Okay clearly I got this wrong about what a bloodworm technically is based on a visual that I saw of them on my turtle. However, I won’t back down in saying that they are 100% bad for fish. The only time this issue ever happened to me was after feeding them. Even if it was an over feeding, shouldn’t we be feeding products that our fish can’t kill themselves eating? I’ll make a more in depth video about this later but I’m sure they were the issue.
I believe it’s the way they are farmed that causes these issues.. these are benthic organisms. Who knows what kind of filth they let them proliferate in at farms
you over fed and dropped them in there frozen. we see what you did. cant say blood-worms are bad when there's years of evidence for them being perfectly fine for appropriate fish. plecos arent one of them. they cant handle too much protein. ive spent 4 years studying this and got a degree for aquatic biology. its ok to make a mistake, its not ok to pass misinformation because you cant admit your mistake.
I don't know if you've experienced this but last year I started keeping fish. I wanted my rams to breed so I got frozen blood worms. For a few purchases it seemed fine. Then one day I noticed a strong, disgusting iron odor when i was about to put it in the tank. It was so gross I didn't think it was good to put it in my tank. I bought a bunch of blood worms from a bunch of stores and they all smelled nasty. It took like 8 purchases to finally find one that didn't smell bad at all. I tried all the brands and it happened to be the same brand from another batch that smelled nasty. I think it doesn't probably matter the brand but maybe if the packages have been sitting in the store too long it begins to rot. So, now I feed baby brine shrimp more and only sometimes blood worms. Can you attest to this at all? I also noticed my fish eating the blood worms like crazy before I noticed the smell and after feeding smelly blood worms, the fish seemed a tiny bit more hesitant so, I think there is something to it. Let me know your thoughts!
Weve also had issues in SE QLD from frozen blood worms. It might be a locality supply issue rather than the worms themselves. Plus we have midges here and they constantly breed in your tanks anyway just your fish will eat them immediately. Id check you dont also have a nematode issue though mate. Maybe dissect something you've lost and see if their bodies have worms inside them that are small and red and reference them to camallanus worms. Good luck mate. Hope it isnt nematodes aswell but if you dont have it you can find praziquantel and some others via produce stores and I think witches brew might work too but normal aquarium medicines we have access too dont as far as I know.
@KeepingFishSimple there is not much benefit to blood worms. They just had good marketing. If you want fresh foods you gotta keep a black worms or daphnia culture. Otherwise use algea wafers with dried shrimp in it and hikari micro food in tanks for diversity and non bloating foods.
Bloodworms aren't worms, nor are they parasitic. They're the larval stage of certain midges in the family Chironomidae and form the basis of the diets of many wild fish. They're detritivores, feeding on rotting plant matter at the bottom of still or slow water bodies, they don't feed on the blood of other animals like some adult midge do. Your turtle likely just had a few accidentally hitching a ride when the sediment was kicked up whilst you were catching it. Their colour is due to the high levels of hemoglobin in their bodies. They're adapted to living in low oxygen, benthic environments, and high Chronomid counts with low counts of say, Ephemeroptera (mayfly larvae) is often a good indication of poor water quality or pollution. This isn't a chatGPT answer, I work as an ecologist, and I've spent countless hours looking at freshwater macro-invertebrates under a microscope haha. It's unlikely to be chironomids themselves (although they are known to occasionally cause serious allergic reactions in humans). More likely feeding method or poor product quality (or both).
Great comment! Who knows where these companies source their blood worms and what precautions they take. Best to cultivate them yourself in clean water ( exceptionally easy!) and feed them as a supplement 😊
The allergic response from humans is real, and also very weird. I developed a reaction very suddenly, and found that in the end I was unable to take a frozen pack from the freezer and squeeze out a block into a tank, without getting a reaction. I wore gloves for a while, and in the end just gave up on them. I would get terribly itchy hands and arms, with the irritation spreading far beyond the area where I made contact with anything that had been in contact with the worms. Awful stuff.
I’m 52 years old. I’ve never had a loss or illness associated with feeding frozen bloodworms or any other frozen food. I always thaw ahead and strain before feeding so very little of the liquid in the frozen cubes get inside the tank. I’ve been feeding frozen bloodworms since 1998.
I'm 68 and have been in the hobby since 1971. Been feeding frozen bloodworms for at least 30 years without issues. I always thaw them in water , drain and rinse in a net , then add them to fresh water before feeding.
Bloodworms are the larval form of midges, similar to the mosquito larvae you feed your fish. They are called Bloodworms because of their colour which comes from a high level of haemoglobin allowing them to live in water with low oxygen. You might want to do some research and redo this video Nick.
@@AndrewFishman What he is saying about the worms themselves is just factually very wrong. Definitely not a good look when you are trying to educate people to not feed with them. Not that I disagree with bloodworms being bad, but the reasoning in the video is not it.
The issue is not in the bloodworms themselves, they are not parasitic. The issue is usually with the frozen block itself. Never drop a frozen cube directly into a tank. If a fish should ingest a frozen piece of food it will be lethal to the fish. Also the worms themselves in processing are rarely rinsed before freezing. This is why you thaw them in a container first, pour them into a white brine shrimp net and rinse the hell out of them to remove any contaminates that might have been frozen with the bloodworms. Even when I fed live bloodworms I would scoop them out and rinse them several times before feeding them. My bloodworm cultures would be cleaned daily and new water put in. Bloodworms are an excellent food for your fish if feed properly.
Also Id like to point out having a varied diet is good. If we only ate shrimp all the time we can develop kidney disease or gout, its the same for fish
Wow never really thought of that. The only reason why I don’t drop the frozen cube directly is because I want all the fish in the tank to not really compete with each other
... Red worms are the larvae of midge flies, which are insects that are similar to mosquitoes but don't bite. The red color of the larvae comes from hemoglobin in their bodies, and they are often called bloodworms.
The red blood is produced by the worm not from feeding on blood, shouldn't be a problem since it's the same stuff in tubifex or daphnia that makes them red, same as our blood. The larva worms are bottom dwelling and feed on organic detritus like leaves, not sure what the commercially produced ones are fed though, it is possible they were raised in polluted conditions.
Midge fly larvae are also called bloodworms, but most bloodworms sold as fish food are actually tubifex, which are completely different. They also don’t eat blood, but rather bacteria and particles in the sediment.
I am so sorry for the loss of your fish. Thank you for sharing this experience. I know many will not agree with you, but you didn't make this comment for them. Thank you for sharing with those who will listen. Again, so sorry for your loss.
Bloodworms are not parasitic, they don't feed on blood. I don't know what you saw on your turtle but it wasn't bloodworms. Bloodworms aren't meant to be a staple, and they are going to cause bloat if you're using them to power feed your stock. Not to mention that they don't keep well and aren't transported properly as frozen. I definitely agree that people shouldn't be using frozen bloodworms but not because they are a parasite. I'd highly consider taking this video down because it's full of misinformation that isn't great for your brand.
Bloodworms can be parasitic this is a known fact in many tropical countries. If you have a wounds and walk bare foot in water containing bloodworms, they can burrow inside the wound and feed from your flesh there. They can stay inside for a week without you noticing. You will have to remove them with a tweezer most of the time.
@@miriades Sounds like you're referring to something like Hookworm. "Bloodworm" (not a worm) is the larva of Chironomids (non-biting midges), most species in the family feed on algae, detritus, microorganisms, aquatic plants, wood debris. With only some species being parasites or commensal partners on other invertebrates, they don't host mammals, fishes etc.
Even if he is getting basic biology wrong or perhaps he is not preparing them correctly, I’m glad he is dropping this video so we can learn from his mistakes.
@ it sounds like from the comment section he isn’t thawing or rinsing them beforehand. Or perhaps he is purchasing them from a bad vendor or not storing them properly. I don’t know I’ve never used them before, though I might in the future, unless I’m convinced it’s a bad idea. I do agree he bears responsibility for the misinformation, but I wouldn’t have known about the risks without seeing this video.
I lost adult long finned rosy barb females to feeding frozen bloodworms.... no issue with any other frozen food (and yes I thaw and rinse them first) and use a dropper so each fish gets specific amount.. exact same way I feed frozen brine shrimp .. there isn't extra and it's 100% the bloodworms causing issues brine shrimp 2x a week, bloodworms 1x every 2 wks and every time I loose fish - and after 26 years of keeping fish I'm not a newbie.
*Don't feed frozen food directly into your tank* it's the water and juice they're in, not the food. I use a tea strainer and rinse frozen food after its thawed and put it in the tank as they eat it. Hope this helps! Love the vids! Sorry for your loss man. It would be cool to test the melted ice and juice from the worms and see whats in it under a scope.
@honzanavratil4183I think the issue is feeding it daily in large quantities or even multiple times a day. If you feed it occasionally they can digest without causing issues most of the time. At least that it my experience.
@@taiterz1046 Nah I’m in the US but I agree it could definitely be a regional issue regarding the diet the blood worms are raised on and where they’re sourced from. I mainly feed brine shrimp and insect flakes to my rams, apistos, tetras, corys and discus but they all get blood worms 3-4 times a week as well and they’re all thriving.
I’m a little confused. Blood worms eat organic detritus, microscope particles in the water. They live in the top few centimetres of mud or substrate. They aren’t a parasitic thing like leaches that latch onto something to feed off it. Not saying anything he’s saying is wrong or untrue, I’ve just never experienced what he’s talking about.
Everything he said is wrong. They are the larvae of a chrominid midge, laid into the ponds as eggs and, as you note, are detritus feeders. You are less confused than he is.
I'm sorry you've had trouble with bloodworms, but please don't blame the food source or product if it's being used incorrectly, as shown in the video with a frozen block floating in the water. Frozen food should never be added directly to the tank; always defrost it in some tank water first. I've been feeding bloodworms and other frozen foods for over 20 years without any issues. I use a plastic cup to scoop a bit of tank water to thaw the food, then I only give what the fish will eat and discard any leftovers.
I usually just defrost mine in warm tap water while I'm washing the cat bowls ( feeding time at the zoo of home) As I feed my cats fresh kangaroo usually at the time of cleaning and washing the bowls the fly maggots have been laid, I also harvest them for the fish as well, the fish go crazy over the maggots (free protein, free food, you quickly loose the yuk factor when you see the fish going mad over them, I went to Perth for 2 nights over Xmas and when I got back I scored 3 desert spoons of the maggots, no need to feed anything else for the rest of the day to 2 stocked 5 foot fish tanks there was plenty of free food)
If it's not from expired lots, i think its from them thawing freezing thawing freezing over and over when getting shipped from store to store. And they spoil while being thawed out during the moving around?
I will drop a comment here with my experience. I never, EVER had problems with feeding bloodworms to fish, cyprinids, tetras, corys, plecos, shrimp, bettas and thats all (i dont know how cichlids for example react to bloodworms). In my oppinion, your problem is that you fed them too much bloodworm. You said you wanted to fatten them up. So im sure you just plopped a cube or two in a tank, where the fish got the possibility to get FULL FULL of bloodworms. When I feed bloodworms, i first thaw them, and the fish dont eat a lot, maximum 2-3 worms per fish. I had pygmy corys eat bloodworms, huge bloodworms bigger than their stomach probably and never ever had problems. Besides the quantity, also variety is very important. Maybe after a bloodworm feeding, you guys should either dont feed for a day or two, or feed light food, like algae wafers, algae flakes, veggies etc. Honestly, i dont think its worth feeding bloodworms to very expensive fish, like you unfortunately did! Its your choice tho, but im sure that everyone who keeps expensive fish also can feed the fish more expensive foods, like brine shrimp or high quality prepared foods. So the key for me is dont feed a lot, and give the fish variety to foods. Note: i always thaw my frozen food, whatever it is. By the way, im a 15 year old that didnt learn english as its first language, so bear with me😅 Merry christmas! Happy holidays!
i have been feeding for a couple years, no prob. if there was a prob i would switch to feeding with chopped live earthworms, which i use as a change up food. the one thing i notice is the bettas will eat like gluttons and it can blow them up. i had them eject eggs after eating too much. so take it easy with the portion size.
@@bobs5596 I have a betta for a few months now, i just fed him bloodworms once, it was only 2 worms. I agree, bettas should truly be underfed. Dont worry, i mostly keep him on vibra bites and crushed algae wafers, just as a filler for his stomach. I also feed live tubifex, live cherry shrimp and apparently he likes pest snails. Demolishes the pest snails! Lol, he doesnt eat the shells!
12 hours late, but as a biologist and fish health consultant, I have to disagree with you, Nick, on your complete denigration of bloodworms. You've somehow got the biology of these creatures wrong, please see earlier comments for the facts. I've been keeping fish for over 50 years and have encountered a few problems with bloodworms myself, but on the whole they are a good food for fishes. I concur with others here that they should be fed in moderation to fishes whose diet is not 80% insectivorous. I culture my own outside and feed sparingly to corys when I want to condition them for spawning. No problems. In the winter I feed frozen bloodworms, but I chop them up so the small fish can get some. Three important points I would make. 1) bloodworms feed on mud and detritus. Protozoa, bacteria and fungi live in mud. Quite a few of these environmental bacteria are facultative pathogens, for example, E. coli. If the bloodworms have hatched into a pond with large numbers of potentially pathogenic bacteria, their guts will be full of these when they are harvested and frozen. Theoretically, freezing kills bacteria, but the toxins they secrete remain intact. Not all the bacteria will be killed and those that survive will quickly multiply at warm temperatures to levels where they can kill people, let alone fish. Residual toxins can kill fishes and amphibians - even in miniscule amounts. 2) The preparation and freezing process must be controlled. I keep my bloodworms in tap water overnight so they empty their guts to build their protective tubes. I then have to stir them up to break up their tubes. If the commercial bloodworms aren't allowed to empty their guts, they will retain potentially harmful organisms that will be ingested by our fishes. If the freezer temperature does not fall below -18°C not all the bacteria will perish. 3) Fishes love bloodworms. So much so that they tend to gorge themselves. Bloodworms are mostly chitin, which is indigestible for most fish. This can cause blockages in the hind gut, which prevent the passage of faeces leading to perforation, bleeding into the peritoneum, sepsis and death. Non-perforate blockage can obstruct blood flow to the gut lining causing tissue death and possibly gangrene. In fish, this can happen pretty quickly. Also, if the packs have been allowed to partially thaw at some point in their history, the blood would have started to decompose and any pathogenic bacteria would have multiplied. This is not the full story, but it should give you some ideas of what may have happened and what you can do to avoid repetition in the future. One observation I have is the dead zebra pleco you say died of bloat. You say that you have been feeding Bug Buffet almost exclusively for a while now. The natural diet of the zebra plecs includes bloodworms. If the fish hadn't seen live bloodworms for some while, I would suggest that they gorged themselves. The bloating could be due to causes mentioned above, or could be caused by environmental yeasts fermenting the gut contents in blockage.
Im from the same area as Nick and we've had issues with frozen bloodworms too so I believe there is an issue with local supply quality. Also I think he may have seen or been confused with a nematode worm possibly too. We unfortunately do get cammalanus worms here and they look relatively similar if not smaller and are as he said. What he described does actually fit them. They are often introduced to our ponds via birds and are a parasitic red worm that also can cause bloat and suck blood and kill fish.
Basically, there is a risk with all frozen food. Basically, they are dead animal products that can form toxic degradation products if stored and transported incorrectly - the higher the protein content, the more so. We also feed raw products to our animals, so we need to be even more careful. I also feed bloodworms and have never had any problems.
Even though fish eat frozen cubes many times without seeming to hurt, it's because they are motivated and triggered by food and will keep eating despite its effect on their digestive systems, even to their detriment. Frozen foods should be thawed before feeding and fed in moderation, sparingly, not as a daily feed. Fish will overeat and just like people, it can have disastrous effects. I've kept, bred and raised fish for decades while feeding bloodworms and have never had problems. I always, always thaw them first, I don't overfeed, I feed sparingly and I use them as part of a widely varied diet that is geared to their feeding needs (omnivore, carnivore, herbivore, detrivore). I know how devastating it can be to lose a fish you've been raising for years to breed, like zebra plecos, rainbows etc. Moderation is key when dealing with fish as well as many other aspects of animal husbandry. I know you are sorely affected by your losses but please rethink the gist of this video so that those who are new to the hobby are not misinformed. Best of luck in your breeding ventures.
From my experience they are not suitable for some fish like dwarf cichlids due to digestive system. I lost some due to bloated. Plus the live ones could care parasites or bacterial. About the frozen process, you should always defrost first and put in a glass of aquarium water before feeding the fish or even rinse the frozen food specially bloodworms. People learn from mistakes. Take care, have a good new year!
@@andrewjames4783 there is a old german research saying bloodworms can cause fish skittish reaction and can cause stress to fish. Probably has something to do with unseen pathogens
I think the issue is dropping the frozen block directly into the tank. I personally defrost the bloodworms ice cube in a pot of water outside the tank. Once fully defrosted, I pour them into a brine shrimp net and rince them under the tap for around 20 seconds. This also removes the water which they are cultivated and frozen in, which I also don't really want in my tank.
I don't go as far as washing them, but I hold the cube between my fingers at the top of the water and rub the cube back and forth until they start to fall free and aren't frozen, I regularly feed blood worms to various tanks I have, pea puffers daily for sure
Dropping frozen blocks in aquarium is probably the biggest reason, yes! I have lost also some fish to frozen food, when using described method. Probably low temperature causes digestive problems. The solution is to presoak them in AQUARIUM water (not tap water!) overnight and feed in the morning or per schedule. Still feeding a lot of frozen, live or general food can cause water quality to decline. Also, fish are not heavy feeders and usually can go a few days with no food.
I think the issue is dropping the whole frozen block in, lately I've been thawing out the block in water before tipping it into the tank. Haven't had any problems with them since. I did find that some fish with small mouths might choke on them.
Feeding bloodworms to aquarium fish is generally safe and nutritious, but there are some potential issues to be aware of: 1. Digestive Problems • Overfeeding: Bloodworms are rich in protein, and excessive feeding can lead to digestive problems like bloating or constipation, especially in fish not adapted to high-protein diets. • Suitability: Some herbivorous or omnivorous fish may struggle to digest bloodworms effectively. 2. Allergies and Sensitivities • Fish (and sometimes humans) can develop allergic reactions to bloodworms. For fish, this might manifest as reduced appetite or erratic behavior after feeding. 3. Risk of Disease • Live Bloodworms: Feeding live bloodworms can introduce parasites or harmful bacteria into the aquarium. Freezing or freeze-drying bloodworms reduces this risk. 4. Nutritional Imbalance • Bloodworms are a good source of protein but lack some essential vitamins and minerals. Feeding them exclusively can lead to nutritional deficiencies in fish. 5. Water Quality Issues • Uneaten bloodworms can quickly decay and pollute the aquarium water, leading to ammonia spikes that harm fish. 6. Aggression • Bloodworms can trigger aggressive behavior among fish, especially in species with a strong predatory instinct. Recommendations: • Moderation: Use bloodworms as a treat or supplement rather than a staple food. • Quality Source: Opt for frozen or freeze-dried bloodworms to minimize disease risks. • Monitor Fish Behavior: Observe your fish after feeding to ensure they tolerate bloodworms well. • Clean-Up: Remove uneaten bloodworms promptly to maintain water quality. Bloodworms can be a valuable addition to a balanced diet for many fish but should be used thoughtfully.
Live brine shrimp suddenly sounds like no brainer with all upsides and no downsides. I have seen fishes overeating brineshrimp until their bellies almost explode yet they do fine
wow, I'm throwing out all my frozen blood worms. I have noticed lately my platys and rainbows started dying of bloat and the only common denominator is that I have been starting to feed them frozen blood worms. I do thaw them in aquarium water before I feed them then a few days after the feeding I noticed bloat but I didn't necessarily attribute it to blood worms. The bloat killed all of my dwarf rainbows and a handful of platys. Combined with seeing this, I'm now convinced they are bad. Sorry you had to lose some fish. We live and learn. Enjoy the rest of the Holiday season.
