Blackworms

[Bender]

Back in march I bought some blackworms and set them up to see how effective it was to keep them in a tub with air and brown paper bags (for more info see the post in the pinned section). I chickened out on using any at the time as others had problems after feeding. Now I find myself still with a serve of what seem to be perfectly healthy blackworms and I'm wondering if I should use them or if the risk is too great. The water has been changed weekly, and has never smelt or been anything but clear.

Please let me know what you think, and how you make sure your blackworms are safe to feed.

[Chuckie]

Yours sound fine. It's the ones that have been stored for any length of time in bags/warm water that seem to develop bacteria, quite possibly in the water rather than the worms themselves.

Jodi-Lea has suggested using a drop of listerine to disinfect them. Davo has also suggested using tetracycline (I think). Some people sit them in myxazin briefly before feeding. As you know where yours came from and you know they've constantly been in clean water, I probably wouldn't bother with any of those precautions.

[jo oakley]

I think your BWs would be safer than shop bought ones,

if you have kept them alive all that time with regular water changes,

I think they will be OK.

I have only stopped feeding BWS to Bettas that have had problem like fin rot or bloating,

as they are the ones that will give you trouble,

if there is something a bit Sus (this is only my experience with them)

[Bender]

Thank you, I'll give them a go. :D

[davo]

Hey Bender

Yes I use tetracycline on mine.

I normally get it from Australian Blackworms and they are very healthy to say the least.

The most common trap is to add a lot of water and to use a bubbler, i found this is a big mistake and kills the worms very fast.

Now, i use a low freezer container with a tightfitting lid.

Drill a hole in the center of the lid

Put the worms in it..say around 250 grams per 5L container with NO ADDITIONAL WATER. this is very important as the worms for some reason don't like a lot of water in this state.

This means your worms will survive much longer.

Hope that helps

David

[Bender]

Thanks David. Would you mind telling me a bit more? Now I've seen how my fish love them I'd like to get a much larger batch in future.

Do you keep them in the fridge? How long do you keep them for like that? Do you change the water? What rate do you add the tetracycline at and when do you do it?

My batch was much smaller than you describe, but I rinsed them out carefully with filtered water removing any that didn't look in excellent health, then put them in a 1100 ml takeaway container lined with layers of a brown paper bag torn up to fit. I put a hole in the lid for an airline tube, and an airstone in the tub. I used less than a litre of aged water to cover them, so we probably have about the same ratio there. They sit on a shelf under my tanks, and I change the water when I do a water change. It's about 10 weeks since I bought them, I haven't had any die off, they all seemed happy and healthy, until my fish gobbled them up!

[davo]

Hi Bender.

NP the first trap that people get is DO NOT add a lot of water to them.

Just put enough water in that doesn't get the worms dry but damp.

Don't let it get dry and change the water every 2 days by washing the worms gently with water then dumping the water out.

You don't need air.just keep them cool.

but if you are keeping themfor 10 weeksand they are still alive then that is very good

David

[killiguy]

Davo

Do you get yours in bulk(ie +500gs)If so how do you get them from "Australian blackworms"

I have got 500mls of worms from Bay wholesalers and kept them under a dripping tap,seemed an awful waste of water.The centre of the clump seemed to die off but it was a very deep bucket in comparison to the volume of worms,it seems i did the opposite thing to what you should do.I broke it up into 3 smaller clumps and put them in the fridge changing the water every day,they did poorly, again I had quite a big volume of water.

What life expectancy should I expect from 500g??kept as you say in the fridge

[davo]

Hey Doug

Yes I do get them from Australian Blackworms..planning to visit them when I come down to Melbourne in August.

It is a waste and unneccessary to do what you said.

I usually seperate them to 100 grams or less spread over 5 containers or so.

This way the worms don't crush each other off and the die off is minimal.

Anyways..hope that helps

[killiguy]

Davo your advice re blackworms was spot on .I obtained 300g a week or more ago and they are in perfect health in my fridge in just a little water

[davo]

thanks for the comments guys

For anyone in Melbourne...as you know or probably don't, i'm actually going to be visiting Melbourne at the end of August/ Early September..

if anyone wants to meet for a meal or something please PM me ..I wouldn't mind meeting some new people

Lol...

Edited June 14, 2009 by davo