Parasites in blackworms?

[Charley]

Came across a post somewhere that mentioned that one issue with blackworms is that they can have parasites. just was wondering how big an issue is this?

When LIRA had a collecting trip I brought home some butterfly fish and used blackworms to feed them. They loved them and for a while they did great. Due to a lack of space I put them in with a pair of clownfish that also sucked up the blackworms. About 2 weeks later, all turned for the worse and lost them all. It was so sad, felt terrible. I also was feeding in my main tank the same blackworms and no problems. I did stop feeding the blackworms when I saw the problem in the butterfly tank.

Guessing it might have been parasites from the butterflies and not the blackworms.

Wanted to try the blackworms again to see if would get my clowns in the main tank to spawn. Maybe I should eat the blackworms to help me spawn! Just a thought....

 

[homegrowncichlid]

If I recall correctly, there are 2 points.
1. Black worms are fresh water, any parasites there wouldn't survive in sea water.
2. Compared to tublifex worms, which grow in dirty waters, black worms need clean water, so are relatively disease free. The worms need to be purged with clean water almost daily to keep them clean and healthy. To feed them, I toss in a square of toilet paper and a single pellet of fish food, like once a week. Anyway, following is a quick link regarding both worms.

http://mailman.actwin.com/pipermail//killietalk/2004-November/002136.html

This is not to say your fish didn't die of food poisoning of some sort, I've fed raw fish eggs to fish (from gutting and cleaning the seafood I eat personally), in the past that caused the fish to die by bloating. Likely due to bacterial growth in the refrigerated eggs. Now I keep the fish eggs frozen before I feed them to my fish, preventing spoilage and bacterial growth.

 

[Charley]

Thanks for the info and the link to the article. Much appreciated.

 

[Paul B]

I have been feeding live blackworms to my fish since the 60s. I feed them every day and have been for all those years. My fish have never had parasites in the last 38 years or so. I doubt blackworms gave your fish parasites. Just my opinion of course.