Live White worms

[lagatbezan]

If its too dry, I think they will die ( think dry crumbling dirt that only cactus live in)
The population will be very small in too dry potting dirt mix and only the ones near the moisture will survive.
If its too wet, mine will crawl out of the container thru the air holes and be plastered all over the lid.

Great thanks. I just made the dirt wet enough So that’s it feels moist when you touch it. I hope that’s good enough.

 

[Paul B]

That should be fine, a little wetter is better than a little drier. Almost mud.

 

[Aqua Man]

@SDK Thank you for the tip about aqua bid.
Received my worms the other day from the Worm man. They look great and it was a good size culture.

 

[SDK]

@SDK Thank you for the tip about aqua bid.
Received my worms the other day from the Worm man. They look great and it was a good size culture.

No worries and glad to help. If you want to get them multiplying quickly, pick up a $6 bag of nutritional yeast flakes from Amazon. Smear some plain yogurt on a piece of bread and cover the yogurt with the yeast. Lay the slice wet side down on the soil and change every other day or so.

The yeast not only speeds culture growth, it's loaded with protein, B and other vitamins and antioxidants that I believe significantly boost the nutritional value of the worms...

 

[Aqua Man]

Does the bread matter? All we have at our house is wheat and/or has nuts and seeds in it.

 

[SDK]

Does the bread matter? All we have at our house is wheat and/or has nuts and seeds in it.

Whole wheat bread it probably actually better. We eat wheat bread and that is what I feed. Having said that, I've also used hamburger buns, and I believe there is a photo floating around from PaulB of him using matzos lol...

 

[Mortie31]

Just found out to my detriment these white worms don’t like even moderate temp increases.. 2 days of 22c and there all dead!!

 

[hans4811]

Just found out to my detriment these white worms don’t like even moderate temp increases.. 2 days of 22c and there all dead!!

I just picked up off of craigslist one of those small refrigerators and a ten dollar timer and set the frig at its highest setting , where it barely turns on. Hoping this will help prevent that. worried that it gets too cold...ive checked it at times and seen it at 46 deg faren...but warms up fairly quickly. Stays in the 50 to 60ish range most of the time....fingers crossed. just got my culture as well...

 

[SDK]

If you keep your eyes open on CL you can find small wine refrigerators with built in digital thermostats. Those work fairly well.

My personal experience has been white worms can be more trouble than they’re worth if you don’t have a cool spot for them in the summer. I currently keep a thriving white worm culture in my basement year round.

When I was in an apartment I just cultured Grindal Worms. They are a bit smaller, but really prolific and love warm weather.

 

[SMSREEF]

If I feed my blackworms saltwater fish/coral food are they more nutritious for my fish?
I feed a combo of reef roids and crushed TDO chroma boost. I also add some spirulina (I know this is fresh water).
Also dose a bit of phyto once in a while.

 

[SDK]

If I feed my blackworms saltwater fish/coral food are they more nutritious for my fish?
I feed a combo of reef roids and crushed TDO chroma boost. I also add some spirulina (I know this is fresh water).
Also dose a bit of phyto once in a while.

Do you mean Black or White Worms?

I keep my blackworms in the fridge and don't feed them at all. They keep better that way and I use them up fairly quickly as a treat-supplement to the white worms...

The problem with feeding white worms fish food (in my experience anyway), is that meaty/fishy foods tend to sour the culture medium much faster. I even find this to be true with the dog and cat food some use, although not to the extent as with fish foods....

The bread/yogurt/nutritional yeast combo comes from a gentleman named David Ramsey, who was one of the AKA live food gurus that I learned a lot from. He put out an instructional video some years back. At the time, his culture had been going continuously for ten years without losing it. At that point I switched over and have had the same results.

He was using a wine fridge. I use larger culture boxes than him and keep them in the basement. I change them out every six months with fresh soil and never have a problem. With smaller boxes and using fish and/or cat food, I could have cultures start to go bad in six to eight weeks...

 

[SMSREEF]

Do you mean Black or White Worms?

I keep my blackworms in the fridge and don't feed them at all. They keep better that way and I use them up fairly quickly as a treat-supplement to the white worms...

The problem with feeding white worms fish food (in my experience anyway), is that meaty/fishy foods tend to sour the culture medium much faster. I even find this to be true with the dog and cat food some use, although not to the extent as with fish foods....

The bread/yogurt/nutritional yeast combo comes from a gentleman named David Ramsey, who was one of the AKA live food gurus that I learned a lot from. He put out an instructional video some years back. At the time, his culture had been going continuously for ten years without losing it. At that point I switched over and have had the same results.

He was using a wine fridge. I use larger culture boxes than him and keep them in the basement. I change them out every six months with fresh soil and never have a problem. With smaller boxes and using fish and/or cat food, I could have cultures start to go bad in six to eight weeks...

I keep black worms in the fridge. I don’t use them fast enough so I can keep them alive for months by feeding them every few days. I change water pretty much daily.

I was gonna try white worms, but didn’t want to attract fruit flies... I live in Miami so no basement and garage is Hot as heck.
But a wine fridge in the garage may be good for the blackworms and white worms.

 

[ca1ore]

Culture has finally grown to the point that I was able to feed WW to my fish. Thought they might be initially confused ….. nope. Tablespoon of worms lasted about 10 seconds.

 

[SDK]

That sounds about right. You will normally get a strong, instinctive reaction from fish when they see a live worm. No turning back now lol..

Wait a few weeks and you should start seeing improved weight, color and overall health in your fish...

 

[lagatbezan]

Is it normal for the culture to have a horrible bad odor that hits you in the face as soon as you open the lid?

 

[SDK]

Is it normal for the culture to have a horrible bad odor that hits you in the face as soon as you open the lid?

That is not good. . Culture should smell like damp earth, with maybe a slight smell at worst.

If the culture is old and packed with worms, that’s a clear sign it’s time to split it into a fresh culture.

If it’s a newer culture, it could be one, or a combination of the following:

Too wet
Not enough air circulation
Too warm
Too much food
Food not changed enough
Feeding dog or cat food to a new culture

Once a culture gets going strong, you can be more lax with what you feed and how often you check it. If it’s new, you want to be changing the food out every day or every other day. It will rot if there are not enough worms to consume it quickly.

 

[hans4811]

If it’s new, you want to be changing the food out every day or every other day. It will rot if there are not enough worms to consume it quickly.

Yup, what i've been seeing with my new culture. Started it 5/11 using David Ramseys' method and if I dont change out that bread every other day, it'll get moldy.

But I am starting to see some increase in the worm population, not enough to start harvesting yet, but getting there !

 

[hans4811]

How long

Culture has finally grown to the point that I was able to feed WW to my fish. Thought they might be initially confused ….. nope. Tablespoon of worms lasted about 10 seconds.

@ca1ore ...How long did that take for you ? im 2 weeks into it and not yet there ....
Also, out of curiosity, how are you feeding them ? just dropping them in tank or using a turkey baster or something ? I wonder, cuz i mostly have bottom feeders and not sure if they sink or not.

 

[ca1ore]

Around two months to get a ‘producing’ colony .... though still not where I had hoped it would be. Perhaps I’m not feeding them enough. I just scoop worms off the sides of the container, rinse them with a little water and pour them in. Mostly water column feeds chez moi though.

 

[SDK]

Two months isn't terrible. Also, if you feed them massively the culture just crashes faster, so getting to "just enough" is where you want to be.

When you are ready to redo the cultures, don't wait until they start going downhill. Grab a big pile of worms from a healthy booming culture. You can start your new one with many more worms than you received in the mail. This will skip you over the "moldy" stage, and your new culture will be ready to start feeding off in just a couple of weeks...

It's better to err by starting a new culture too early as they can crash quickly. I like to keep two running at the same time that are started two months apart. Then every two months start a new one, and toss or give away the worms from the oldest culture...