# Live Bloodworms



## JLHayes13 (Feb 21, 2009)

I searched- found nothing. Does anyone feed their darts live bloodworms? The pet store across the street sells them for really cheap (99 cents for half a sandwich bag) and I was thinking of trying them out for the darts as a supplement to their normal diet. Any precautions to take if feeding them?


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## kristy55303 (Apr 27, 2008)

JLHayes13 said:


> I searched- found nothing. Does anyone feed their darts live bloodworms? The pet store across the street sells them for really cheap (99 cents for half a sandwich bag) and I was thinking of trying them out for the darts as a supplement to their normal diet. Any precautions to take if feeding them?


just what i have heard. bloodworms can carry chytrid and its the blackworms you want to buy IMO . I feed my tads blackworms and they need to be rinsed once a day. i do this on cloth so they dont get through. then refrigerate. they can be spendy. pm me if you want to know where to get them. this whole vendor feedback stuff is confusing. kristy


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## matty365 (Mar 18, 2009)

Over here across the pond live bloodworm should be used with caution as they are collected from allsorts of stagnant waters which may be contaminated with anything from raw sewage to industrial waste.Its also true they do carry chytrid.Not too sure what its like in the states but i still wouldnt use them as its a risk imo to use them.On the other hand tho frozen blood worm are the better option these are bred in controlled environments.I have bred Discus and Altum angel fish and used f/bloodworm as a good conditioner food when they show signs of spawning.
I know my post doesnt really help people in the states but it may help our uk and european frog lovers who read your thread.
All the best 
Matty


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## kristy55303 (Apr 27, 2008)

just to be even more cautious....even frozen ones have been reported that they can carry chytrid. chytrid is not killed by freezing as i know of. i may be wrong but i would go with the blackworms instead. i pm'd you a place to get them. they are however 40X more the price. I always think it is better to be safe than sorry. he is right though that they do come from sewage etc. places and can carry chytrid. Not something i would want to risk. kristy


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

I have yet to see a substantiated report of bloodworms carrying chytrid. It is theoretically possible that the water in which they are collected and housed may have active zoospores but as I said I have yet to see it substantiated. 

I have no clue why people are so concerned about bloodworms but then ignore what is probably an equivalent or possibly greater risk from trading plants, collecting mosses, or anything else that remains moist and is then allowed to come into contact with the frogs (this could IN THEORY include arthropods collected from outside....) 

Ed


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## JLHayes13 (Feb 21, 2009)

Thanks everyone; I guess I should seek out other forms of food. I will look into where the pet store gets them but they have a lot of bloodworms so they might breed them. 

Also would chytrid be a problem for aquariums? If it is then I would think that breeders/sellers would take the precautions to keep them clean so that they don't infect an aquarium.


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## kristy55303 (Apr 27, 2008)

most pet stores could care less about chytrid or even know about it at all. It is not something i believe that affects aquariums though the aquariums can harbor the zoospores , therefore transfering chytrid along pretty easily. Try the blackworms. they are awesome imo. Then again you might want to keep to a simpler tad feeding method if you dont have a large enough collection to have use for them. HBH tad bites are good in combo with a good quality fish flake food and chorella/spirunila algae, ground up fruit flies and the like. I even drop a few alive in my tad cups. I would however at the least avoid the live bloodworms. kristy
edit: i am also in agreement with ed to be careful on trading plants and who you get them from. Sanitizing as best you can is good practice. I would definately avoid mosses that are collected from outdoors and it concerns me personally when i see others collecting arthropds and other feeder insects outdoors etc. just my opinion. you should make you own of course as all we are able to do is provide some insight, ed being more knowledgeable on this subject than I.


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## JLHayes13 (Feb 21, 2009)

Yeah I wasn't going to be feeding tads, just my frogs so using bloodworms isn't a big deal. I am always looking for alternative food sources that are easy to obtain and will supplement my frog's diet. Thanks for the help kristy.


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

Black worms are somewhat of a pain to culture, i generally just run to the pet stoe and just buy a small culture to feed that day to the tads, the tads really love them. I have noticed that those who are fead on black worms morph out much bigger too.


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