I am sorry you had a problem with your fish and you're so upset and I hope you feel better soon. But this is the worst video I have seen from you this far. You clearly don't even know what a bloodworm is and what it eats and still you just spout some random ideas and give people advise based on your feelings. This is a really bad look on you if you want to be taken seriously. Next time do some research first, you make yourself look dumb and very immature now because it is very clear you made this out of frustration and not for education otherwise you would have found out what a bloodworm even is first and not just run with your feelings on the matter. We all have these moment our feelings try to take over, but take a deep breath and see if you can do something more usefull if you want to share online (like finding info on bloodworm and try to find out what maybe the problem is based on science and not feelings) and if you just want to vent call a mate. I wish you and your fishy friends the best for 2025!
I think he was angry and emotional when he made this video. I know some fish breeders who source their bloodworms from the wild and have never had problems, but it's a case-by-case issue. He should contact the bloodworm manufacturer if he is sure that the cause of his fish's death is their product.
I’ve stopping doing blood worm feedings for a different reason, I’ve never had a problem with fish eating it and mine seem to go crazy for it. However apparently I developed an allergic reaction to them. Every time I feed the blood worms I get rashes, which is interesting cause I’ve never had this happen when I was younger.
Yeah this is what I was going to comment that I've been hearing about a lot lately. Apparently becoming quite a notable thing that people are developing this allergy from continued exposure. One of the reasons I've stopped using them. Like, with this, the other issues I've heard of, and there being plenty of other options, why keep using them?
Never had a problem with frozen bloodworms in the years I’ve used it. I think many people feed too much of them at one time and or too frequently. I usually feed less quantity and/or substitute it with something rich in fiber such as, krill, brine, or a veggie based food.
Like anything - feeding in moderation is key. Bloodworms can cause digestive problems if fed too much too often, as a supplemental food they are fine. They are an insect, the legs give that away. The chitinous shell can be hard to digest, so too much too often will lead to digestive issues in things like DCs and Bettas and some catfish.
This. People keep swearing by bloodworms without admitting that they are indeed hard to digest. Furthermore it is no brainer there will be pathogens coming from mass production facilities
you said it best, feeding in moderation is key, also variety in the diet IMO. I know few Betta farms that occasionally fed their Bettas bloodworm and they never had any issue with Bettas dying from eating bloodworm.
I don't know if it's just an issue in Australia because I've fed my fish frozen bloodworms occasionally for decades and never had an issue. Some difficult wild caught specimens I've kept, that's all they would eat.
So sorry for your losses, the hardest ones to take are the ones you know you could've prevented, but I'll tell you what, you have saved so many people that pain by putting out these videos. For every fish that you lost, you've probably saved thousands of others.
Been in the hobby for 60+ years and have never had a problem with bloodworms. One of my tanks is a pea puffer tank and they will only eat bloodworms, fed twice a day and I still have the original 7 puffers I started out with 4 years ago. I even feed blood worms to my reef tank. Nick, make sure you get your bloodworms from a reputable company, your source sounds suspect.
He’s not saying why not to. What’s wrong with them. Other than he’s had a couple fish die, without proof it’s from the food how are we to believe this. I’d really like to know what the actual issue with bloodworms is.
He said he thinks it’s because bloodworms feed on the blood of other animals e.g. fish, turtles, birds, and therefore any bacteria or other parasites could be picked up from those sources. Compare this to brine shrimp, daphnia or mosquito larvae which basically eat plankton and are therefore much safer
In 40 years I can safely say that feeding frozen bloodworms has never cost me a fish. Feed in moderation and they are fine supplemental food. Grindal worms and blackworms are better to gross feed for putting on breeding bulk. Or mysis shrimp, earthworms and other high protein foods.
@ yeah but blood worms eat decaying detritus, and microscopic particles in the water and they live in the top few cm of mud or substrate. They aren’t like a leech or other parasite that lives off other animals.
@ yes. This video seems like a bit of a knee jerk reaction. I’d really like to know more about what happened. But I can understand his fury and frustration from loosing fish. No one like to loose a fish especially when you think you e done everything right. It can be gutting.
@@vhwft Yes, they are detritus feeding larvae of the chrominid midge, a small insect. That is how they just appear in a pond. The parents are aerial insects. Where you have mosquito larvae, you will probably also have bloodworms. The issues can arise from overfeeding too much too often, causing compaction of the shells in the stomach leading to constipation and possible death.
I stopped feeding bloodworms a long time ago because they can cause internal bacterial problems. I stick to frozen brine shrimp and frozen glassworm. I believe the problem is because of partial thawing during transport!
Try Hikari which is a reputable brand. I usually thaw the cubes in a container with fish tank water, feed the bloodied water to my plants, spray some vitamins on the bw before feeding my fish once a week as treat. Never had any issue!
Yep, as many above have written, the blood worms I know of are midge larvae. The worms you seem to be talking about and maybe confusing them with are tubifex worms, which do feed on detritus and can cause bloating if over fed.
That sucks, Nick,. I am truly sorry for your loss. I am, however, grateful for the lessons I've learned from your selfless sharing of this video. In response, the fish-keeping community reacted with many comments of many years in the hobby. On occasion, I have dropped chunks of frozen foods into my tanks. I will never NOT thaw again because now I understand why I shouldn't. Never before had I heard the importance of rinsing thawed frozen foods. I will never NOT do that again because now I understand why I should. Again, thank you all.
I like that you shared an honest rant! This is something I’ve never noticed with my fish before but I’m gonna pay more attention now to see if I notice something like this happening too
Nick, it looks like you're putting frozen food directly in your tank to feed. The shock of eating ice in frozen food will often kill fish. You're also introducing foul water the foods are frozen in to your tank by adding the frozen food directly. You must thaw and rinse your frozen foods before introducing them to your tank, so you avoid adding bad water or ice. If you aren't already doing this for your frozen daphnia, you should be.
thank you ! I only have 2 female bettas each one in their own 5 gallon tank. I gave them frozen bloodworms and when I tried them a week later, both girls would not eat them ! I pitched them after learning about them. love your channel and your tanks !
As other people are saying, chironomus larvae are Not parasitic. From a bio-security perspective One should only Feed from indoors in situ Feeder colonies so you can Control every step. Having Said that im really sorry for your Loss. Im Sure everyone in the hobby has Lost One or more tresured Pets for one reason or the other
Thanks for the advice. Come to think of it, this has been my longest run with no dead fish, and have been forgetting to feed the bloodworms I still have in the freezer. Anecdotal, but might as well keep up the plan that’s working.
I’ve been feeding my green spotted and pea puffers frozen bloodworm for approx 5 years, but I always let them defrost and never drop a frozen cube in, and they are all doing amazing, and each tank also has a pleco which again, are doing great!
I very rarely feed my fish bloodworms but I can't say I've had the same problem. I'm not chucking the one pack in the freezer I have. That stuffs not cheap.
Thank you, Nick. This was a useful video. There are many commenters who shared similar experiences and many who have never seen anything like what you went through. You sure did stimulate a lot of chatter, even some heartless drivel, but there is a learning experience within it all for those who keep their minds open. I thoroughly enjoy your videos.
Hey mate, what you described as a parasitic red worm sounds like a nematode, specifically the camallanus variety. They do get spread by birds to ponds, suck blood and are red worms and cause bloat/kill fish. Having had both in tanks they are very hads to tell apart too aside from where they actually live. Blood worms live in gravel/mid/detritus and mulm on the bottom whereas the nematodes will be in/on fish but if you had paraguarded or similar the dead nematodes fall to the gravel too (parasite medicine can't kill all of them or break the lifecycle either and only affects ones in certain parts of the fish). And I can 100% guarantee nematodes are present in SE QLD. We first saw them nearly 20 years ago in the bayside and more recently had them out your way in the Ipswich region.
I don’t think blood worms are the issue. I have been feeding them for years. Could it be you are over feeding? The worms are not eaten and they are causing the water to be contaminated?
Iv had what appeared to be loft installation type material often used in propergating aquatic plants in mine. Now I always defrost, check and smell then drain. It does give fish certain benifits that generally can't be found in dry foods. I'm siding with Nick and rarely using it from now on. Hikari factory in Japan is huge. They make amazing fish food. Fish is Japanese culture. They are world leaders. Germanys jbl is also excellent food.
Thank you for putting this out. I have experienced the exact same results with blood worms. I have been attacked in the community for saying such a thing. Thank you!!!
Thank you so much for putting this video up. Really feel for you atm and in a selfish way wished you had put it on two weeks ago. In the last week i have just lost about 17 fish, woke up on xmas day with 9 dead fish. Two weeks ago I bought a pack of Blood worms and a pack of daphnia.7 Celestial pearl danio, 7 tetra, 1 expensive male Betta 1 harlequin rasbora and a Otocinclus .Thank you for answering the questions ive been asking myself all week, Best wishes and happy new year young sir, Glenn
I agree with the fact that fish food should be handle carefully , I always put it in the fridge the night before I use it .The problem is not the compagny who actually made the food it's all the step that come after that , transportation and how from one shop to another they make sure it always stay at the right temperature. Most comment seems to be about how you handle the frozen bloodworm .The first guy I met when I start in the hobby which is a friend now told me bloodworm are not a good food , it's not clean.He told me that after I lost many fish and the only thing we could see was all about the food which was bloodworm.The guy is a vet and he know there is always a risk with frozen food , no food is 0% clean of bacteria.In this hobby the most important thing I have learn is to trust my instinct .If your instinct told you to not use frozen bloodworm just stop.
That's strange, but it explains something to me, too. I had 3 well established tanks. I lost 2 corys in one, 3 zebra dainos in another and a beautiful angel in the last after feeding frozen blood worms. It was driving me nuts trying to figure it out why. All water perimeters and temperature were fine. I'm tossing the blood worms and will NEVER feed them again.
Are you defrosting before you feed them??been keeping fish for 30+ years never had a problem and have always defrosted them in a cup of water on the top of the tanks for a good 30-60 minutes.
Been feeding bloodworms for decades without any problems but I only feed them as an occasional treat. I dissolve then in warm water and use a turkey baster........I never put a frozen cube in my tanks.
