frozen bloodworms deadly to discus?

[DIY]

I thought I'd treat my discus to some FBW (frozen bloodworms), I havent used them for months.

Anyway the LFS near my work didn't have any in stock but told me that I shouldn't feed discus FBW as they have "platelets" or something due to them being segmented. He said he has personally killed several discus due to feeding them FBW??

He mentioned something about "building up" in discus and not being able to digest or pass them...

has anyone heard of this? was certainly new information to me and I'm a bit sceptical

[taksan]

Ummmm nooooo
All major breeders I know feed frozen bloodworm ...

[FishLover]

I feed mine everyday once. Then rotate other foods.

Frozen BWs are part of their main diet for about 1 year now.

[Ben]

fine to feed!

Go ahead and do it!

[marg]

Mine have been eating Frozen Bloodworms once a day as part of their diet for the past 3 years and I've never seen any bad effects - they love them.

I'm with Ben, they are fine to feed!!

marg.

[*Chris*]

this rumour has been spread for the past twelve months by none other than the supposed fish vet J.greenwood
for a while he was employed by Aquarium Industries and was doing shop visits all over Australia on behalf of the company
listening to him was like someone running there nails down a chalk board . He was telling people that bloodworms skeletal structure these days was alot biger than way back when because of supposed genetic modification of frozen foods , therefore the bloodworms would become lodged in the stomach of discus ,
Mind you i also found out that most fish vets dont even major in that field and do there own research and study without actually being qualified
so having said all that go for it mate
just remember to vary the diet as much as possible
EXAI

[DIY]

Thanks everyone

EXAI what you've said makes sense I normally find LFS information reasonable but this just didn't sound right. It sounded like regurgitated information and if it originated from a "vet" that would explain why the person telling me was so convinced! He acted like he was telling me some dirty secret that not many discus owners were aware of.

I'll stick with the plan of using it as a treat/small part of thier diet

[samir]

i use it as a major part of the diet. in the last week i've heard that both beefheart and bloodworm will kill my fish. thats all i feed them. anything i can add to this argument will only get censored, including where to stuff those theories.

[Mulisha]

Bloodworms deadly to discus? This kinda made me giggle becuase i know have heard it all..

What Samir said is completly right becuase what will be next "Brine Shrimp Take Caution" LOL :lol:

I don't know which LFS you go to but i think he may have a little room out the back with a few weed plants growing becuase what that guy told you is outta $HIT if you ask me..

I think it all comes down to one thing if your gut feeling is that will kill your fish no one will be able to talk you into feeding it becuase in the back of ur mind you will be thinking hmm should i use it or shouldn't I..

Good luck mate but my oppion is that guys needs to lay off the weed and BW is fine for discus.. 8-)

Good luck 8-)

Rick.

[DIY]

LOL,

yep Brine Shrimp & Tetra Colourbits have to be the next ones with "warnings" :lol: :lol: :lol:

Brine shrimp because they are not natural to the discus habitat being saltwater and are raised in high PH so create alkaline upset (reverse of acid upset in humans :lol: ). Also they are a laxative so discus don't digest properly before expelling... or something silly like that :shock:

And Tetra Bits hmmm.... Maybe because they are german and Discus are south american, so the time zone difference creates jet lag symptons for 4 hours after eating :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Nathan]

yea ive heard this to from my LFS an a vet ive been to, howver i feed mine this once a day everyday an have been doin it for a year now an never had a problem, only problem is they love em so much they go into a feeding frenzy an sometimes injure themselves.

but yea apart from that there fine, i also feed them beef heart n hav done for a year will no problems

[mcloughlin2]

Yes, it's been rumoured on cyphos.com (the frontosa forum) that bloodworms are deadly for a while ... The reason behind this is because they have small hooks on there body which lodge in the fish and get stuck, and the body temperature difference .... :roll: Or something similar to that ..

I have fed it to africans, discus, angelfish, guppies, tetras, other livebearers and even goldfish with no problems at all .....

[Geckoman]

WHAT THE REAL PROBLEM IS IN FACT, THAT THEY ARE FROZEN AND IF THEY THAW AND ARE RE-FROZEN THEY CAN BE BAD WHICH WILL GET YOUR FISH SICK.

IF YOU KEEP FEEDING BLOODWORMS IT'S JUST A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE YOU EXPERIANCE A BAD BATCH AND THEN LOOK OUT! MEDS, TEMP HIKES, EPSON SALT YOU NAME IT, YOUR FISH WILL NOT RECOVER IN TIME. THEY STOP EATING AND WASTE AWAY.

