does this mean that earth worms for a compost bin would be fine to feed. It had organic on the box so I think the dirt was fine but could there be anything dangerous in the dirt to worry about?
Estuaries are where the dirty worms get washed out into during floods. The estuary is a highly productive environment because the dirt and the worms and a lot of nutrients flow into it.
If you have organic labeled worms then the dirt should be pesticide free. I suppose it could have silicates, nitrates, phosphates, feces, along with the dirt but probably in less amounts than the worm itself.
Is it safe to feed these to our tank? Probably, most likely it is. I collect live clams and mussels from the ocean to chop up and feed whole. The ocean can naturally have domoic acid and whatever else chemicals in it. The clams and mussels filter feed in the water and are know to concentrate domoic acid in their tissues. I still feed my fish freshly shucked clams, they love them! I don't culture worms because I am too lazy (and I am afraid to ask my wife if I can start a culture here, she runs the home!)
So, I would not eat those earthworms myself but I would not hesitate to feed them to my fish if the worms were alive and eating fish food or whatever else they put in the box to keep them alive. Rinse them off, I might do. I don't like looking at stuff floating around in the water, I think worms I have seen came in wood shavings? Most of my fish now are too small to eat an earthworm, but when I had big fish I fed them earthworms and grubs that I came across in the garden.
They never would eat a Japanese beetle grub? I bet they don't taste good.