Love the work you do, and I am beyond over the moon that younger folks are so intensely into this greatest of hobbies and vocations. Sharing even these difficult things is what the very best do. You are doing fantastic!
As far as i'm aware Bloodworm are strictly a now and then treat, not the go to food to conditioning fish for breeding, as given regularly in high volume, Bloodworm can bloat and constipate fish.
been in the hobby over 30 years plus breed everything from fresh to salt feed bloodworms maybe twice ever they never seemed to fit a need or made sense. I don't think there bad but I think if you get frozen you really need to clean them off and let them thaw in separate container dispose that liquid wash the worms off
Do you think the frozen bloodworms were spoiled somehow? It could be you got a bad batch.. like a food poisoning kinda of situation. Sorry to hear that bro. My condolences. I do enjoy your videos. Keep your head up brother.
@moshpitsonly2778 hmm was all the fish affected? If not it maybe something else is ary. Perhaps a single fish eating too many gave it stomach issues ans bloating that cause organ failure? I am very new to aquarium but I am familiar with human food born pathogens
Confirms what I thought caused the death of several EBA's I lost. Feeding them bloodworms was the only thing out of the norm that happened when I lost them. I racked my brain trying to figure out what happened.
Nick, I appreciate your warning about blood worms, though my experience has been one of absolutely no losses, I got into tropical fish in March this year now I have 2 five foot tanks, I have fed frozen and dried blood worms almost since the beginning of my enterence into the hobby and to my knowledge I have not lost one fish to them, and mine are fed frozen blood worms (and frozen brine shrimp) dried blood worms, dried brine shrimp and I also grow brine shrimp, every day, They get other assortment of various dry feeds as well. I am in Western Australia, maybe the places where you are, sells dodgy blood worms and the only way you can confirm your suspicions is to prove them via getting a sample of blood worms around your area, and different brands tested via a lab that way, if it turns out to be something wrong with the blood worms you have proof to take to the company for any action you feel is needed. I like you love my fish, and wouldn't in any way hurt them intentionally, and I have obviously no where near as many fish as you do, but my existing community tanks have 130 ish fish, and since June, bred and sold over 150 Mollies (and their parents) Since March 2024 of course I have had a few loses but I have put that down to mistakes made in learning the hobby also I live in a small rural town so any help isn't just around the corner it is a long drive to get advice in my case I deal mostly with 5 shops who sell blood worms, I think if their was a chance one of their products caused fatalities in all their customers fish, big problems and financial loss would arise for those shops.
I am really sorry Nick. I also lost two of my beautiful red angels after eating mosquito larvae so will never feed it again. I have read the other comments from other fish keepers who have far more experience but I will be sticking with brine shrimp, daphnia & really good quality packet food.
It's more likely that your overfeeding is the issue, causing an ammonia spike, your high protein added to an aquarium causes all sorts of chemical imbalance, even after the fish have eaten it, high protein still remains in the water.
I feed bloodworm to my fish but not the frozen kind. I feed freeze dried form. I put them in a salt shaker grinder and grind them up with a mixture of daphnia. Have had no issues. Also feed live brine shrimp too. I alternate between the two.
I always did a water change after for how dirty those cubes get after feeding. I like to vary through the diet as much as i can so i treat the bloodwarms as a snack or occasional meal. Never had an issue but also never fed exclusively.
I've made the same switch on my own after watching my own 2 tanks. In my 75gal the banjo cats, neon stiphodons, endlers, and dwarf crayfish don't really touch the blood worms and it sits for over 24 hours. Where when I put a cube of brine shrimp the tank is clean overnight when the banjos wake up. In the 20gal tall with neon tetras, red cobra guppies, neocaridina, and a CPO crayfish there was a mass die off of ALL the adult guppies leaving only the babies and the tetras bloated but survived after a fast. There was also leftover worms where the brine was gone within the day. TLDR: Blood worms= toddler vs healthy food. Brine shrimp= fat kid from Matilda vs cake
That's so sad to hear! I feed frozen blood worm once in a while and haven't had issues. It's a brand sold quite a lot in The Netherlands. It could be the frequency of feeding, could be a quality issue. But if your fish are dying after feeding this blood worm, it's probably best to stop. Or change brand/supplier first and carefully see how that goes.
I recently fed my fish frozen blood worm for the first time. I started losing fish the next day. I thought it was the blood worm since it was the only new thing. Now im more sure. Thanks for heads up. From a Fellow Aussie.
I had the same experiences with frozen food. I always thought I was doing something good for my fish, but unfortunately, I ended up introducing various parasites each time, which I then had to treat extensively. Now I only use flake food or home-cultivated live food.
HI Mate dont take it to hard, I know from experience is shit losing fish, blood worms are fine but you need to put them in hot water before intoducing them as donivanstryker1340 has commented, they need to be defrosted you only need a small amount into the tank, blood worms are best for a amsll comunity tank the has barbs, swordtales, cichlids or similar or a cichlid tank only so the pleco types dont eat them. vegatable matter for some fish high protein for others
We lost our discus to dropping frozen blood worms into the water to feed them.. As were new to them we didn't realise they are preferred to be thawed out and droped in. Because they eat the frozen and get bloat I guess... Which is what they died from
So sorry to hear, but you certainly did open my eyes. I have had numerous spawns from colony bred Corydoras. Also I recently was successful without trying with Columbian Tetras, and giant pearl danios. They eat flakes, mostly everyday, and once in a while freeze dried daphnia. About once every two or three months, if that, they get frozen brine shrimp. My exceptions being, Cory fry get daily frozen baby brine shrimp. My adult Corydoras that have bred frequently live on flakes, sinking wafers and vegetable sinking wafers. That has been it. I have frozen bloodworms in my freezer forever, I may have used a couple of cubes 4 years ago. Then again they were baby bloodworms. I get on myself for not using all the frozen foods, that are stockpiled whenever I buy them without using what I have. Based on your video and my prior success, I am going to be throwing away all my frozen bloodworms now. I also will not feel guilty, for not using them, I will feel like I am throwing out potential costly diseases. Again, I am so sorry to hear about those beautiful fish. I love your channel since day 1. Hang in there. Keep doing what you are doing you are awesome and hopefully this video will save many a fishes life. Cheers
My experience, choose a good brand is important for bloodworm. For me I’ve crushed up numerous because of dirty bloodworms. Since then I would spend more money to buy a better brand with better quality, also I would do some clean up to the worms before feeding to fish.
I don't think frozen bloodworms are all bad, and as many have pointed out...they are not parasites they are actually insect larvae. I have lost fish to bloodworms though. I've had Gouramis get bloat (dropsy) and die, just as some have suggested with Rams or other cichlids. I have other fish that are totally fine with bloodworms and eat them daily. I think the biggest lethal factor is cold worms. I float the little container in the tank till the worms are tank temp before opening it and using tweezers to get worms out. Never put the worm water in the tank. I also never put water from my daphnia culture or live blackworm container into a fish tank.
Thanks for the video, and sorry to hear about the losses. I lost a prized 6-7 year old cichlid to issues I could only trace back to frozen bloodworms or freeze dried brine shrimp, and I suspect it wasn't the brine shrimp because she had gotten those for like a year at that point without issue combined with the pellet.
Okay clearly I got this wrong about what a bloodworm technically is based on a visual that I saw of them on my turtle. However, I won’t back down in saying that they are 100% bad for fish. The only time this issue ever happened to me was after feeding them. Even if it was an over feeding, shouldn’t we be feeding products that our fish can’t kill themselves eating? I’ll make a more in depth video about this later but I’m sure they were the issue.
I believe it’s the way they are farmed that causes these issues.. these are benthic organisms. Who knows what kind of filth they let them proliferate in at farms
you over fed and dropped them in there frozen. we see what you did. cant say blood-worms are bad when there's years of evidence for them being perfectly fine for appropriate fish. plecos arent one of them. they cant handle too much protein. ive spent 4 years studying this and got a degree for aquatic biology. its ok to make a mistake, its not ok to pass misinformation because you cant admit your mistake.
I don't know if you've experienced this but last year I started keeping fish. I wanted my rams to breed so I got frozen blood worms. For a few purchases it seemed fine. Then one day I noticed a strong, disgusting iron odor when i was about to put it in the tank. It was so gross I didn't think it was good to put it in my tank. I bought a bunch of blood worms from a bunch of stores and they all smelled nasty. It took like 8 purchases to finally find one that didn't smell bad at all. I tried all the brands and it happened to be the same brand from another batch that smelled nasty. I think it doesn't probably matter the brand but maybe if the packages have been sitting in the store too long it begins to rot. So, now I feed baby brine shrimp more and only sometimes blood worms. Can you attest to this at all? I also noticed my fish eating the blood worms like crazy before I noticed the smell and after feeding smelly blood worms, the fish seemed a tiny bit more hesitant so, I think there is something to it. Let me know your thoughts!
Weve also had issues in SE QLD from frozen blood worms. It might be a locality supply issue rather than the worms themselves.
Plus we have midges here and they constantly breed in your tanks anyway just your fish will eat them immediately.
Id check you dont also have a nematode issue though mate. Maybe dissect something you've lost and see if their bodies have worms inside them that are small and red and reference them to camallanus worms.
Good luck mate. Hope it isnt nematodes aswell but if you dont have it you can find praziquantel and some others via produce stores and I think witches brew might work too but normal aquarium medicines we have access too dont as far as I know.
@KeepingFishSimple there is not much benefit to blood worms. They just had good marketing. If you want fresh foods you gotta keep a black worms or daphnia culture. Otherwise use algea wafers with dried shrimp in it and hikari micro food in tanks for diversity and non bloating foods.
Bloodworms aren't worms, nor are they parasitic. They're the larval stage of certain midges in the family Chironomidae and form the basis of the diets of many wild fish. They're detritivores, feeding on rotting plant matter at the bottom of still or slow water bodies, they don't feed on the blood of other animals like some adult midge do. Your turtle likely just had a few accidentally hitching a ride when the sediment was kicked up whilst you were catching it.
Their colour is due to the high levels of hemoglobin in their bodies. They're adapted to living in low oxygen, benthic environments, and high Chronomid counts with low counts of say, Ephemeroptera (mayfly larvae) is often a good indication of poor water quality or pollution.
This isn't a chatGPT answer, I work as an ecologist, and I've spent countless hours looking at freshwater macro-invertebrates under a microscope haha.
It's unlikely to be chironomids themselves (although they are known to occasionally cause serious allergic reactions in humans). More likely feeding method or poor product quality (or both).
thanks! I feel better about bloodworms
Great comment! Who knows where these companies source their blood worms and what precautions they take. Best to cultivate them yourself in clean water ( exceptionally easy!) and feed them as a supplement 😊
The allergic response from humans is real, and also very weird. I developed a reaction very suddenly, and found that in the end I was unable to take a frozen pack from the freezer and squeeze out a block into a tank, without getting a reaction. I wore gloves for a while, and in the end just gave up on them. I would get terribly itchy hands and arms, with the irritation spreading far beyond the area where I made contact with anything that had been in contact with the worms. Awful stuff.
Is that the same as tubifex worms?
@@socialdining1496 no BLACKworms and tubifex are fine
I’m 52 years old. I’ve never had a loss or illness associated with feeding frozen bloodworms or any other frozen food. I always thaw ahead and strain before feeding so very little of the liquid in the frozen cubes get inside the tank. I’ve been feeding frozen bloodworms since 1998.
The thawing and straining makes a huge difference , a point that shouldn't be ignored
I'm 68 and have been in the hobby since 1971. Been feeding frozen bloodworms for at least 30 years without issues. I always thaw them in water , drain and rinse in a net , then add them to fresh water before feeding.
Bloodworms are the larval form of midges, similar to the mosquito larvae you feed your fish. They are called Bloodworms because of their colour which comes from a high level of haemoglobin allowing them to live in water with low oxygen. You might want to do some research and redo this video Nick.
Or do some research and NOT redo the video...
@@AndrewFishman What he is saying about the worms themselves is just factually very wrong. Definitely not a good look when you are trying to educate people to not feed with them. Not that I disagree with bloodworms being bad, but the reasoning in the video is not it.
@@TomFWA I feed bloodworms. Have for 40 years without an issue. Thaw them and feed in moderation, no issues.
I use black worms and they live in the tank with the fish, much better
@@AndrewFishmanhe's pissed
The issue is not in the bloodworms themselves, they are not parasitic. The issue is usually with the frozen block itself. Never drop a frozen cube directly into a tank. If a fish should ingest a frozen piece of food it will be lethal to the fish. Also the worms themselves in processing are rarely rinsed before freezing. This is why you thaw them in a container first, pour them into a white brine shrimp net and rinse the hell out of them to remove any contaminates that might have been frozen with the bloodworms. Even when I fed live bloodworms I would scoop them out and rinse them several times before feeding them. My bloodworm cultures would be cleaned daily and new water put in. Bloodworms are an excellent food for your fish if feed properly.
Also Id like to point out having a varied diet is good. If we only ate shrimp all the time we can develop kidney disease or gout, its the same for fish
So...dried bloodworm is fine? I just bought a bottle of one
The frozen bloodworms I buy literally says on the box to thaw it first.
Minced prawns, bloodworms,fine cut,crushed garlic, tank water,mixed together,no problems.
Wow never really thought of that. The only reason why I don’t drop the frozen cube directly is because I want all the fish in the tank to not really compete with each other
... Red worms are the larvae of midge flies, which are insects that are similar to mosquitoes but don't bite. The red color of the larvae comes from hemoglobin in their bodies, and they are often called bloodworms.
The red blood is produced by the worm not from feeding on blood, shouldn't be a problem since it's the same stuff in tubifex or daphnia that makes them red, same as our blood. The larva worms are bottom dwelling and feed on organic detritus like leaves, not sure what the commercially produced ones are fed though, it is possible they were raised in polluted conditions.
Midge fly larvae are also called bloodworms, but most bloodworms sold as fish food are actually tubifex, which are completely different. They also don’t eat blood, but rather bacteria and particles in the sediment.
I wouldn't blame him for not knowing better. He is hurt and feels betrayed, emotions are going to be raw for a while.
I am so sorry for the loss of your fish. Thank you for sharing this experience. I know many will not agree with you, but you didn't make this comment for them. Thank you for sharing with those who will listen. Again, so sorry for your loss.
I am in the uk and i have used Bloodworms twice a week for over 40 years & never had a problem
Bloodworms are not parasitic, they don't feed on blood. I don't know what you saw on your turtle but it wasn't bloodworms.
Bloodworms aren't meant to be a staple, and they are going to cause bloat if you're using them to power feed your stock. Not to mention that they don't keep well and aren't transported properly as frozen. I definitely agree that people shouldn't be using frozen bloodworms but not because they are a parasite. I'd highly consider taking this video down because it's full of misinformation that isn't great for your brand.
I was thinking the same about this video
Bloodworms can be parasitic this is a known fact in many tropical countries. If you have a wounds and walk bare foot in water containing bloodworms, they can burrow inside the wound and feed from your flesh there. They can stay inside for a week without you noticing. You will have to remove them with a tweezer most of the time.
@@miriades Sounds like you're referring to something like Hookworm. "Bloodworm" (not a worm) is the larva of Chironomids (non-biting midges), most species in the family feed on algae, detritus, microorganisms, aquatic plants, wood debris. With only some species being parasites or commensal partners on other invertebrates, they don't host mammals, fishes etc.
Even if he is getting basic biology wrong or perhaps he is not preparing them correctly, I’m glad he is dropping this video so we can learn from his mistakes.
No one is learning anything from this rant.
@ i learned a lot from the comments.
“not preparing them correctly” . What would you do in preparing them correctly?
@ it sounds like from the comment section he isn’t thawing or rinsing them beforehand. Or perhaps he is purchasing them from a bad vendor or not storing them properly. I don’t know I’ve never used them before, though I might in the future, unless I’m convinced it’s a bad idea. I do agree he bears responsibility for the misinformation, but I wouldn’t have known about the risks without seeing this video.
I lost adult long finned rosy barb females to feeding frozen bloodworms.... no issue with any other frozen food (and yes I thaw and rinse them first) and use a dropper so each fish gets specific amount.. exact same way I feed frozen brine shrimp .. there isn't extra and it's 100% the bloodworms causing issues
brine shrimp 2x a week, bloodworms 1x every 2 wks and every time I loose fish - and after 26 years of keeping fish I'm not a newbie.
*Don't feed frozen food directly into your tank* it's the water and juice they're in, not the food. I use a tea strainer and rinse frozen food after its thawed and put it in the tank as they eat it. Hope this helps! Love the vids! Sorry for your loss man.
It would be cool to test the melted ice and juice from the worms and see whats in it under a scope.
I’ve fed my cichlids bloodworms and brine shrimp for 10 years and never had any problems with losing fish
I feed my fish, maily pleco s, also bloodworms and brime shrimp for mabye 5 or 6 years and i never have this problem
@honzanavratil4183I think the issue is feeding it daily in large quantities or even multiple times a day. If you feed it occasionally they can digest without causing issues most of the time. At least that it my experience.
Are you in Australia? It could be a regional issue, I'm in Perth WA no issues on my 5 gallon but I just upgraded so il probably stick to brine anyway🤷
@@taiterz1046 Nah I’m in the US but I agree it could definitely be a regional issue regarding the diet the blood worms are raised on and where they’re sourced from. I mainly feed brine shrimp and insect flakes to my rams, apistos, tetras, corys and discus but they all get blood worms 3-4 times a week as well and they’re all thriving.
Tanks made for breeding for profit rather than the fish's well being will always have issues
I’m a little confused. Blood worms eat organic detritus, microscope particles in the water. They live in the top few centimetres of mud or substrate. They aren’t a parasitic thing like leaches that latch onto something to feed off it. Not saying anything he’s saying is wrong or untrue, I’ve just never experienced what he’s talking about.
What you are saying is very true, i think the problem is need to get those from reputable sources. Hygienic in process and less cross contamination
@@codmandchill6714or culture it by ourself, not hard to do and tend to more worry free.
Everything he said is wrong. They are the larvae of a chrominid midge, laid into the ponds as eggs and, as you note, are detritus feeders. You are less confused than he is.
Your're ritgh, @keepingfishsimple is providing misinformation.
the one time I used frozen blood worms, a six pack of cubes, I lost a betta and 3 ember tetras in a week
I'm sorry you've had trouble with bloodworms, but please don't blame the food source or product if it's being used incorrectly, as shown in the video with a frozen block floating in the water.
Frozen food should never be added directly to the tank; always defrost it in some tank water first.
I've been feeding bloodworms and other frozen foods for over 20 years without any issues. I use a plastic cup to scoop a bit of tank water to thaw the food, then I only give what the fish will eat and discard any leftovers.
What does the frozen do that hurts the fish?
I usually just defrost mine in warm tap water while I'm washing the cat bowls ( feeding time at the zoo of home)
As I feed my cats fresh kangaroo usually at the time of cleaning and washing the bowls the fly maggots have been laid, I also harvest them for the fish as well, the fish go crazy over the maggots (free protein, free food, you quickly loose the yuk factor when you see the fish going mad over them, I went to Perth for 2 nights over Xmas and when I got back I scored 3 desert spoons of the maggots, no need to feed anything else for the rest of the day to 2 stocked 5 foot fish tanks there was plenty of free food)
@@howdypartner3894its frozen when eaten so its hard to disgest, always thaw it for mine i do days
This makes no sense. The block thaws out in seconds in a 29c zeb tank.
Thanks for your comment though 😊
If it's not from expired lots, i think its from them thawing freezing thawing freezing over and over when getting shipped from store to store. And they spoil while being thawed out during the moving around?
i have always worried about this. they can melt in 20 mins.
I will drop a comment here with my experience.
I never, EVER had problems with feeding bloodworms to fish, cyprinids, tetras, corys, plecos, shrimp, bettas and thats all (i dont know how cichlids for example react to bloodworms).
In my oppinion, your problem is that you fed them too much bloodworm. You said you wanted to fatten them up. So im sure you just plopped a cube or two in a tank, where the fish got the possibility to get FULL FULL of bloodworms. When I feed bloodworms, i first thaw them, and the fish dont eat a lot, maximum 2-3 worms per fish. I had pygmy corys eat bloodworms, huge bloodworms bigger than their stomach probably and never ever had problems. Besides the quantity, also variety is very important. Maybe after a bloodworm feeding, you guys should either dont feed for a day or two, or feed light food, like algae wafers, algae flakes, veggies etc.
Honestly, i dont think its worth feeding bloodworms to very expensive fish, like you unfortunately did! Its your choice tho, but im sure that everyone who keeps expensive fish also can feed the fish more expensive foods, like brine shrimp or high quality prepared foods.
So the key for me is dont feed a lot, and give the fish variety to foods.
Note: i always thaw my frozen food, whatever it is.
By the way, im a 15 year old that didnt learn english as its first language, so bear with me😅
Merry christmas!
Happy holidays!
You did good couldn't even tell
Very good concise answer
i have been feeding for a couple years, no prob. if there was a prob i would switch to feeding with chopped live earthworms, which i use as a change up food. the one thing i notice is the bettas will eat like gluttons and it can blow them up. i had them eject eggs after eating too much. so take it easy with the portion size.
I agree with the overfed part. 2 cubes of bloodworms looked like too much imo
@@bobs5596
I have a betta for a few months now, i just fed him bloodworms once, it was only 2 worms. I agree, bettas should truly be underfed.
Dont worry, i mostly keep him on vibra bites and crushed algae wafers, just as a filler for his stomach. I also feed live tubifex, live cherry shrimp and apparently he likes pest snails. Demolishes the pest snails! Lol, he doesnt eat the shells!
12 hours late, but as a biologist and fish health consultant, I have to disagree with you, Nick, on your complete denigration of bloodworms. You've somehow got the biology of these creatures wrong, please see earlier comments for the facts. I've been keeping fish for over 50 years and have encountered a few problems with bloodworms myself, but on the whole they are a good food for fishes. I concur with others here that they should be fed in moderation to fishes whose diet is not 80% insectivorous. I culture my own outside and feed sparingly to corys when I want to condition them for spawning. No problems. In the winter I feed frozen bloodworms, but I chop them up so the small fish can get some.
Three important points I would make. 1) bloodworms feed on mud and detritus. Protozoa, bacteria and fungi live in mud. Quite a few of these environmental bacteria are facultative pathogens, for example, E. coli. If the bloodworms have hatched into a pond with large numbers of potentially pathogenic bacteria, their guts will be full of these when they are harvested and frozen. Theoretically, freezing kills bacteria, but the toxins they secrete remain intact. Not all the bacteria will be killed and those that survive will quickly multiply at warm temperatures to levels where they can kill people, let alone fish. Residual toxins can kill fishes and amphibians - even in miniscule amounts.
2) The preparation and freezing process must be controlled. I keep my bloodworms in tap water overnight so they empty their guts to build their protective tubes. I then have to stir them up to break up their tubes. If the commercial bloodworms aren't allowed to empty their guts, they will retain potentially harmful organisms that will be ingested by our fishes. If the freezer temperature does not fall below -18°C not all the bacteria will perish.
3) Fishes love bloodworms. So much so that they tend to gorge themselves. Bloodworms are mostly chitin, which is indigestible for most fish. This can cause blockages in the hind gut, which prevent the passage of faeces leading to perforation, bleeding into the peritoneum, sepsis and death. Non-perforate blockage can obstruct blood flow to the gut lining causing tissue death and possibly gangrene. In fish, this can happen pretty quickly. Also, if the packs have been allowed to partially thaw at some point in their history, the blood would have started to decompose and any pathogenic bacteria would have multiplied.
This is not the full story, but it should give you some ideas of what may have happened and what you can do to avoid repetition in the future. One observation I have is the dead zebra pleco you say died of bloat. You say that you have been feeding Bug Buffet almost exclusively for a while now. The natural diet of the zebra plecs includes bloodworms. If the fish hadn't seen live bloodworms for some while, I would suggest that they gorged themselves. The bloating could be due to causes mentioned above, or could be caused by environmental yeasts fermenting the gut contents in blockage.
Im from the same area as Nick and we've had issues with frozen bloodworms too so I believe there is an issue with local supply quality.
Also I think he may have seen or been confused with a nematode worm possibly too. We unfortunately do get cammalanus worms here and they look relatively similar if not smaller and are as he said. What he described does actually fit them. They are often introduced to our ponds via birds and are a parasitic red worm that also can cause bloat and suck blood and kill fish.
Basically, there is a risk with all frozen food. Basically, they are dead animal products that can form toxic degradation products if stored and transported incorrectly - the higher the protein content, the more so. We also feed raw products to our animals, so we need to be even more careful. I also feed bloodworms and have never had any problems.
Even though fish eat frozen cubes many times without seeming to hurt, it's because they are motivated and triggered by food and will keep eating despite its effect on their digestive systems, even to their detriment.
Frozen foods should be thawed before feeding and fed in moderation, sparingly, not as a daily feed. Fish will overeat and just like people, it can have disastrous effects.
I've kept, bred and raised fish for decades while feeding bloodworms and have never had problems. I always, always thaw them first, I don't overfeed, I feed sparingly and I use them as part of a widely varied diet that is geared to their feeding needs (omnivore, carnivore, herbivore, detrivore).
I know how devastating it can be to lose a fish you've been raising for years to breed, like zebra plecos, rainbows etc. Moderation is key when dealing with fish as well as many other aspects of animal husbandry.
I know you are sorely affected by your losses but please rethink the gist of this video so that those who are new to the hobby are not misinformed.
Best of luck in your breeding ventures.
Those who are new to hobby better stick to live brine shrimp and prepared food. Don't learn the hard way
From my experience they are not suitable for some fish like dwarf cichlids due to digestive system. I lost some due to bloated. Plus the live ones could care parasites or bacterial. About the frozen process, you should always defrost first and put in a glass of aquarium water before feeding the fish or even rinse the frozen food specially bloodworms. People learn from mistakes. Take care, have a good new year!
i feel you but this vid is so reactionary, bloodworms isn't a terrible food for fish.
he said it cause he has a company selling non frozen fish food
@@andrewjames4783 there is a old german research saying bloodworms can cause fish skittish reaction and can cause stress to fish. Probably has something to do with unseen pathogens
I think the issue is dropping the frozen block directly into the tank.
I personally defrost the bloodworms ice cube in a pot of water outside the tank. Once fully defrosted, I pour them into a brine shrimp net and rince them under the tap for around 20 seconds.
This also removes the water which they are cultivated and frozen in, which I also don't really want in my tank.
I don't go as far as washing them, but I hold the cube between my fingers at the top of the water and rub the cube back and forth until they start to fall free and aren't frozen, I regularly feed blood worms to various tanks I have, pea puffers daily for sure
Is that the same as tubifex worms?
@@socialdining1496 I buy freeze dried ones. So I just put them in a tub of tank water to soak up and get saturated before putting them in the tank.
Dropping frozen blocks in aquarium is probably the biggest reason, yes!
I have lost also some fish to frozen food, when using described method. Probably low temperature causes digestive problems.
The solution is to presoak them in AQUARIUM water (not tap water!) overnight and feed in the morning or per schedule.
Still feeding a lot of frozen, live or general food can cause water quality to decline.
Also, fish are not heavy feeders and usually can go a few days with no food.
I think the issue is dropping the whole frozen block in, lately I've been thawing out the block in water before tipping it into the tank. Haven't had any problems with them since. I did find that some fish with small mouths might choke on them.
Feeding bloodworms to aquarium fish is generally safe and nutritious, but there are some potential issues to be aware of:
1. Digestive Problems
• Overfeeding: Bloodworms are rich in protein, and excessive feeding can lead to digestive problems like bloating or constipation, especially in fish not adapted to high-protein diets.
• Suitability: Some herbivorous or omnivorous fish may struggle to digest bloodworms effectively.
2. Allergies and Sensitivities
• Fish (and sometimes humans) can develop allergic reactions to bloodworms. For fish, this might manifest as reduced appetite or erratic behavior after feeding.
3. Risk of Disease
• Live Bloodworms: Feeding live bloodworms can introduce parasites or harmful bacteria into the aquarium. Freezing or freeze-drying bloodworms reduces this risk.
4. Nutritional Imbalance
• Bloodworms are a good source of protein but lack some essential vitamins and minerals. Feeding them exclusively can lead to nutritional deficiencies in fish.
5. Water Quality Issues
• Uneaten bloodworms can quickly decay and pollute the aquarium water, leading to ammonia spikes that harm fish.
6. Aggression
• Bloodworms can trigger aggressive behavior among fish, especially in species with a strong predatory instinct.
Recommendations:
• Moderation: Use bloodworms as a treat or supplement rather than a staple food.
• Quality Source: Opt for frozen or freeze-dried bloodworms to minimize disease risks.
• Monitor Fish Behavior: Observe your fish after feeding to ensure they tolerate bloodworms well.
• Clean-Up: Remove uneaten bloodworms promptly to maintain water quality.
Bloodworms can be a valuable addition to a balanced diet for many fish but should be used thoughtfully.
Thank you ChatGPT
Live brine shrimp suddenly sounds like no brainer with all upsides and no downsides. I have seen fishes overeating brineshrimp until their bellies almost explode yet they do fine
@@jk-er2zt you can also culture daphnia.
wow, I'm throwing out all my frozen blood worms. I have noticed lately my platys and rainbows started dying of bloat and the only common denominator is that I have been starting to feed them frozen blood worms. I do thaw them in aquarium water before I feed them then a few days after the feeding I noticed bloat but I didn't necessarily attribute it to blood worms. The bloat killed all of my dwarf rainbows and a handful of platys. Combined with seeing this, I'm now convinced they are bad. Sorry you had to lose some fish. We live and learn. Enjoy the rest of the Holiday season.
I am sorry you had a problem with your fish and you're so upset and I hope you feel better soon.
