Tubifex Worms Anyone?

[ZorroNet]

That would be very nice, Qwe. Don't go to too much trouble. I might just bite the $30 bullet and give them a try. I was thinking I could farm them in my invert tank and then seed the new guppy tank from that.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app

 

[Loach guy]

I am not sure about tubifex worms, But I used to keep live blood worms. I used to keep a sturgeon that the LFS told me needed live blood worms. So they sold me a bag of them along with the fish. I kept them in an open jar next to the tank. The very next day when i went to check on my new addition, there was a horrid smell coming from the jar of blood worms. So I ended up having to change the blood worm water every day just to keep the stench down. This went on for a month or 2. Then I noticed my water was getting nasty more and more quickly. Now this was back in the day when under-gravel was the thing to do. I was doing water changes on the tank more and more frequently. Finally I had enough of this, and figured that the under-gravel filter had to go. When I pulled up the mesh, i was in shock. The blood worms had colonized all of the area under the under-gravel screens. There was a slime that hovered the entire area. The tank instantly smelled like the jar I was keeping the live blood worms in. Never again will I go down this road. I ended up scrubbing down the tank and the substrate, and feeding FROZEN blood worms, which he ate just fine.

I am too interested in your experiment with tubifex worms, but I'm not willing to try it for myself.

 

[qwe123]

Sorry it's taking so long for me to find out. I work the same hours as my LFS and it makes it hard to find times to visit/contact them. Monday at the latest, as I get off early...

 

[ZorroNet]

Thanks, Qwe! No hurry... I appreciate you checking for me!

Loach and others, I have done more research since the initial post, and I have decided to go with black worms instead of tubifex worms. They will colonize the tank, and they are less prone to carrying disease and parasites in comparison to tubifex. I definitely don't want to introduce a carrier of disease or parasites into any of my tanks!

I'm going back to having an invert only tank with RCS this coming week, so I think that is the safest place to raise them. any thoughts on that? RCS probably won't bother them is my thought. Anybody have experience with mixing live black worms and RCS?

 

[dougall]

I've had live blackworms in a tank with RCS, no big deal.


one thing, however, I will say is to not underestimate the bioload of them; put them in a tank with the expectation of a mini-cycle and test water accordingly until you're sure you only have nitrates and no other nitrogen compounds.

 

[ZorroNet]

one thing, however, I will say is to not underestimate the bioload of them; put them in a tank with the expectation of a mini-cycle and test water accordingly until you're sure you only have nitrates and no other nitrogen compounds.

That's a VERY good point! I didn't think about that, so thank you for that mention.

 

[dougall]

That's a VERY good point! I didn't think about that, so thank you for that mention.

especially if they start to die off, they can be kind of fragile IME.

Another thing to pay attention is that from some suppliers, there can be leeches in with the worms, and obviously this isn't ideal, it's possible to remove leeches at normal temperature by giving them something to climb that the worms are unable to... PVC works well.

anyway, for more information,if you'd like to keep just the worms alone for now (or some of them anyway)

1. an article from simply discus about how to keep them in a normal aquarium. with some bits of brown paper.
http://www.simplydiscus.com/library/foods_nutritions/livefood_cultures/blackworms_cultures.shtml

2. an article from one of the monthly newsletter from one of the aquarium societies I belong to (Starts on page 11 I think)
http://www.aclcpa.org/tank-tales/category/5-tank-tales-2012-issues?download=36:april-2012-issue

hope they give you a little more information... blackworms are awesome. and I find a good food for adult sized fish as opposed from the live foods normally associated with raising fry.

 

[qwe123]

I also have some worms and RCS together in a 5 gal without a problem.

The LFS I use does have leeches in their worms... I haven't had a problem with them though. I don't take them out or anything, just let them get eaten with the worms, lol.

So I priced them out, and a small flat rate box plus about 3 teaspoons (their portions) would be $10. I've never ordered from that website, or tried weighing them, so I'm really not sure how much that would be compared to the prices on California Blackworms...

 

[Star_Rider]

I am not sure about tubifex worms, But I used to keep live blood worms. I used to keep a sturgeon that the LFS told me needed live blood worms. So they sold me a bag of them along with the fish. I kept them in an open jar next to the tank. The very next day when i went to check on my new addition, there was a horrid smell coming from the jar of blood worms. So I ended up having to change the blood worm water every day just to keep the stench down. This went on for a month or 2. Then I noticed my water was getting nasty more and more quickly. Now this was back in the day when under-gravel was the thing to do. I was doing water changes on the tank more and more frequently. Finally I had enough of this, and figured that the under-gravel filter had to go. When I pulled up the mesh, i was in shock. The blood worms had colonized all of the area under the under-gravel screens. There was a slime that hovered the entire area. The tank instantly smelled like the jar I was keeping the live blood worms in. Never again will I go down this road. I ended up scrubbing down the tank and the substrate, and feeding FROZEN blood worms, which he ate just fine.

I am too interested in your experiment with tubifex worms, but I'm not willing to try it for myself.

are you certain these were blood worms??
Blood worms are actually the larval stage of the midge fly aka chironomid.
they are also a detritus worm this stage .. the ave life in the larval stage is 2-7 weeks where they then become a pupae and swim slowly to the surface to emerge as the midge.

the most common concern of tubifex. especially live is the transmission of parasite or other pathogens.. which is why many folks prefer freeze dried as they are less prone to carry a pathogen.

 

[dougall]

The LFS I use does have leeches in their worms... I haven't had a problem with them though. I don't take them out or anything, just let them get eaten with the worms, lol.

So I priced them out, and a small flat rate box plus about 3 teaspoons (their portions) would be $10. I've never ordered from that website, or tried weighing them, so I'm really not sure how much that would be compared to the prices on California Blackworms...

The problem with the leeches is not when the worms are refrigerated, but they will eat the worms when trying to culture/grow them, I.E. at room temperature or so.


and when shipping worms, be sure that they are rinsed with aged water as much as possible, and kept as cold as possible for the duration of shipping to keep metabolism slow; Normally worms would be shipped with dry ice and/or cold packs so they don't arrive as a worm+ammonia soup.