Bloodworms and Viejita

[Borked]

Hello all,

I've been concerned lately about feeding bloodworms in my 75gal community tank. I have a large male A. viejita among a lot of other fish. I would like to feed bloodworms (frozen) as I have two flat packs in the freezer. The first time the viejita ate bloodworms I noticed the next day that he was a little backed up. It looked like he was pooping about 6-7 bloodworms whole at the same time. I held off on the bloodworms for a while and when I fed them again I shaved the frozen cube with a knife to make the worms into tiny chunks. I noticed no ill effects to the viejita. The last time I fed bloodworms I didn't use my shaving technique and the viejita had serious side effects. For one day the viejita looked like he had dropsy from mid-body to the anal fin only on the belly. He snapped back to normal the very next day.

I re-read the care section for viejita in the dwarf cichlid book I have (Linke & Staeck American Cichlids I) for the viejita and it reads:

"The species is sensative towards intestine parasites and preventive treatment is therefore advisable. Care should especially be taken when Tubifex or Red Mosquito-larvae are fed. This kind of live food should be conditioned before use."

I know this book was translated to english but what exactly does that mean? Is it advisable to feed this food, or should I stick to brine, mysis, ML-bio, and flake?

thanks in advance,
-Kyle

 

[Discus Man]

bloodworm should not be used IMO.
I know it can be a food source, but the shells are indigestible and can cause blockages. In Apistos and Discus that are senitive to gut infections it is a risk without benefit as the nutrition can be obtained through less risky foods.
By chopping it, you simply made it easier to pass.

 

[Randall]

Frozen Bloodworms

Dear Kyle,

In their book, Linke & Staeck are referring to live Tubifex and live Red Mosquito larvae, not frozen. In feeding some live foods, we run the risk of passing on some patheogen or protazoa to our fish. I believe this is what the authors are referring to. We don't run this risk when feeding frozen or freeze dried foods, however.

Frozen Bloodworms are pretty much a main staple food in the cichlid hobby. If your fish don't respond well to it, however, then father knows best. Perhaps other foods would be more to your fishes' liking.

Good luck!

Randall Kohn

 

[Woodsy]

Randall is right- all commercial frozen foods are gamma treated to remove any pathogens that might harm your fish.