But this is the worst video I have seen from you this far. You clearly don't even know what a bloodworm is and what it eats and still you just spout some random ideas and give people advise based on your feelings. This is a really bad look on you if you want to be taken seriously. Next time do some research first, you make yourself look dumb and very immature now because it is very clear you made this out of frustration and not for education otherwise you would have found out what a bloodworm even is first and not just run with your feelings on the matter. We all have these moment our feelings try to take over, but take a deep breath and see if you can do something more usefull if you want to share online (like finding info on bloodworm and try to find out what maybe the problem is based on science and not feelings) and if you just want to vent call a mate.
I wish you and your fishy friends the best for 2025!
I think he was angry and emotional when he made this video. I know some fish breeders who source their bloodworms from the wild and have never had problems, but it's a case-by-case issue. He should contact the bloodworm manufacturer if he is sure that the cause of his fish's death is their product.
@@zedicuzzulzorander6406 Bad keep conditions before the buy (wrong deposit or transportation from the manufacturer to end user, kind of speeking)?
Nick’s next T shirt: F@@@ bloodworms 😂
on the back: "LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT BUG BUFFET"
I’ve stopping doing blood worm feedings for a different reason, I’ve never had a problem with fish eating it and mine seem to go crazy for it. However apparently I developed an allergic reaction to them. Every time I feed the blood worms I get rashes, which is interesting cause I’ve never had this happen when I was younger.
You can develop or lose allergies every seven years or so
Yeah this is what I was going to comment that I've been hearing about a lot lately. Apparently becoming quite a notable thing that people are developing this allergy from continued exposure. One of the reasons I've stopped using them. Like, with this, the other issues I've heard of, and there being plenty of other options, why keep using them?
that's why people recommending gloves when handling bloodworm, cause you can develop allergic reaction from continuous exposure.
Never had a problem with frozen bloodworms in the years I’ve used it. I think many people feed too much of them at one time and or too frequently. I usually feed less quantity and/or substitute it with something rich in fiber such as, krill, brine, or a veggie based food.
Like anything - feeding in moderation is key. Bloodworms can cause digestive problems if fed too much too often, as a supplemental food they are fine. They are an insect, the legs give that away. The chitinous shell can be hard to digest, so too much too often will lead to digestive issues in things like DCs and Bettas and some catfish.
Agreed
This. People keep swearing by bloodworms without admitting that they are indeed hard to digest. Furthermore it is no brainer there will be pathogens coming from mass production facilities
you said it best, feeding in moderation is key, also variety in the diet IMO. I know few Betta farms that occasionally fed their Bettas bloodworm and they never had any issue with Bettas dying from eating bloodworm.
I think that's the key word, "moderation".
I don't know if it's just an issue in Australia because I've fed my fish frozen bloodworms occasionally for decades and never had an issue. Some difficult wild caught specimens I've kept, that's all they would eat.
So sorry for your losses, the hardest ones to take are the ones you know you could've prevented, but I'll tell you what, you have saved so many people that pain by putting out these videos. For every fish that you lost, you've probably saved thousands of others.
Been in the hobby for 60+ years and have never had a problem with bloodworms. One of my tanks is a pea puffer tank and they will only eat bloodworms, fed twice a day and I still have the original 7 puffers I started out with 4 years ago. I even feed blood worms to my reef tank. Nick, make sure you get your bloodworms from a reputable company, your source sounds suspect.
He’s not saying why not to. What’s wrong with them. Other than he’s had a couple fish die, without proof it’s from the food how are we to believe this. I’d really like to know what the actual issue with bloodworms is.
He said he thinks it’s because bloodworms feed on the blood of other animals e.g. fish, turtles, birds, and therefore any bacteria or other parasites could be picked up from those sources. Compare this to brine shrimp, daphnia or mosquito larvae which basically eat plankton and are therefore much safer
In 40 years I can safely say that feeding frozen bloodworms has never cost me a fish. Feed in moderation and they are fine supplemental food. Grindal worms and blackworms are better to gross feed for putting on breeding bulk. Or mysis shrimp, earthworms and other high protein foods.
@ yeah but blood worms eat decaying detritus, and microscopic particles in the water and they live in the top few cm of mud or substrate. They aren’t like a leech or other parasite that lives off other animals.
@ yes. This video seems like a bit of a knee jerk reaction. I’d really like to know more about what happened. But I can understand his fury and frustration from loosing fish. No one like to loose a fish especially when you think you e done everything right. It can be gutting.
@@vhwft Yes, they are detritus feeding larvae of the chrominid midge, a small insect. That is how they just appear in a pond. The parents are aerial insects. Where you have mosquito larvae, you will probably also have bloodworms. The issues can arise from overfeeding too much too often, causing compaction of the shells in the stomach leading to constipation and possible death.
I stopped feeding bloodworms a long time ago because they can cause internal bacterial problems. I stick to frozen brine shrimp and frozen glassworm. I believe the problem is because of partial thawing during transport!
thats a good point, transport of food.
You’re correct.
Try Hikari which is a reputable brand. I usually thaw the cubes in a container with fish tank water, feed the bloodied water to my plants, spray some vitamins on the bw before feeding my fish once a week as treat. Never had any issue!
Hikari sells frozen blood worms?
@@xcofcdyep they also sell frozen bs
Yep, as many above have written, the blood worms I know of are midge larvae. The worms you seem to be talking about and maybe confusing them with are tubifex worms, which do feed on detritus and can cause bloating if over fed.
The worms in the video doesn't look like tubifex.
My pea puffers will only eat bloodworms and snails...ill keep doing what I do.
I understand your upset, but i dont think it was the bloodworm
Fed many fish bloodworms over the last 30 years with no issues at all. What makes you think that your personal expereince would change that?
That sucks, Nick,. I am truly sorry for your loss. I am, however, grateful for the lessons I've learned from your selfless sharing of this video. In response, the fish-keeping community reacted with many comments of many years in the hobby. On occasion, I have dropped chunks of frozen foods into my tanks. I will never NOT thaw again because now I understand why I shouldn't. Never before had I heard the importance of rinsing thawed frozen foods. I will never NOT do that again because now I understand why I should. Again, thank you all.
I like that you shared an honest rant! This is something I’ve never noticed with my fish before but I’m gonna pay more attention now to see if I notice something like this happening too
Nick, it looks like you're putting frozen food directly in your tank to feed. The shock of eating ice in frozen food will often kill fish. You're also introducing foul water the foods are frozen in to your tank by adding the frozen food directly. You must thaw and rinse your frozen foods before introducing them to your tank, so you avoid adding bad water or ice. If you aren't already doing this for your frozen daphnia, you should be.
Watching this while thawing bloodworms lol
LOL
brah, thought that would be common sense. I dont eat steak when its a frozen puck.
@@soggyfries4347bro why are you eating steak that’s been frozen in any way? 😂
@@Alphadom1c - Cooking frozen steak actually isn't a bad method.
@@Alphadom1cever heard of hunting?
thank you ! I only have 2 female bettas each one in their own 5 gallon tank. I gave them frozen bloodworms and when I tried them a week later, both girls would not eat them ! I pitched them after learning about them. love your channel and your tanks !
Thank you KFS
Getting bloodworms today
Another one for feeding frozen bloodworms and never had a problem in 20 years
As other people are saying, chironomus larvae are Not parasitic. From a bio-security perspective One should only Feed from indoors in situ Feeder colonies so you can Control every step. Having Said that im really sorry for your Loss. Im Sure everyone in the hobby has Lost One or more tresured Pets for one reason or the other
I've fed frozen blood worms to my fish for years, never had an issue. I thaw the worms first but thought that would be common sense.
Thanks for the advice. Come to think of it, this has been my longest run with no dead fish, and have been forgetting to feed the bloodworms I still have in the freezer. Anecdotal, but might as well keep up the plan that’s working.
I’ve been feeding my green spotted and pea puffers frozen bloodworm for approx 5 years, but I always let them defrost and never drop a frozen cube in, and they are all doing amazing, and each tank also has a pleco which again, are doing great!
I very rarely feed my fish bloodworms but I can't say I've had the same problem. I'm not chucking the one pack in the freezer I have. That stuffs not cheap.
Thank you, Nick. This was a useful video. There are many commenters who shared similar experiences and many who have never seen anything like what you went through. You sure did stimulate a lot of chatter, even some heartless drivel, but there is a learning experience within it all for those who keep their minds open. I thoroughly enjoy your videos.
Hey mate, what you described as a parasitic red worm sounds like a nematode, specifically the camallanus variety. They do get spread by birds to ponds, suck blood and are red worms and cause bloat/kill fish.
Having had both in tanks they are very hads to tell apart too aside from where they actually live. Blood worms live in gravel/mid/detritus and mulm on the bottom whereas the nematodes will be in/on fish but if you had paraguarded or similar the dead nematodes fall to the gravel too (parasite medicine can't kill all of them or break the lifecycle either and only affects ones in certain parts of the fish).
And I can 100% guarantee nematodes are present in SE QLD. We first saw them nearly 20 years ago in the bayside and more recently had them out your way in the Ipswich region.
I buy whole frozen shrimp from the grocery store. My plecos absolutely love the shrimp. Way better than most processed foods available for fish.
That’s a great idea! Just make sure it’s wild caught. Farm fed shrimp is grown in terribly polluted water.
I don’t think blood worms are the issue. I have been feeding them for years. Could it be you are over feeding? The worms are not eaten and they are causing the water to be contaminated?
Iv had what appeared to be loft installation type material often used in propergating aquatic plants in mine. Now I always defrost, check and smell then drain. It does give fish certain benifits that generally can't be found in dry foods. I'm siding with Nick and rarely using it from now on. Hikari factory in Japan is huge. They make amazing fish food.
Fish is Japanese culture. They are world leaders. Germanys jbl is also excellent food.
Blood worms are for a treat for your fish not to feed all the time
Thank you for putting this out. I have experienced the exact same results with blood worms. I have been attacked in the community for saying such a thing. Thank you!!!
