Grindal Worms for Reef Aquariums

[fishybizzness]

I start a new one every few months. I have 2 right now and I'm going to start a fresh one soon and dump the older of the 2 in the garden. I feed them cat food and after a few months they start to get a little stinky so that's what I've been doing. They really breed fast and if you don't start a new culture the old containers start to get overpopulated.

 

[bzb]

Let me know if it doesn't work out with the seller and I'll send you a starter culture. I'm about due to transfer some of mine to a fresh container and I'll be able to just put some in a flat rate box and mail it out. I was gifted with a culture from @Mjrenz and it's been a lifesaver for my fish and I wouldn't mind paying it forward!

Really appreciate it! I got a message back from the seller saying give it a few more days and that they're really small. If that route fails, definitely will shoot you some Paypal for a culture!

I got these specifically for the new CBB that I acquired, but the crazy thing is I've got him eating fresh clams, masstick, and freeze dried blackworms. So it's not an absolute necessity for me - just something I'd like to try out!

 

[SDK]

@fishybizzness How often do you find you need to transfer your cultures to fresh containers and/or media?

They don’t foul cultures as quickly as white worms do.

If you keep a correct balance of food, moisture and air, they can go for more that a year. I usually change them out around every six months, just to stay on top of it. I will run old and new concurrently for a week, and put all harvest from the old into new. By the time I toss the old one, the new culture will already be producing enough to harvest.

You will make mistakes as you get the feel of it. If a culture gets a rotting smell or excessive mold, bail on it immediately.

Also, as with any culture, always have more than one going.

 

[SDK]

Let me know if it doesn't work out with the seller and I'll send you a starter culture. I'm about due to transfer some of mine to a fresh container and I'll be able to just put some in a flat rate box and mail it out. I was gifted with a culture from @Mjrenz and it's been a lifesaver for my fish and I wouldn't mind paying it forward!

Very nice of you! The worms Mjrenz has were a freebie from me, so I’m glad to see they continued to pay forward.

 

[fishybizzness]

It's always good to pay forward! Thanks for helping my fish to be healthy in an indirect way!

 

[DanConnor]

Thank you for posting this thread- I'm going to give it a try.

I've been running a white worm culture for 3 years or so. The only I've ever had them crash (4 or 5 cultures, all at once) was when I thought my basement too warm and put them in a wine cooler. The temp was fine- maybe it was the vibrations or something, I dunno.

I use this method, similar to what you describe

 

[SDK]

Yup. David Ramsey was big in Killifish circles and this video is where most of us started. I am currently working on doing it without the fridge and it’s going well so far!

 

[DanConnor]

Yah- my basement is not all that cold- I put them on the floor in the summer and they seem to do fine.

 

[bzb]

@SDK in one of your photos it looks like the culture is fuzzy - how do I know if this is mold or the culture taking off?

 

[SDK]

Mold will be thick patches that cling to and form on the food. As long as you don’t over feed while the culture is ramping up you will be fine. If you see a patch of moldy food just remove it.

 

[bzb]

That’s kind of what it’s looking like. Not thick patches, but hairy growth on each grain of oat. Thoughts?

 

[SDK]

I think that seller sent you a dead culture. I don’t see any worms, and those do look like some kind of mold spores on the food. Your culture medium is a bit too dry as well.

 

[bzb]

I think that seller sent you a dead culture. I don’t see any worms, and those do look like some kind of mold spores on the food. Your culture medium is a bit too dry as well.

Yeah, I was intentionally letting it get a little dryer when I noticed the fuzzies. It’s still growing, so wasn’t really sure. I’ll hit the seller back up.

 

[bzb]

I got a new culture from the seller on Saturday. I should have taken a pic, but this culture looked a little better to me - first off, it was wet instead of dry. I saw a lot more little white dots in the soil, which I assumed was eggs.

I split it between two tubs and unfortunately, I'm getting similar results with the fungus growth on the food in just a couple days. Thoughts?

 

[SDK]

A good starter should have enough worms that they would be covering that small amount of oats in a few hours.

Mold is death to Grindal worms. You can try to nurse the culture and get it going. Probably worth trying before resorting to finding a better seller and ordering more.

Step one is to pluck that moldy food out right now and replace with fresh oats. You are going to have to check the culture daily and keep it mold free to have any chance of getting it going. Keep it moist and clean for a week or two and see if it starts up.

 

[SDK]

My fish got larger and I switched over to white worms or I would have just sent you a starter myself. It should be easy if you are getting a good starter...

 

[bzb]

The seller is saying “they’re very small” - but I’m not really seeing any worms in there at all, just white specks which I assumed were eggs. Certainly appreciate all your responses!

 

[SDK]

No worries. Refer back to post 17 on page 1 and look at the two pictures. That is five days in for me.

In pic 1 you can see the worms are covering almost all the oatmeal pieces so they can't get moldy.

In picture two you can see individual worms on top of the needlepoint grid. They are small yes, but easily visible.

A properly viable starter culture should be sent with dozens to hundreds of worms big enough to see. There needs to be enough of them to get a head start on mold and things like mites.

This seller is not doing right by you if you are being told it's normal for there to be no visible worms in the culture

 

[DanConnor]

I would take the oats out and try sprinkling some nutritional yeast in a patch and see if worms come to that.

 

[bluprntguy]

I've had really good luck just feeding these guys flake fish food. You can get a huge tub for practically nothing and it lasts a few months. Put it in dry and the humidity in the container eventually makes it wet enough for them to eat, but not so wet that it gets moldy. My population exploded when I stopped feeding them dog food and switched to the fish flakes.

@bzb, if you need a starter, drop me a PM, I'm happy to send some to you. I'm overrun with these guys.