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Feeding tubifex worms.

Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 11:25 am
by scpion
Hey there, have a dp that simply ignores every kinf of food. Frozen blood worms, minute pieces of prawn legs, even crushed up snails..! My lfs has this live tubifex worms but i am kinda worried to use that. Read up many bad things any them. Will freezing them kill off any bacterial/parasite that comes along with them?

Re: Feeding tubifex worms.

Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 11:57 am
by Pufferpunk
I didn't think nasty tubifex were available anymore. Are you sure they're not blackworms? All my DP will eat is those.

Re: Feeding tubifex worms.

Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 3:19 pm
by scpion
I am pretty certain they are tubifex worms.. they are more common than u can imagine.. here, almost all lfs have them live in store.. and, they do feed that to their stock...

Re: Feeding tubifex worms.

Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 4:51 pm
by RTR
PP - Note the poster is from Singapore - they may well be Tubifex.

I have not used Tubifex in decades, nor do I ever see them offered anymore around here. I think that they were all pulled from the market due to bad bacterial contaminations.

But California blackworms were a staple for my DPs also.

Re: Feeding tubifex worms.

Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 5:31 pm
by Troender
Tubifex is very fattening, so you have to be careful with them. You should not use them very often.

Re: Feeding tubifex worms.

Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 5:48 pm
by bertie 83
I have tubifex. Should I bin them if they are crap?

Re: Feeding tubifex worms.

Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 5:54 pm
by puffykid
Ya you can buy them at petsmart in the freezer area where they keep the bloodworms. They are kept a bit behind the others probably cause they aint as popular.

Re: Feeding tubifex worms.

Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 11:18 pm
by kcartwright856
Have you tried not crushing the snails and just letting them hunt them down on their own in the tank?

Re: Feeding tubifex worms.

Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 11:50 pm
by Pufferpunk
PP - Note the poster is from Singapore - they may well be Tubifex.
Noted, thanks. :)

Re: Feeding tubifex worms.

Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2012 6:33 am
by Nuclear_Glitter
scpion wrote:Hey there, have a dp that simply ignores every kinf of food. Frozen blood worms, minute pieces of prawn legs, even crushed up snails..! My lfs has this live tubifex worms but i am kinda worried to use that. Read up many bad things any them. Will freezing them kill off any bacterial/parasite that comes along with them?
Not sure about the tubifex worms thing, but maybe you should try live foods. Such as live brine shrimp, live bloodworms, live ghost shrimp (gut-loaded), and stuff like that. Also, as suggested by kcartwright856, try non-crushed snails.

Re: Feeding tubifex worms.

Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2012 7:00 am
by RTR
The issue with Tubifex worms in this country was heavy bacterial contamination. These are in many areas effectively sewerage worms and as such potentially loaded with pathogens. Their widespread use in some areas has been credited with the many gut and systemic infectious diseases all too common in livestock from those areas, especially when coupleed with the common use of routine antibiotic in feeding wich may mask existing diseases as well as promoting drug-resistant strains of the same.

Re: Feeding tubifex worms.

Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2012 11:05 am
by scpion
Seriously... I have never thought about these nasty things b4. I grew up thinking these are fine and are "normal" food for fish. These are so readily available in almost all lfs here. Very often, U will see these clumps of worms in the tanks in the shops.. With the fish going crazy for them.

Btw, out of stupidity, i bought some and tried feeding it to my dp and he simply love them. still worried abt the nasty things i have read so i froze part of it, hoping to kill off any nasties. Threw the rest of them away the next day as boy, THEY STINK!!..

Have dump the froze ones as well as i found that at least 90% had turned white and useless.

THIS WILL BE THE LAST TIME I AM TOUCHING THOSE THINGS..

Re: Feeding tubifex worms.

Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2012 11:13 am
by scpion
Haven seen live blood worms anywhere here b4. He's too timid to go for ghost shrimps. There's cherrys living with him and not even interested with them one bit.. Strangely, theres no stock in ramhorns and cant find pond snails.. My crushed snail come from the mystery snail that I am breeding for birdy and if i dun crush, he will never get to it. Think brine shrimps the only next thing to go for..

Re: Feeding tubifex worms.

Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2012 11:19 am
by Nuclear_Glitter
Since dwarf puffers often don't have overgrown beak problems you mostly just have to worry about him eating at all. Try some cut up earthworms.

Re: Feeding tubifex worms.

Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2012 1:52 pm
by bertie 83
Mine are going in the bin. It's like feeding them snot anyway lol