Thank you so much for putting this video up. Really feel for you atm and in a selfish way wished you had put it on two weeks ago. In the last week i have just lost about 17 fish, woke up on xmas day with 9 dead fish. Two weeks ago I bought a pack of Blood worms and a pack of daphnia.7 Celestial pearl danio, 7 tetra, 1 expensive male Betta 1 harlequin rasbora and a Otocinclus .Thank you for answering the questions ive been asking myself all week, Best wishes and happy new year young sir, Glenn
I agree with the fact that fish food should be handle carefully , I always put it in the fridge the night before I use it .The problem is not the compagny who actually made the food it's all the step that come after that , transportation and how from one shop to another they make sure it always stay at the right temperature. Most comment seems to be about how you handle the frozen bloodworm .The first guy I met when I start in the hobby which is a friend now told me bloodworm are not a good food , it's not clean.He told me that after I lost many fish and the only thing we could see was all about the food which was bloodworm.The guy is a vet and he know there is always a risk with frozen food , no food is 0% clean of bacteria.In this hobby the most important thing I have learn is to trust my instinct .If your instinct told you to not use frozen bloodworm just stop.
That's strange, but it explains something to me, too. I had 3 well established tanks. I lost 2 corys in one, 3 zebra dainos in another and a beautiful angel in the last after feeding frozen blood worms. It was driving me nuts trying to figure it out why. All water perimeters and temperature were fine. I'm tossing the blood worms and will NEVER feed them again.
Are you defrosting before you feed them??been keeping fish for 30+ years never had a problem and have always defrosted them in a cup of water on the top of the tanks for a good 30-60 minutes.
No disclaimer that bloodworms vendors are your direct competitor?
Been feeding bloodworms for decades without any problems but I only feed them as an occasional treat.
I dissolve then in warm water and use a turkey baster........I never put a frozen cube in my tanks.
Did you manage to save the zebra plec. Was still breathing on the B-roll of it?
Love the work you do, and I am beyond over the moon that younger folks are so intensely into this greatest of hobbies and vocations. Sharing even these difficult things is what the very best do. You are doing fantastic!
As far as i'm aware Bloodworm are strictly a now and then treat, not the go to food to conditioning fish for breeding, as given regularly in high volume, Bloodworm can bloat and constipate fish.
I'm so sorry you're going through this. Thanks for sharing your experience. It must be so frustrating.
been in the hobby over 30 years plus breed everything from fresh to salt feed bloodworms maybe twice ever they never seemed to fit a need or made sense. I don't think there bad but I think if you get frozen you really need to clean them off and let them thaw in separate container dispose that liquid wash the worms off
Do you think the frozen bloodworms were spoiled somehow? It could be you got a bad batch.. like a food poisoning kinda of situation. Sorry to hear that bro. My condolences. I do enjoy your videos. Keep your head up brother.
Like others have said the issue could be the frozen cube or also like you said poisoning from potential thawing during the shipment process
He doesn’t thaw the, he is dropping in the cube
@moshpitsonly2778 hmm was all the fish affected? If not it maybe something else is ary. Perhaps a single fish eating too many gave it stomach issues ans bloating that cause organ failure? I am very new to aquarium but I am familiar with human food born pathogens
Sorry to hear about your loss. Ive been feeding bloodworms frozen for years, no issue thank goodness.
Never had a issue with blood worms they are the larvae of midge flies. Theres something youre leaving out pal
i have been feedin last 9 years Hikari bloodworms to my fish and shrimp, most of the time I throw in frozen chunks. Never had problem.
Bloodworms are the larval stage of midgets, once they have fully grown they make fantastic food for sharks.
Confirms what I thought caused the death of several EBA's I lost. Feeding them bloodworms was the only thing out of the norm that happened when I lost them. I racked my brain trying to figure out what happened.
Nick, I appreciate your warning about blood worms, though my experience has been one of absolutely no losses, I got into tropical fish in March this year now I have 2 five foot tanks, I have fed frozen and dried blood worms almost since the beginning of my enterence into the hobby and to my knowledge I have not lost one fish to them, and mine are fed frozen blood worms (and frozen brine shrimp) dried blood worms, dried brine shrimp and I also grow brine shrimp, every day,
They get other assortment of various dry feeds as well.
I am in Western Australia, maybe the places where you are, sells dodgy blood worms and the only way you can confirm your suspicions is to prove them via getting a sample of blood worms around your area, and different brands tested via a lab that way, if it turns out to be something wrong with the blood worms you have proof to take to the company for any action you feel is needed.
I like you love my fish, and wouldn't in any way hurt them intentionally, and I have obviously no where near as many fish as you do, but my existing community tanks have 130 ish fish, and since June, bred and sold over 150 Mollies (and their parents)
Since March 2024 of course I have had a few loses but I have put that down to mistakes made in learning the hobby also I live in a small rural town so any help isn't just around the corner it is a long drive to get advice in my case
I deal mostly with 5 shops who sell blood worms, I think if their was a chance one of their products caused fatalities in all their customers fish, big problems and financial loss would arise for those shops.
I am really sorry Nick. I also lost two of my beautiful red angels after eating mosquito larvae so will never feed it again. I have read the other comments from other fish keepers who have far more experience but I will be sticking with brine shrimp, daphnia & really good quality packet food.
It's more likely that your overfeeding is the issue, causing an ammonia spike, your high protein added to an aquarium causes all sorts of chemical imbalance, even after the fish have eaten it, high protein still remains in the water.
Correlation does not equal causation
I feed bloodworm to my fish but not the frozen kind. I feed freeze dried form. I put them in a salt shaker grinder and grind them up with a mixture of daphnia. Have had no issues. Also feed live brine shrimp too. I alternate between the two.
I always did a water change after for how dirty those cubes get after feeding. I like to vary through the diet as much as i can so i treat the bloodwarms as a snack or occasional meal. Never had an issue but also never fed exclusively.
Thank you for the warning, sorry for your losses!
I've made the same switch on my own after watching my own 2 tanks. In my 75gal the banjo cats, neon stiphodons, endlers, and dwarf crayfish don't really touch the blood worms and it sits for over 24 hours. Where when I put a cube of brine shrimp the tank is clean overnight when the banjos wake up. In the 20gal tall with neon tetras, red cobra guppies, neocaridina, and a CPO crayfish there was a mass die off of ALL the adult guppies leaving only the babies and the tetras bloated but survived after a fast. There was also leftover worms where the brine was gone within the day.
TLDR: Blood worms= toddler vs healthy food.
Brine shrimp= fat kid from Matilda vs cake
I lost a Zebra pleco last year. My heart goes out to you.
That's so sad to hear! I feed frozen blood worm once in a while and haven't had issues. It's a brand sold quite a lot in The Netherlands. It could be the frequency of feeding, could be a quality issue. But if your fish are dying after feeding this blood worm, it's probably best to stop. Or change brand/supplier first and carefully see how that goes.
never had issues with bloodworms but i always defrost them in the sink thru a fishnet
I recently fed my fish frozen blood worm for the first time. I started losing fish the next day. I thought it was the blood worm since it was the only new thing. Now im more sure. Thanks for heads up. From a Fellow Aussie.
Sorry for your loss. Thanks for the info.
I had the same experiences with frozen food. I always thought I was doing something good for my fish, but unfortunately, I ended up introducing various parasites each time, which I then had to treat extensively. Now I only use flake food or home-cultivated live food.
HI Mate dont take it to hard, I know from experience is shit losing fish, blood worms are fine but you need to put them in hot water before intoducing them as donivanstryker1340 has commented, they need to be defrosted you only need a small amount into the tank, blood worms are best for a amsll comunity tank the has barbs, swordtales, cichlids or similar or a cichlid tank only so the pleco types dont eat them. vegatable matter for some fish high protein for others
We lost our discus to dropping frozen blood worms into the water to feed them..
As were new to them we didn't realise they are preferred to be thawed out and droped in.
Because they eat the frozen and get bloat I guess... Which is what they died from
I appreciate this very much thank you for this information. I now have a whole sheet of frozen blood worms in my freezer and they’re gonna stay there.
Maybe feeding too much food can cause it , since you started bloodworm feeding you had problems so maybe bad batch of bloodworms? ❤
I am so sorry & thank you I will throw mine away. I am really sorry for your loss. It sucks.
So sorry to hear, but you certainly did open my eyes. I have had numerous spawns from colony bred Corydoras. Also I recently was successful without trying with Columbian Tetras, and giant pearl danios. They eat flakes, mostly everyday, and once in a while freeze dried daphnia. About once every two or three months, if that, they get frozen brine shrimp. My exceptions being, Cory fry get daily frozen baby brine shrimp. My adult Corydoras that have bred frequently live on flakes, sinking wafers and vegetable sinking wafers. That has been it. I have frozen bloodworms in my freezer forever, I may have used a couple of cubes 4 years ago. Then again they were baby bloodworms. I get on myself for not using all the frozen foods, that are stockpiled whenever I buy them without using what I have.
Based on your video and my prior success, I am going to be throwing away all my frozen bloodworms now. I also will not feel guilty, for not using them, I will feel like I am throwing out potential costly diseases.
Again, I am so sorry to hear about those beautiful fish.
I love your channel since day 1. Hang in there. Keep doing what you are doing you are awesome and hopefully this video will save many a fishes life.
Cheers
Well if you don't like the companies that are selling why you not just buy some live bloodworms and cultivate them or platforms. I do both myself
My experience, choose a good brand is important for bloodworm. For me I’ve crushed up numerous because of dirty bloodworms. Since then I would spend more money to buy a better brand with better quality, also I would do some clean up to the worms before feeding to fish.
I don't think frozen bloodworms are all bad, and as many have pointed out...they are not parasites they are actually insect larvae. I have lost fish to bloodworms though. I've had Gouramis get bloat (dropsy) and die, just as some have suggested with Rams or other cichlids. I have other fish that are totally fine with bloodworms and eat them daily. I think the biggest lethal factor is cold worms. I float the little container in the tank till the worms are tank temp before opening it and using tweezers to get worms out. Never put the worm water in the tank. I also never put water from my daphnia culture or live blackworm container into a fish tank.
Thanks for the video, and sorry to hear about the losses. I lost a prized 6-7 year old cichlid to issues I could only trace back to frozen bloodworms or freeze dried brine shrimp, and I suspect it wasn't the brine shrimp because she had gotten those for like a year at that point without issue combined with the pellet.