Keeping tubifex worms alive

Originally Posted by CullTail

if i wanna know anything about the female in your avatar
can i call you

i wanna cull u can????

[seed75]

Originally Posted by Johnc

I am a worm too. We are all worms (Job 25:6). Think about it, we are made of exactly the same material except that we have a soul.

Amen!

Indeed, how much less man, who is but a maggot__ a son of man, who is only a worm.

[CullTail]

Originally Posted by seed75

Amen!

Indeed, how much less man, who is but a maggot__ a son of man, who is only a worm.

blur leh brother
very chim

[Johnc]

Originally Posted by jess2006

hope u don't mind, 2 questions :
1. when u changed water, were there any dead worms at all
2. what is the temp u kept the worms under.

thanks.

I just tried it again with a lot more worms than usual.

Amazing with the blackwater treated water, there were no dead worms even after two full days. The water was a little fouled up, but no smell and no dead worms. I was amazed myself.

For that amount of worms, the tray would stink up the whole room and more than 50% of the worms would be dead and rotting by the second day even with a couple of water changes.

I keep the worms in room temperature.

Hope this helps

/John

hmm i store them in 1 plastic container with airstone... can keep for 5 day or more...but 1 day must wash and change with direct tap water about 2 times or more..

[SilverStallion]

Originally Posted by Johnc

I just tried it again with a lot more worms than usual.

Amazing with the blackwater treated water, there were no dead worms even after two full days. The water was a little fouled up, but no smell and no dead worms. I was amazed myself.

For that amount of worms, the tray would stink up the whole room and more than 50% of the worms would be dead and rotting by the second day even with a couple of water changes.

I keep the worms in room temperature.

Hope this helps

/John

you left the whole leave inside?

[Fishyfishchan]

Originally Posted by SilverStallion

you left the whole leave inside?

Not the whole leave but the KTP extract his wife prepared..

[Johnc]

Originally Posted by SilverStallion

you left the whole leave inside?

Originally Posted by Fishyfishchan

Not the whole leave but the KTP extract his wife prepared..

That's right. With KTP extract. My wife prepares them for my son to sell, but I suspect that any KTP extract will do. I just came back from vacation on Saturday. My father-in-law bought some worms in the morning to feed my fish. By the time I came back late afternoon, the water was fouled up and starting to smell. I washed the worms with KTP treated water, and put them in the same water. It has been two days since, and the worms are still fresh! And best of all no smell, and no water change!

/John

[SilverStallion]

Originally Posted by Johnc

That's right. With KTP extract. My wife prepares them for my son to sell, but I suspect that any KTP extract will do. I just came back from vacation on Saturday. My father-in-law bought some worms in the morning to feed my fish. By the time I came back late afternoon, the water was fouled up and starting to smell. I washed the worms with KTP treated water, and put them in the same water. It has been two days since, and the worms are still fresh! And best of all no smell, and no water change!

/John

Mmm.... probably is the chemicals in tap water that's killing the worms. plus rotting Ketapang leaves means food for the worms.

[cwtan12]

Originally Posted by Johnc

Hi folks,

I just discovered something, which I thought to share with you.

Ever since I started spawning bettas, I have been buying tubifex worms every few days to feed the fish.

As those of you who do the same will know -- it is quite a challenge to keep the worms alive and fresh.

The worst way to keep the worms is to use water straight from the tap. The worms will experience necrosis (i.e. part of each worm will die) in a day and by the next day the water will stink.

I can extend the life of the worms by an additional day by using filtered or matured water. The water will foul up after 24-36 hours and need to be changed. Some of the worms will die and the water will eventually stink

Last week, i decided to use tap water treated with the Ketapang extract++ that my wife prepared, and presto! The worms survived almost 3 days without water change! And as far as I can see they are all still fresh and alive by the time I fed off the last worm. I repeated the same experiment again beginning of this week, and the result was the same.

I wanted to take some photos to show the difference, but my camera is unfortunately needing major repairs.

I am not sure if it is the Ketapang, or the nutrafin or the salt or all three in combination (in the blackwater++) that did the trick. Those of you who bought the blackwater++ might want to try it out to verify my experience. Those who have your own ketapang extract might want to try it too. Keep the water level low, about 2 mm.

Hope this information is useful for some of us.

/John

3 years ago, I had a discussion with Uncle Foong on this. I also used ketapang with aged water while uncle foong used rain water with the same result. I think it the chlorine and high pH that kills