Bloodworm colony in canister filter; is this normal?

H

h4tch3tm4n

Registered Member
Apr 5, 2006
2
0
0
Hi guys,

I've recently purchased a canister filter, and after opening it up for the first time in a month of use, I noticed quite an extensive bloodworm colony in the bottom of the filter.

Though I'm sure my baby oscars would enjoy this lively food source, I'm sure it's not normal...?

Anyone know why, and if it's normal...?

I'm assuming here it's the freeze dried worms I feed them...

thanx
 
Thats kinda gross. i thought blood worms that are freeze dried are dead.
 
The colonize in my whisper as well, the fry in the tank love it when I dose Pimafix (treating a sick fish) because all of a sudden tinly blood worms fly out the top of the filter, small enough for fry to eat...

I have no idea why Pimafix does this but it seems to be very consistant!
 
Actual "bloodworms" are the larva of a flying midge insect (basically a non-biting mosquito). If you have them living in your aquarium, then flying insects are laying eggs in your aquarium. They are not something that will grow and reproduce in your tank all by themselves.

Freeze dried bloodworms are not going to come back to life, so if they are alive in there, you have something else, possibly nematodes.
 
Chances are they are not bloodworms, its just not a likely scenario that you would have such an active population without noticing the midges. Regaurdless, if you have something like that growing in your filters, you have a nutrient problem, most likely over feeding and not enough water changes.
 
I only found a couple of them right in the bottom of the filter, and I was wondering whether the freeze dried or frozen blocks of food might not contain any eggs or something...?

I have to be honest and say that over feeding could have been the instigator, as my wife had to feed them while I was away recently...

I'm cleaning the setup again tomorrow, so I'll check and let ya'll know if it's gotten worse over the last few weeks.

Thanx.
 
I dunno but I don't think i was overfeeding and they are blackworms/bloodworms in my filter and they ARE babies....

but I feed live ones, although they have gottem a bit too cold before and the water they were in froze, and thawing them out, did bring some of them back to life.

I also found them multiplying in a cooler I had old gravel and water in (tap water) The gravel was infested with them from dumping huge quantities in for my newts but sure enough there were Babies growing int eh cooler months later.
 
Blackworms can multiply in tanks or filters. Bloodworms cannot unless the live adul midge deposited eggs in your tank. The bloodworm stage of that life cycle connot reproduce, only the adult fly can.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom