how to get rid of blackworms ?

[fish_r]

b4 i was told it wasnt good to feed blackworms to my discus, i was for a week or so.
now i seem to have blackworms breeding in my substrate, they only stick there heads up when the lights are off and my discus have finished eating.
when i try to syphon them out, as soon as i touch the substrate they disapear
back down again and i cant seem to suck them up.
a cpl of my discus have sussed they are there but when they get near them they disapear too.
will this cause any long term harm if i cant get them all out ?

[goldenpigeon]

it wont cause long term harm. they wont hurt your fish, you will just have a breeding fish treat i your tank (good if your fish love hte worms). if you want to get rid of them put some corydoras in the tnka, they will sift through the substrate and grab them hehe.

[fish_r]

thx for the reply golden
i will just leave em in there then :)
bit worried if i put cory's in there cause they might sift too deep and upseat the peat base and make a mess.
i thought the worms might die after a while and foul the tank cause when i brought em i was told to keep them in the fridge...

[goldenpigeon]

keeping them in the fridge slows the worms down, in a warmer enviroment they will foul without food and a suitable enviroment. i have had some black worms in one of my cory tanks for 2 weeks and everything is still going strong.

the corys wont sift too seep, the are not burrowers, they just move the substrate around a small bit to find food, you wont notice where they have been searching thoagh.

[fish_r]

ok thx for clearing that up for me
there are heaps in my tank @ the front and they seem to be breeding well :oops: they cover about half of the front of my 75g
been in there for about 6 weeks i recon...
might add a cpl of cory's this week and try em then, least they will eat well for a while :)

[samir]

how thick is you substrate ?

[fish_r]

i have a peat base of about 2cm and aquaclay substrate above of about 3 an a half cm

[samir]

corys or loaches, and try feeding lesser amounts of food.

[fish_r]

i already have 3 x small clown loaches, for my 8 discus i feed 4-5 frozen cubes in the morn and 4-5 cubes in the arvo, is that too much ? i want to fatten my discus up a bit... they range from about 8cm to 11-12cm

[wickedglass]

you have clown loaches in with your discus? not many people are so brave

[marg]

Chris,

I had a Clown Loach in with my Discus and other Fish in my Community Tank for over 3 years - bought him as a baby and he grew pretty big - I gave him to my Grandaughter 3 weeks ago - he didn't worry the Discus in any way and the only reason that I gave him to my Grandaughter was because he was a real greedy guts and I reckoned my Discus needed their Bloodworms and Beefheart Mix more than he did (the bigger he got, the more he ate). As soon as the Food was put in the tank he zoned in on it real quick and i didn't want my Discus going without.

I kinda miss him as he was a real character but at least I can visit him and he is being well taken care of.

Marg.

[Phlipper]

i already have 3 x small clown loaches, for my 8 discus i feed 4-5 frozen cubes in the morn and 4-5 cubes in the arvo, is that too much ? i want to fatten my discus up a bit... they range from about 8cm to 11-12cm

Sounds like a lot of food :shock: and I reckon a bit morte variety would be wise.

[fish_r]

Sounds like a lot of food and I reckon a bit morte variety would be wise

they usually eat what i give them with in about 1/2 an hr
i feed Hikari bloodworm and brine shrimp, and 2 different kinds of discus dinner. one has garlick/spirulina etc. some of them have also started eating the few different flake foods i use for the tetras etc...

[Robdog]

As long as you are doing a heap of water changes to remove all their waste it's OK. If you're not doing big water changes I'd suggest you cut back a bit on the food. 4-5 cubes does sound like a lot.

[Phlipper]

I think the general rule of thumb is to feed only what they consume in about 10 minutes, it's very easy to over feed fish, I'm sure we are all guilty of it from time to time, we like to spoil our fish too much, hopefully not "spoilt to death " 8-)

[Nathan]

yea that does sound like a ton of food, i agree with phlipper id only put enough in so that the discus could eat in 10 minutes or so.

and lotsa water changes if you want to feed that much

[fish_r]

i am feeding them that much because i have a cpl of very skinny discus i brought a cpl of weeks ago also and trying to fatten them up a bit + i also have a fair few other fish in the same tank that snack upon the cubes i put in also, IE : 3 clown loach 5 sae approx 15 neons 10 rummy nose 10 harlequins 5 bn's.
if there is any food left over after 1/2 an hr i syphon it out also.
i will cut it back to 4 cubes for now, then down to 3 when i fatten my little guys up a bit...
thx for ur concern...

[FishLover]

The loaches will hog the food for sure. You discus may not get there share of food even if you feed them that much a day.

[Mitch]

I had a real problem with blackworms breeding for ages, then i stumbled across a fish called a Peecock Eel. They basicly only eat black worms, but only out of the substrate. They are an facinating fish as they literally swim through the gravel with their pinpoint shaped head, sometimes you wont even see them for a week. They are a very quiet non-aggressive fish perfect for discus. They grow to a similar length as a Ghost Knife. Since having my eel i have never had a worm problem. :)

[Phlipper]

Yeah I've had a pair of Eels do this, still have one of them 8-) .......the only real downside is they constantly uproot my plants :(

[Mitch]

If you just addsome more gravel to the tank it should stop plant coming out as it gives the eel more room to move.

[Phlipper]

Already got 4 inches of gravel now ?...........I think my eel just likes to annoy me :lol: