blackworm culture dying?

cellodaisy

cellodaisy

AC Members
Jan 11, 2009
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Cincinnati OH 45219
meganstrickland.com
I started a blackworm culture and for several days they seemed very active---one end in the "substrate" (burlap) and one end waving around in the water. Now they're just bunched up in the substrate, not moving much.

I did some testing and figured out that my bio filter was not keeping up (I pre-seeded the media in my main tank) and was in the high-nitrite phase.

I've been doing massive water changes every day and I got an air pump set up in case it was low oxygen. Nothing seems to make a difference. Am I missing something? Is this normal behavior? :confused:
 
Don't blackworms like really cool water? Mine always seem to last a lot longer in the fridge than elsewhere.
 
They do like cooler temperatures - low to mid 70's I believe. Not fridge-like temperatures though, that's to keep blackworms and not culture them.
 
One of my local fish stores swears by using water that has been allowed to declorinate naturally, by just letting it gas off. After trying different things for years, they said that was the only way to keep them from going bad. That way they didn't need to keep the water cool.
 
All the info I could find about culturing them (rather than just storing/preserving them) said "room temperature" so I've been keeping them around 72 degrees. I do use a Stealth heater because we don't keep the house that warm in winter.

I'll try aging some water, but I'm baffled that Prime would hurt them.
 
i would be careful about letting water age. If you have municipal water the chlorine may gas off but if your city adds chloramine to your water, it is more stable and will not gas off. Prime clears the water of both of these chems. Beyond that, I'm sorry I've never cultured black worms before =/
 
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