms and mosquito larvae than bloodworms. Also try hand-feeding, using forceps. Wriggle the food about enticingly. Generally, puffers *will* eat if they're hungry enough. Never seen one refuse! What kind of puffer is it? Cheers, Neale.>
Re: emergency! - dead worms and cloudy water (understanding BOD!), & FW puffer fdg. - Part 3  02/06/09 It's a dwarf. Forceps, are you serious?! Wow, high maintenance, this one. <Yep. Deadly serious. I feed many of my fish this way. Besides helping to "tame" them (i.e., to settle into captive life and view humans as friends, not giant predators) it's also a way to make frozen/dead food more "interesting", so they take it readily.> If I'm not mistaken I tried frozen bloodworms - in those compartmentalized plastic chambers? <Yes.> Is there a brand you recommend? <Any should be fine to start with, but look for "mini bloodworms" given the species you have; the big bloodworms might be too tough. Don't thaw them in warm water: let them defrost slowly. I find thawing them quickly sometimes does something to the flavour, and the fish are less keen. But do, please, try mixing bloodworms with the live mosquito larvae. Once they're in a feeding frame of mind, they may well peck at anything.> Also I tried frozen shrimp. He also got a few snails here and there, till they became hard to find. <Indeed.> Thanks so much for all advice, the fish are already swimming around better after I changed most of the water. <Cool. Good luck, Neale.>

Tubifex worms?? Vectors of dis.  -- 02/07/08 Hello, <Hi there> I have a 40 gallon with a black moor and a red wide bellied goldfish and two apple snails. My mother came over with some worms she wanted to feed my fish. <Mmm, I would not> She buys them for her Betta. They were alive and I believe they may be called tubiflex? <Tubificids at least... Tubifex maybe> They are a bit pink, skinny and long. Well, my fish didn't eat it (she only put in one) and every week when I do my water change, I vacuum a few up. The problem is one of my fishes (the moor) is very susceptible to diseases. He has been sick since the day I got him and I finally got rid of his last problem of fin rot, it is healing, now the other GF is starting to show signs of rot as well and starting to hide. When we did this weeks water change a ton of these little worms were vacuumed up and our water reading has spiked in Nitrates (in the red, can't tell which one exactly). <Mmmm> Today I stirred up the rock and there are a ton more of these little worms. I do weekly water changes at 10 gal for a 40 gal tank. <Good> Water testing is usually always good if not up the changes till back to normal. I want to add a little salt to help heal the fin rot ( don't want to medicate AGAIN :-( over medicate??) <Easily done> but not too much to hurt the snails. 1. will this work? and 2. how do I get rid of these worms making my nitrates spike W/O killing my snails (copper)? Thank you so much for your time and have a wonderful day! <No to the copper... will kill your snails. I would continue with your water changes, gravel vacuuming... and add some more filtration (perhaps an outside power filter) to aid in cycling wastes here... Please read: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwnitrates.htm and the linked files above. The worms will likely die out in time of their own accord, any pathogens with them losing their danger. Bob Fenner>
Re: Tubifex worms??   2/8/08 Hello Bob, <Smiley> Thank you for your quick response. :) I have to tell you guys that this forum has been a great resource for me and helping my lil Bob.. :) <Ah, and me, Big Bob, as well> I guess I should have mentioned that I am running two 150 Penguin Bio-wheels and extra carbon. And change those filters once a month with the weekly 10 gal water change. <Ah, good> The one worm was feed to my kids about 4 or so months ago. How long will it take for these worms to die out? <Should be any time now> :(As mentioned at first I would see a few floating up in the vacuum and didn't even think they were from the worm added to the tank. They kinda looked like constipation poop (so I feed peas) Then just over the last 2-3 weeks they multiplied.. I mean TONS. I hope they die out soon. I really don't think I can keep up with them and daily vacuuming/water changes. <Actually... "clean" ones are very good for your system... will help keep it viable> I took the snails out last night and have them in a Betta bowl. Gave the kids a salt dip, another water change and added .01% salt to the tank. I haven't fed them either. Stirring up the rocks and they are both eating the worms when one floats near their mouths. My lil guy (red GF) still goes to hide. Should I do the dip again today? Add back in the snails?? Sorry, I am a big worry wort. <If it were me, mine, I'd leave all as is> Thanks again for all that you guys/gals do :)~ <Welcome my friend. BobF>

Livebearer beh. and hi there, can you help with a couple of questions? <Will try.> firstly can tropical fish eat earthworms from the garden?  2/4/08 <Yes, assuming your garden is "organic" -- any pesticides used, and even some fertilisers, are deadly toxins to fish. If in doubt, don't bother. But earthworms make a great food for mid- to large-sized predators.> also I have just added 3 silver molly (1 male, 2 female) to my tank of 6 platy, the problem is that one specific platy (he's about 2" long with a huge dorsal fin, so I assume he is mature) well he is quite intent on chasing the mollies around the tank basically all the time, he will chase both the male and the female, is this normal or is he being overly aggressive, <Absolutely typical. I'm guessing your tank is relatively small (less than 200 litres) in which case males of all livebearer species can be assumed to be more or less aggressive and intolerant of other males and unreceptive females.> the ratio of the platies is the same as the mollies 2-1 so he is not starved of females. <While it always helps to have more females, this really only becomes effective when you have big schools of fish in nice roomy aquaria. If you have just half a dozen livebearers in a small aquarium, the males can be troublesome.> any advice would be great, cheers! David <Please send a message with capital letters next time! It's one of the house rules for the benefit of other readers, not all of whom speak English natively, and rely on good grammar to make sense of things. Cheers, Neale.>

Loaches and worms... Logan by any other name... fdg. again     12/5/07 Hi, how do you feed clown loaches worms without other fishes eating it? Thanks for all your help and advice. <Christopher, don't bother with the worms. Waste of time. Just go with good-quality catfish pellets and algae wafers, in equal amounts, at night. Clowns feed at night, your other fish likely don't. Repeat as required, adding suitable veggies like tinned peas and Sushi Nori and cucumber to the mix periodically. Clowns will thrive on this sort of diet. Cheers, Neale.>

... Hi, which worms are nutritious and cheap? FW fdg....    12/5/07 <Contradiction in terms. Nutritious, safe food by definition is more expensive than useless, disease-risky food. If you're talking about all-round value for money, it's hard to argue with (wet) frozen bloodworms. Most fish love them. All live foods come with some degree of risk, with the possible exception of brine shrimp, but essentially they're a gimmick for 95% of the freshwater fish sold. We use them because it's fun, not because the fish need them. So if money is an issue, skip live food and concentrate on nutritious frozen and prepared foods.> About how much are they? <Over here in England, around £2-3 per package.> Also, how many and how often should I feed my fishes? <I use one block (about a tablespoon of worms, I guess, when thawed out) for a busy 180 litre community tank PLUS two lightly stocked 30 litre tanks. Per day. In other words, not much food is required. Far less than inexperienced aquarists often suppose.> I have 5 danios, 2 swordtails, 1 platy, 2 balloon platy, 3 loaches, and 1 Bristlenose Pleco that live in a 50 gallon tank. <None of these fish *need* bloodworms. Flake plus pellets will do for all of them, and the Platies, Plec, and Loaches will further appreciate (REQUIRE!) algae-based foods for good health, such as Algae wafers.> Last, how do I take care of the worms and is it easy to breed them without having to buy another 50 gallon or so tank? <Don't bother.> Thanks for your advice and tips. <Cheers, Neale.>