Live Whiteworms for Mandarins etc.

[Greenstreet.1]

Well they do recommend keeping them in a damp and humid environment.....

[emoji23]‍

 

[TheEngineer]

I found burying the bread works wonders. It doesn't mold over/smell and it gets completely devoured in a few days. I keep my culture in the basement. I don't take too much extra effort other than that. Like Paul says, "They have to live with me, I don't have to live with them."

 

[Big G]

I found burying the bread works wonders. It doesn't mold over/smell and it gets completely devoured in a few days. I keep my culture in the basement. I don't take too much extra effort other than that. Like Paul says, "They have to live with me, I don't have to live with them."

+1 ^^^ but I also cut the bread into narrow strips. Seems to help the worms and much less mold.

 

[Paul B]

No mold if you completely bury the bread.

 

[esse]

I'm still having a bit of trouble with harvesting the worms. The worms seem to go back into the soil after rinsing

 

[RamsReef]

http://angelsplus.com/FoodLiveCultures.htm
a duckduckgo search "white worm culture" will find more

Duck Duck Go....

I know

 

[lapin]

I'm still having a bit of trouble with harvesting the worms. The worms seem to go back into the soil after rinsing

If you put the container in the refridge for 20 min they will go to the sides. If you scoop them out into a flat container or plate, pour some water in so stuff is floating and then scoop them out with a fork.

 

[RamsReef]

Keep ‘em in the basement. Just wheat bread that is well covered in dirt. My soul is wet right now so they are congregating on the sides and lid making it very easy to collect. I can feed my 6 butterflies a couple courses of frozen and flakes, till thier bellies are full, and then add worms and they attack them. No survivors. My goby in the reef tank loves them too if the other fish don’t get them all.
I have a med/leg. teardrop butterfly that refuses to eat frozen of any kind. Just a few flakes, nori and the worms. I hope the day comes where he will eat mysis but till then my white worms will have to carry the weight.
Jim

My soul is wet as well.

 

[esse]

Hi again, I need some help. I restarted my white worm culture a little over a week ago, and I'm running into this issue again.
It seems like there are some worms initially, but then I get this grey wriggling film on top of the soil. I thought it's microscopic worms, but they never stay in the soil

Today, it happened again & worms are all up the sides and corners, and even out the top. Any ideas what I might be doing wrong?

 

[Greenstreet.1]

Looks like your soil has to much water so they are running from that. You don’t want the soil soaking wet.

 

[esse]

Seems that way, but it wasn't too wet when I started. Another thought, perhaps there's fertilizer in the soil?

 

[Greenstreet.1]

Seems that way, but it wasn't too wet when I started. Another thought, perhaps there's fertilizer in the soil?

Try draining it or add more soil to soak up the extra water to much water can kill them

 

[lapin]

Its too wet. You needs some air holes in the top lid to vent out gasses and moisture. You need to drain it and add soil to soak up the water as stated above. Sometimes I get mine a little wetter than I planned. I leave the lid off for a day and let it dry a bit. This works unless it is soaking wet. When its way too wet the worms crawl out onto the sides of your container to keep from drowning. Here is what mine looks like when its too wet. The light colored stuff is dry cat food.

 

[esse]

Thanks for the help guys. Def seems like they're drowning - I added some soil to even out the moisture, but I'm confused because it wasn't this wet to start.

 

[Greenstreet.1]

I use organic potting soil what type of soil are you using ?

 

[esse]

I used a garden soil that I had already. Perhaps that might be an issue, but maybe it was just wetter than I thought.
Besides adding more soil, how are you removing moisture? I tried putting it in a net, but I didn't know if it was ok try squeezing out the moisture with the worms in there

edit: I just looked up the difference between garden soil and potting soil (haha) I guess I'll try again. Hopefully there's enough surviving to start over

 

[Greenstreet.1]

I just lean the container to one side and let it drain but you will still have to add soil.
Today is white worm day so I’m about to feed the the fish and add bread and my little Home made mix to feed the worms.

Do you have enough vent holes in the cover of your container?

 

[esse]

Previously I had drilled holes in the side, but they would get clogged up with escaping worms.
I started over, cutting a big open square in the lid now, and they still found their way up and out.

 

[JMM744]

Yep, too wet and you get worm soup. Found that out the hard way. Salvaged a few but had to start over. Another thing, be careful of soil that might have bugs in it. It’s suggested that you cook the soil first to eleminate bugs and eggs. Guess how I learned that ??!
Jim

 

[Greenstreet.1]

Just drill some small vent holes. Once you get rid of that extra water they will relax.