Blackworms Maintenance

OK! I bought some black worms Tuesday of last week. I changed the water for it daily, it was good for about a week then I forgot to change the water for an extra 1/2 day and the water was cloudy and alll the worms were dead. I don't have a worm keeper so I use a plastic cup to keep them. Should I get something wider? How much water (heigh) do you keep then in? Stuff like this definitely scares me from purchasing them by the lb


Thanks
Doug

You should definately get a keeper!!! If that isn't an option, then a wide and shallow tupperware container will do. Your container was too deep and all your worms probably drowned. I always purchase a full pound and divide it into 2 keepers. I add just enough water so that the level is at about the middle of worms. Just enough to keep them wet!! I then keep a gallon container of dechlorinated water in the fridge with them. This way the water that I rinse them with daily is the same temperature as the water in the keepers. This may be an unneccessary step, but I do it anyway. Using this method, I can keep them alive for well over a month.

From my experience keeping worms alive since the May meeting, (I have a little less than 1/4# left), they will not drown. In fact, somehow I transfered one into one of my plant only tanks and it lived there for several days half sticking out of the bottom before I lost sight of it. Also, I have missed several rinsings, including from early Friday morning to early Monday morning this past weekend when I was out of town. I keep mine in a a plastic shoebox sized thing. After discussing it with Bob, I keep in mine in between 1" and 1 1/2" of water in fridge. I could put more in, but it would make a mess when I took it out the fridge. When I first got them I was keeping them barely covered in water and they were climbing all over the inside of the container, some dieing on the inside of the lid. I think the additional water helps dillute their waste and keeps them healthy.

A worm keeper would definitely make rinsing a ton easier and the added water volume below them would dillute the waste and give a nice place for the waste to accumulate..

If anyone is interested, I have a bunch of worm keepers, originally purchased from Dan at Aquatic foods in very good condition.


Please PM me if interested.

Black worms are aquatic and therefore do not drown.

I do the following..

I use the 2 pound Margerine tubs for a half pound.. I change the water out dialy.. using the Rject water from my RO.. then I stick it in my fridge. The tub is about 3/4 full of water.. over the top of the worms.. I have good success with this.

I have kept Blackworms alive in 85 degree water, so long as there is good water movment.. they will last about 3 weeks in this.. I drop the occassional pellet or two into this and they do great.

Dont get hooked into the belief that there is only one way to do things

Anchor

Anchor wrote:

I have kept Blackworms alive in 85 degree water, so long as there is good water movment.. they will last about 3 weeks in this.. I drop the occassional pellet or two into this and they do great.

Anchor

And how do you provide water movement? Airstone?

Anchor wrote:

I use the 2 pound Margerine tubs for a half pound.. I change the water out dialy.. using the Rject water from my RO.. then I stick it in my fridge. The tub is about 3/4 full of water.. over the top of the worms.. I have good success with this.

I do almost exactly the same thing, except I use Cool Whip containers with a hole in the cover - they stack nicely too, so they don't take up too much room. Bought a worm keeper but went back to the plastic bowls. I was having trouble with my worms climbing to the top in them, but once I started using more water, and keeping water in the fridge so it was very cold, they stopped climbing. Thank God! It's disgusting to to open the worm container and have them falling all over the counter top.

Just don't put too many in your container Doug, they die if they are too thick in the bottom. I'd use plastic shoe boxes if I had a dedicated fridge.

Sue

Thank you all for your help. I got a few worm keepers from Linda and bought 1/4 lb from FLP. I met Tom and he gave me a few pointers about the worms too, it was neat to finally check out the pet shop there. I saw a few variety of bettas but they don't look too happy there It is a very nice pet shop w/ a lot of tanks and fish even though Tom said they are a little low on fish that day

Day 1: Worms are in worm keeper in a micro-refrigerator. About 1/3 of the top was cover w/ ice this afternoon. I rinse the worms, feed the fish and lower the cold level of the unit. [Worm Condition: Good]

Doug,

How much are black worms at FLP?

Passionfish wrote:

Doug,

How much are black worms at FLP?

I believe it was $24 /lb or $30 /lb for anything less than a lb. I bought 1/4 lb which was $7.50. They usually get it on Wednesday so I was one of the first to buy for this week.


Doug

Thanks.

Is anyone bring any to the August meeting? I bet the angels and kribs would love them! So how do you perpare these things, throw them in whole, or cut them up a bit?

just throw them in. They are small enough that most fish can eat them.