Worm invasion!

[rachel]

A month or so ago I switched Sid (JFB) from live blackworms to frozen bloodworms. Last night I noticed a bunch of the buggers sticking up out of the gravel and wriggling. Why are they still alive? How many times have I vaccumed that tank out? Are they breeding in there? Is that ok, or should i eliminate them?

This does explain why Sid looks like a zeppelin despite being on a diet.

(Message edited by nate on May 19, 2005)

 

[jennifer]

When using live blackworms in a gravel setup, a disturbingly large number of them will take up residence in the gravel. I doubt that they are breeding in there - the reproduction rate of blackworms is rather slow. They are just leftovers. I wouldn't bother to eliminate them. I doubt Sid can catch enough of them to jeopardize his diet.

 

[rachel]

I dunno, I feel like I can't have missed anywhere near that many during vacuuming. It took a lot of observation to determine they really were blackworms, since I couldn't believe that many had escaped. There's like, more in there than I used to buy at a time.

 

[jennifer]

Try vacuuming again and see how many you get out. Maybe they are good at avoiding the vacuum

 

[aaron]

Something that I've found very effective when trying to safely reduce their population is to simply turn off the filter and any other water/air pumps for a few hours when you'd normally feed the newts.

Without water circulation, the worms won't be able to get enough oxygen, and you'll see them stick about 50% of their bodies out of the gravel-it kinda looks like a little swaying rug. Then Sid can go around and scarf them up.

Saves you time, and he gets to go hunting-good times for all

 

[rachel]

Oh yeah, that's exactly what they do when I turn on the light, that's how I figured out they were there. Funny thing, too, they are way lighter in color than they were when I first dropped them in there.

 

[sharon]

What is exactly wrong with having them breed in the substrate?

Granted when this happened to me it was a fish tank, free food. I was told to get rid of them ASAP or they'd kill my whole tank. I didn't, and they lived in the gravel until I moved and the gravel dried out during shipping. UGH now I can't find them any where locally.

Sharon