Bloodworms in purchased plant - safe?

[klc43]

So I bought a Hornwort plant from an online retailer. I did a bleach tip per their websites recommendations. It released about 20 red worms. But it also killed the plant. The same retailer has just offered me a $50 credit to try again. They said that they are bloodworms, and are a bonus as "free fish food" and I shouldn't worry to put them in my tank. I've never seen live bloodworms before and so I don't know if that is actually what they were. Seems like a bad idea to just put these plants in my tank without disinfecting...

What do you think? Should I just do a 2 week quarantine rather than a bleach dip? It will have to be inside my house, as the nights are getting below freezing here now.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[Colin_T]

Live bloodworms are red and grow to about 10-12mm long. They look a bit like a caterpillar and live on the bottom. They build a mucous cocoon out of mud and plant debris and feed on microscopic organisms in the water. they are generally harmless to fish but small fish might have problems if they eat the live bloodworms and don't chew its head. The bloodworm's head is very hard and does not get digested. Sometimes the head can block the fish's intestine and the fish bloats up and dies.

If you are concerned, just rinse the plants in a bucket of tap water and then move the plants into a quarantine tank for a few weeks.

If you have to bleach plants, put them in straight household bleach for 1-2 minutes, then rinse the bleach off. Put them back into bleach again for 1-2 minutes and rinse well. Then put them in a clean container of tapwater and add a double dose of dechlorinator.

Hornwort is normally grown in outdoor ponds and doesn't do well if it's cold and you put it in a warm water tank. The best time to get hornwort is in summer when it is in warm water already. then it doesn't suffer from temperature shock.