White worms

[GoReefin]

Bought a starter colony at the beginning of the year and within 2-3 weeks it has blown up. Just feeding bread with yogurt. I actually saw a worm alive after 24 hours in the tank so they live a long time in salt water. My wrasse and clownfish love to eat them. Are these guys really this easy to care for? How often should I change the soil? Seems to be really easy...

Pic from January 2nd

Pic from today.

 

[HockeyRooster]

Nice culture!! Good work.
How are you keeping it from moulding? Mine failed as the bread (and yogurt and yeast) continually got mould.

 

[GoReefin]

Nice culture!! Good work.
How are you keeping it from moulding? Mine failed as the bread (and yogurt and yeast) continually got mould.

I switch out the bread once a week. Hasn't been an issue yet. There is a slight bit of mold on the week old bread but nothing on the soil yet.

 

[eggplantparrot]

ive found that the worms will swarm to the side of the container when the soil is soiled

i left it for a while thinking i just had too many worms and they went downhill super fast. i didn't have any soil on hand to change and it looks like i may not have any left alive

 

[GoReefin]

ive found that the worms will swarm to the side of the container when the soil is soiled

i left it for a while thinking i just had too many worms and they went downhill super fast. i didn't have any soil on hand to change and it looks like i may not have any left alive

Ouch, sorry to hear this. how often were you changing out the bread?

 

[eggplantparrot]

Ouch, sorry to hear this. how often were you changing out the bread?

i stopped feeding bread and yogurt as my yogurt was growing mold in the fridge.

i fed them leftover pellets that my fish deemed unworthy of their royal mouths

 

[GoReefin]

Maybe it was the pellets that caused the soil to go bad

 

[eggplantparrot]

i stopped feeding bread and yogurt as my yogurt was growing mold in the fridge.

i fed them leftover pellets that my fish deemed unworthy of their royal mouths

i find it much easier with the pellets, so much so that i bought a bigger container of the cheap saltwater pellets that were on sale.

just a quick shake of the container and food is dispensed. and nutrition is already made for SW fish.

 

[eggplantparrot]

Maybe it was the pellets that caused the soil to go bad

i doubt it, my colony was pretty old and i never changed the soil. ive heard you're supposed to be changing every month, but i was on at least month 2.

 

[eggplantparrot]

i got a bag of cheap soil from the big orange store and will see if i can salvage any live ones tonight, and build the worm kingdom again lol

 

[GoReefin]

i got a bag of cheap soil from the big orange store and will see if i can salvage any live ones tonight, and build the worm kingdom again lol

Please keep us updated. I hope they come back

 

[HockeyRooster]

I switch out the bread once a week. Hasn't been an issue yet. There is a slight bit of mold on the week old bread but nothing on the soil yet.

Thanks. It is moulding in days for me. Hmmm. Not sure what I’m doing wrong but I like the idea of using pellets. Going to see if I can get mine going again.
great thread!

 

[GoReefin]

Thought I'd update everyone on my white worm culture it's continuing to do great. Switch from bread and yogurt to straight Costco dry cat food. Have not had any mold growth and the worms completely demolish the cat food in about a week.

 

[EakTheFreak]

Thought I'd update everyone on my white worm culture it's continuing to do great. Switch from bread and yogurt to straight Costco dry cat food. Have not had any mold growth and the worms completely demolish the cat food in about a week.

Is the cat food as nutritious for the worms as the bread with yogurt and nutritional yeast would be?

 

[GoReefin]

Is the cat food as nutritious for the worms as the bread with yogurt and nutritional yeast would be?

The cat food is a lot more protein fortified with vitamins/ minerals than the bread/ yogurt combo. Stuff is made to give all nutritional requirements for cats to live solely off of. Probably just as good in my opinion.

 

[EakTheFreak]

The cat food is a lot more protein fortified with vitamins/ minerals than the bread/ yogurt combo. Stuff is made to give all nutritional requirements for cats to live solely off of. Probably just as good in my opinion.

What brand of cat food are you using? Any reason you chose cat food over dog food?

 

[GoReefin]

What brand of cat food are you using? Any reason you chose cat food over dog food?

I'll have to look at the brand but the reason is higher protein content and less fillers than dog food.

 

[GoReefin]

What brand of cat food are you using? Any reason you chose cat food over dog food?

I use nature's domain brand from Costco.

 

[EakTheFreak]

I use nature's domain brand from Costco.

Do you put water on the cat food before feeding it? Or do you feed it dry?

 

[GoReefin]

Feed it dry. There is plenty of moisture in the culture to soften them up for the worms