Feeding Live Worms - Any Danger?

[FishNut]

Hi,

My fish friends love the worms I buy at my LFS. I believe they are
bloodworms. My LFS carries two kinds and I always get the larger ones
because they always look livelier. Anyway, I want to know if I'm taking a
big change by introducing parasites and diseases with live foods? Is there
anyway to prepare live foods to make them safer? Is it not worth worrying
about? Has anyone here ever had a problem?

[Dinky]

"FishNut" > wrote in message
t...
> Hi,
>
> My fish friends love the worms I buy at my LFS. I believe they are
> bloodworms. My LFS carries two kinds and I always get the larger ones
> because they always look livelier. Anyway, I want to know if I'm taking a
> big change by introducing parasites and diseases with live foods? Is
there
> anyway to prepare live foods to make them safer? Is it not worth worrying
> about? Has anyone here ever had a problem?
>
>

Live foods always carry the danger of disease and parasite introduction. I
recommend against the use of live foods, other than brine shrimp you raise
yourself for feeding fry, but for the record, many people use live foods of
various types on a regular basis. I myself don't see the point in taking the
risk with the plethera of commecially available flake, frozen, pelletized,
wafered and powdered foods out there.

--

billy
--
Need tech help?
news://news.winextra.com

[FishNut]

I actually have an eel and an Elephant Nose fish. I like to drop the live
worms on their heads so I know they are eating. I've used frozen but it
floods as does FD. Any suggestions? Also, wouldn't frozen worms also carry
diseases?

"Dinky" > wrote in message
link.net...
>
>
> "FishNut" > wrote in message
> t...
> > Hi,
> >
> > My fish friends love the worms I buy at my LFS. I believe they are
> > bloodworms. My LFS carries two kinds and I always get the larger ones
> > because they always look livelier. Anyway, I want to know if I'm taking
a
> > big change by introducing parasites and diseases with live foods? Is
> there
> > anyway to prepare live foods to make them safer? Is it not worth
worrying
> > about? Has anyone here ever had a problem?
> >
> >
>
> Live foods always carry the danger of disease and parasite introduction. I
> recommend against the use of live foods, other than brine shrimp you raise
> yourself for feeding fry, but for the record, many people use live foods
of
> various types on a regular basis. I myself don't see the point in taking
the
> risk with the plethera of commecially available flake, frozen, pelletized,
> wafered and powdered foods out there.
>
> --
>
> billy
> --
> Need tech help?
> news://news.winextra.com
>
>

[Dinky]

"FishNut" > wrote in message
t...
> I actually have an eel and an Elephant Nose fish. I like to drop the live
> worms on their heads so I know they are eating. I've used frozen but it
> floods as does FD. Any suggestions? Also, wouldn't frozen worms also
carry
> diseases?
>


Never owned an elephant nose, and the 15" rubber eel I had ate *anything*,
so I won't embarrass myself with an attempt to help with that, but as for
frozen food, a great number of diseases and parasites cannot survive being
frozen. Some do, of course, but it's a level of risk I'm willing to accept
compared to live food.

--

billy
--
Need tech help?
news://news.winextra.com

[Toni]

"FishNut" > wrote in message
t...
> Hi,
>
> My fish friends love the worms I buy at my LFS. I believe they are
> bloodworms. My LFS carries two kinds and I always get the larger ones
> because they always look livelier. Anyway, I want to know if I'm taking a
> big change by introducing parasites and diseases with live foods? Is
there
> anyway to prepare live foods to make them safer? Is it not worth worrying
> about? Has anyone here ever had a problem?
>
>


Aquatic Foods http://www.aquaticfoods.com/intros.html goes to a lot of
trouble to ensure that you get the safest live food available. They even
claim that their worms are parasite and pathogen free.

I use one pound per month and have happy healthy fish and no problems, as do
score of others over on SimplyDiscus.com.


--
Toni
http://www.cearbhaill.com/discus.htm

[FishNut]

Just what I was looking for. Thanks so much.
"Toni" > wrote in message
k.net...
>
> "FishNut" > wrote in message
> t...
> > Hi,
> >
> > My fish friends love the worms I buy at my LFS. I believe they are
> > bloodworms. My LFS carries two kinds and I always get the larger ones
> > because they always look livelier. Anyway, I want to know if I'm taking
a
> > big change by introducing parasites and diseases with live foods? Is
> there
> > anyway to prepare live foods to make them safer? Is it not worth
worrying
> > about? Has anyone here ever had a problem?
> >
> >
>
>
> Aquatic Foods http://www.aquaticfoods.com/intros.html goes to a lot of
> trouble to ensure that you get the safest live food available. They even
> claim that their worms are parasite and pathogen free.
>
> I use one pound per month and have happy healthy fish and no problems, as
do
> score of others over on SimplyDiscus.com.
>
>
> --
> Toni
> http://www.cearbhaill.com/discus.htm
>
>

[Alan Silver]

In message . net>,
Dinky > writes
>but as for frozen food, a great number of diseases and parasites cannot
>survive being frozen. Some do, of course, but it's a level of risk I'm
>willing to accept compared to live food.

In addition to that, a lot of frozen food is irradiated, effectively
killing any bugs. Even those that could survive freezing cannot survive
irradiation.

Don't know if all makes of frozen food are irradiated, but most on sale
round here seem to be.

HTH

--
Alan Silver
PSG Fish Tanks - http://fish.alansilver.co.uk/