VE Help

[Lilly]

I think virtually all of my VE have been wiped out over 2 days. Yesterday there was a white-ish film over the surface of my culture, today it has crept up the sides of the jar too. I can only see a couple of alive eels. There were holes in the lid, but they were stuffed with cotton wool.

Any idea on what has happened? Is there anything I can do or will I need to start over with a new culture?

I've only had them a week, and they were just a starter culture. This film has occured within two days, and beforehand they seemed perfectly happy. I used 50/50 Apple Cider Vinegar and Water, and had a small section of apple in the jar. They're kept at room temperature, but our house isn't heated through the day and it's been pretty cool lately.

Thanks in advance. :)

[Sarah]

Hmm I think I had this once, ages ago (although memory a little fuzzy).

Just shook it up and it went away...or maybe try and scoop some out? Use airline tubing on a syringe maybe.

Just guessing.

[paul]

It's one of two things

1. The culture has gone off. Ie something went bad in that jar and the conditions could no longer support the population of VEs - so they die. This can happen even in a well established culture

Or

2. The culture is doing really well and the VEs have clumped together at the surface making what looks like a thick white scum. If you take a small scoop of the scum and drop it into a glass of water, you'll see the VEs scatter throughout the water if this is what's happening.

Hope this helps. Paul

[les]

Second what Paul said but will add that they have no nutritional value and only fill the gut, IMO and others I would recomend MW and BBS or even a comercial liquid fry food as having a better effect.

Cheers

Les

[Bettarazzi]

Start another jar with 50/50 apple cider vinegar and apple juice instead of water. Or you can even try 100% vinegar without diluting it. And leave out the apple slice but add a teaspoon of sugar for every 2 cups if vinegar. Siphon out the eels below the scum. That is if you've followed Paul's suggestion and have established that the scum is not in fact a concentration of vinegar eels.

[Wild Nut]

I cannot seem to keep VE alive for the life of me. My grindals and MWs thrive but my VE cultures just drop right off.

However, I got that same scum on top of my culture and I was always confused as to what it was. Glad to hear it is probably only one of two options

Hopefully you get your culture back up and running again. They are useful to have for very small fry.

[Bettarazzi]

I have vinegar eel cultures that have gone a few years without any attention. I just assumed they never die.

One culture had a dead fly in it. But the eels were still alive.

[somchai2500]

Hi Guys

Not treading on your toes Michael.

Found this site while searching other stuff

http://www.ventralfins.com/livefood_vinegar_eels.html

Cheers

Edited May 1, 2012 by somchai2500

[Lilly]

Hey Guys! Thanks so much for all of the really helpful answers. This may have been a false alarm... I was a bit busy with my horses for three days, then checked on the culture last night to be greeted by a cloud of little eels. I may have just been imagining things... the only thing I did was take some cotton wool out of the holes in the top, so unless they hadn't been getting enough air, I must have just been blind when I had a look at them.

What I thught was strange was that there was a couple of groups of them climbing the sides of the jar. This morning, it looks like I got my Microworms and Eels around the wrong way... all around the jar is veins and clusters of eels going about 2-3cms above the surface of the mixture. Is this 'normal'?

The scum was not eels, it is still there and is deffinately 'skin' over the surface of the mixture.

A few YEARS, Bettarazzi? Wow... sounds like your sugar/apple juice mix might be the way to go. I'm going to start up another one using your method.

Thanks for the article, Somchai- very helpful to me, being a bit of a beginner to all this.

Also, now that I have the attention of all of you helpful people- is it fine to start using my Microworms as soon as there are large numbers climbing the sides? I've had them less than a week and there is already a thick, thick layer of them all the way up the side of my container. I gave some to my guppy fry, but they didn't eat them... silly fishies. Also, how often will I need to start a new culture?

Thanks heaps! If I'm having trouble with raising the betta fry-food, I'm scared for when I actually have my first fry!

[Bettarazzi]

@somchai: all toes present and accounted for

Microworms go off much faster IME. I would start a new culture about every 2-3 weeks. If you have a few going you could test how long it lasts in your fishroom. It would vary according to the weather, how much you're harvesting, the culture medium etc. lots of variables. I'm too lazy to keep microworms going.

[forever_and_a_day]

i've left mine sitting for months and while it's certainly not thriving, the MW still lives XD

i just pop another layer of oatmeal on top when i want them and volia, within 2 days they crawl up.

no smell either (mind you, i haven't sniffed the container directly, they're just in my room)