IT'S HAPPENED TO ME AND I SAY TO HELL WITH HIKARI AND THE UV TREATED BWORMS. AT LEAST HERE ON LONG ISLAND, THEY MUST NOT BE KEPT TOTALY FROZEN DURING SHIPMENT TO THE LFS.

I HAVE BEEN USING DISKUSIN AND OMEGA ONE VEGGIE FLAKES AS WELL AS BEEFHEART AND MY OWN HOME RAISED RED WIGGLERS.
THEY ARE DOING FANTASTIC.

MORE POWER TO YOU GUYS THAT USE BLOODWORMS, I FOR ONE WILL STAY AWAY.

[Mulisha]

WHAT THE REAL PROBLEM IS IN FACT, THAT THEY ARE FROZEN AND IF THEY THAW AND ARE RE-FROZEN THEY CAN BE BAD WHICH WILL GET YOUR FISH SICK.

IF YOU KEEP FEEDING BLOODWORMS IT'S JUST A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE YOU EXPERIANCE A BAD BATCH AND THEN LOOK OUT! MEDS, TEMP HIKES, EPSON SALT YOU NAME IT, YOUR FISH WILL NOT RECOVER IN TIME. THEY STOP EATING AND WASTE AWAY.

IT'S HAPPENED TO ME AND I SAY TO **** WITH HIKARI AND THE UV TREATED BWORMS. AT LEAST HERE ON LONG ISLAND, THEY MUST NOT BE KEPT TOTALY FROZEN DURING SHIPMENT TO THE LFS.

I HAVE BEEN USING DISKUSIN AND OMEGA ONE VEGGIE FLAKES AS WELL AS BEEFHEART AND MY OWN HOME RAISED RED WIGGLERS.
THEY ARE DOING FANTASTIC.

MORE POWER TO YOU GUYS THAT USE BLOODWORMS, I FOR ONE WILL STAY AWAY.

Hey mate no real need for caps lock...

I know what u mean by thawed out frozen food and then re frozen yes it would cause problems so would any food ..

I think if you found a good LFS that had them packed right so they didn't thaw out u should be right..

Were is long island by the way? :lol: :oops:

Cheers

Rick.

[FishLover]

Long Island is in New York City, Rick.

If you are concerned about the S&H of the frozen food, go to a reputable dealer, like a major chain store. PetSmart or PetCo come to my mind in USA.

What I read from this month's TFH is that there are three major aspects for fish health (actually, this can be true for any closed eco systems, including Earth):
1. Genetics/health of stock
2. Enviroment issues (temp, food, ph and so on)
3. Present of nasty bugs

If you can get these three things right, you will enjoy your healthy fish for a long time. I guess what we do is to tip these thing to our favor, including the feeds. You will have to decide what is good for your tank.

BW is good because it is close to live food and I think fish do need live food as part of their diet. It also increase the risk for problems, S&H is one of them. I don't think the hook thing is true. In the wild, Discus will be happy to chase and eat as much as BWs he can get. Feed your fish with only dry food may work for a while. The long term effect may not so clear. It is a risk I would not take.

Brine Shrimps are good because the roughage. It is like fiber in our diet. Makes the Discus poop easily. I guess that's a good thing to have from time to time.

So, BW or no BW, BS or no BS, it is up to you to decide what's the best for your fish. Each person may come to a different answer, which is perfectly OK.

[Geckoman]

Yes that's my location NYC and sorry about the caps lock. My family uses the PC and I am constantly changing it back to normal font. Anyway I see your point, but I have had too many problems with BW in the past and I am a fanatic about the water quality.

I actually had breeding success within the first three months of starting with Discus. Prior to that I have had tanks set up with such fish as Africans and other cichlids that are over and about 8-10 yrs.

I am not bragging, I am just fearful of the Consequences.

[Geckoman]

What do you guy's think of using this freeze dried form VS frozen? According to what I just read from www.somethingsphishy.com, Freeze drying suposidly kills Hexamitia. This is the best you can get without the problems I experianced with frozen BW. .

Good Day!!


www.hikariusa.com/fd_blood_worms.htm

[samir]

freeze dried floats, the fish dont really like it too much, makes a mess on the sides of the tank. i feed bloodworms and will continue to do so. i have other things to do so i dont have time to waste obsessing over what food to give. i have 10 discus atm, i feed bloodworms almost exclusively. the discus i had back home when i was a kid lived for more than 12 years on scrap meat, they got whatever the dogs got. if they died after 12 years, of severe internal organ shrinkage, so be it. If there's a PhD to be had, I'd gladly waste some time mulling over whether the exoskeleton of the bloodworm will get stuck up my fish's @ss, but there isn't and the fish look fine, so I dont care. :roll: