Cleaning of Blood Worms

[Deepak]

Hi,

Can Blood Worms be cleaned effectively by washing in PP water ? Has anybody tried it ?

If yes what should be the concentration ?

Would'nt the BWs injest PP which might poison the fish ?

Can we soak & wash the BWs in PP water (Concentration?), rinse very well in fresh water, seive in fine net & store away in fridge ? How long will these worms stay ?

Beta, pl. throw some light on this. I know you use this method to prepare your frozen BWs. As the rains will start soon I want to stock up on frozen worms since they're not available much in the rains.

[alxjss]

Wow, i didn't know fbw's get washed. I just throw some in the tank frozen. Thanks for the eye opener.

[phidelt85]

Wow, i didn't know fbw's get washed. I just throw some in the tank frozen. Thanks for the eye opener.

I think he means live bloodworms, alxjss. :)

[alxjss]

I think he means live bloodworms, alxjss. :)

Wow, i can't believe i did that.......

[surya_niki]

Hi Deepak,

Not sure what your are talking about. Please correct me if I understood you wrong?

If you are trying to clean live blood worms with potassium permanganate, then you might be feeding the worms which have been poisned by PP. Hence PP cannot be removed by washing dead worms.

If you are want to feed live worms, then you can just use a normal bowl to wash any debris and dirt that the worm carries. Do this for 2-3 times and then feed the live BW's to your fish.

Once again, correct me if I understood you right.

Regards,
Surya.

[Xirxes]

alx if you thaw your frozen BW, then rinse them, you will eliminate a large amount of unusable nutrients going into your system, leading to lowered nitrates.

[alxjss]

really? I didn't know that. So, rinse, then refreeze or just break off what u r gonna use, then rinse and feed? Probably w/decloride water. What i use to clean cbw's. If this is true, i will be doing this from now on. Thanks, trying to figure a way to lower nitrates.....

[pcsb23]

Eileen, I feed a lot of fbw, I never thaw anymore and never rinsed when I did. Nitrates are better controlled by regular w/c's.

[alxjss]

okay, that sounds good, since i don't want to do anymore than i have to. Thanks Paul

[gg5190]

Where do you guys get PP?
Is any one concerned with the health risks???

[Deepak]

We get PP freely at the Chemists here.

Surya_Niki, are'nt you from the IAH ? Yes you got me right. Can't PP be removed by washing it away ? The PP solution is very weak, just turn the water purple, even the worms don't die after the dip. Will this poison the fish ? If yes can the PP be neutralized by H2O2 ?

So far I've fed these FBWs to my FHs 10 days now. They dont seem to mind, & they're not dead either ~ so far, touch wood :p

Beta here uses this method regularly to clean his worms. What is the qty. of PP you use ? You had any poisioning issues ? pl. share with us.

[Xirxes]

alx, the number one addition of excess nutrients to any system is the excess water in frozen foods that is filled with non-usable byproduct. Because of this i recommend to break off, thaw in a small cup/bowl and rinse FBW through a small net. This is not much more work, and will have the benefit of ridding excess nitrates as well as not introducing your fish to any unnaturally cold foodstuffs that can cause ice damage to mouthparts.

remember, discus never come into contact with anything frozen in natural environment.

As far as water changes being the main form of nitrate removal, this is an obvious statement, and by no means am i recommending food washing as your only husbandry, but food rinsing, use of RO/DI, rinsing any filter mats ALONG with water changes is much better than just water changes.