Freeze-Dried Blood Worms + Corys = Belly-Up?

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May 9, 2009
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Davidsonville, MD
I had several Corys become sick with clamped fins, lethargy, then death (one even had a ruptured stomach) after feeding Hikari freeze-dried blood worms. None of the other fish in the tank (Cardinals, Glofish, Rummynose) had any illness. The Corys had been in quarantine for several weeks previous with no sign of trouble. Coincidence? Something else?
 
Were the cory eating the freeze dried Hikari while in QT?
 
No, I didn't buy the blood worms until after the Corys were in the main tank. And nobody has become sick since I stopped feeding the Blood Worms.
 
Just a thought, nothing to back it up, was just wondering if the freeze dried food could expand considerably afterwards in those piggy little cory. I don't use any freeze dried foods, so no real experience with it. Tank size? Water parameters from a good liquid test kit?
 
The tank is a 46-gallon bowfront. I keep on top of the water parameters, typically 0 0 5. G3 filter, Caribsea sand, lots of happy fish. Established for 2 years.
 
Do you hydrate the freeze dried food first or just add it to the tank and let them eat it? I had a customer who bought some freeze dried blood worms from me a while back along with some really nice, healthy angels. I told him to hydrate them (freeze dried bw) first before feeding or they could cause bloat. Well - I didn't explain it well enough and he just added them to the tank. The angels ate them like crazy but in a couple of days they all had bloat and I think he lost all of them. Lesson learned for both of us. If you are going to feed them, I would let them soak in water for 10 or 15 minutes first, pour off the yucky water and feed. I only use frozen bw just to be safe.
 
I did not soak the bloodworms before feeding. I had done so previously, but had stopped after reading many posts saying that it was unnecessary. Not decisive, but something to raise suspicions, for sure.
 
If it makes any difference I too feed the freeze dried blood worms to my cories (same brand) with no problem, however they float on the surface a while until they get water logged and then drop to the bottom where my cories devour them. I've had none of the same issues you are having..*knocks on wood*
 
Juice said:
If it makes any difference I too feed the freeze dried blood worms to my cories (same brand) with no problem, however they float on the surface a while until they get water logged and then drop to the bottom where my cories devour them. I've had none of the same issues you are having..*knocks on wood*
Click to expand...

Hey Juice - I kinda wondered about that too. Angels eat like pigs but they were eating them as soon as they hit the water. My cories don't come to the surface to eat either - curious to see if zomzom's were coming up and eating them off the surface or waiting until they hit the bottom.
 
possible that the digestive tracks are a bit different...???
 
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