Nutritional Breakdown Of Blackworms

[Chad]

I'm running into a brick wall trying to find the actual protein and fat content of blackworms. I've found the question asked many times but never answered.
 
Just to clarify I'm talking about what is commonly called California Blackworms (Lumbriculus variegatus) and not bloodworms (Chironomidae tetans) or Tubifex (Tubifex tubifx). Breakdowns exist for the other two but I cannot find for blackworms. The one source I found thought that blackworms and bloodworms were the same thing so their listing was actually for bloodworms instead.
 
If you have a link I would appreciate it!

 

[DrRob]

Does this help?
 
http/www.blackworms.com.au/SearchResults.asp?Cat=1821

 

[Chad]

I found that one. I have an email into them but I haven't heard back yet. They don't list the species on their site and I've found a couple sites that called them blackworms but they weren't. So we'll see once they give me the scientific name if those are the beasties.

 

[DrRob]

If you zoom in on the packets that they sell, they're showing the scientific name of Lumbriculus variegatus. At least that's what it looks like at the resolution I can get.

 

[Chad]

Excellent. I didn't do that. I have excellent equipment here at work so I will sneak a use for that and then if they email back that will confirm. Awesome!

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I poked around trying to find some information on this. I could only find research on what the worms eat and not what their nutritional numbers might be for prey. From what I can see one doesn't feed them if you get them as fish food. The worms basically consume their own energy making them less and less nutritious the longer you have them. I wonder if the worm farmers enrich them in any way as is done with brine etc.?
 
I have only fed red worms, no way black worms go into our kitchen fridge.....

 

[Chad]

I'm having a discussion on the reef board from someone who uses them. Other than his anicdotal information he has no information on them. Since they are not a natural food of reef fish it had me wondering what their fat content is. Foods high in lipids have been shown to cause liver damage in reef fish so I wanted to know what the fat content is in these blackworms. Since the worms will eat just about anything (this fellow says a sandwhich or fried chicken) I think diet is an issue. Now, he's just joking about that but we all know (from snails and brine) that gut loading makes a huge difference. I am curious about baseline averages though.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

If my sw pro source was not out on the ship doing research I could ask him. One of the things he did mention was than none of the public aquariums in the states fed brine shrimp to their sw tank inhabitants.
 
Most of the use of this food is in aquaculture- both food and ornamentals. My understanding is in that business brine is used with sw fish.
 
I don't know if the same principles of gut loading etc. apply to black worms as for artemia. In fw black worms are normally used to condition for spawning by some. But this is a high protein thing for the most part which is not the same as regular feeding.

 

[Chad]

Just heard back from them. You were right Rob, they are Lumbriculus Variegatus! So I got my info...

 

[stanleo]

If my sw pro source was not out on the ship doing research I could ask him. One of the things he did mention was than none of the public aquariums in the states fed brine shrimp to their sw tank inhabitants.
 
Most of the use of this food is in aquaculture- both food and ornamentals. My understanding is in that business brine is used with sw fish.
 
I don't know if the same principles of gut loading etc. apply to black worms as for artemia. In fw black worms are normally used to condition for spawning by some. But this is a high protein thing for the most part which is not the same as regular feeding.

I feed brine shrimp as a major source of protein to my SW and FW fish. Should I not be doing that? It's mostly the frozen stuff but every couple weeks or so I get them live from the LFS. Now I am worried.

 

[Chad]

I don't recommend it as a primary source unless you know the quality of the artemia and if they are gut loaded or not. Many are quite good but many are also mediocre. Personally I prefer Mysis and daphnia over brine and baby brine.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Hopefully, frozen brine has been properly fed. I do use some of the Hikari brine and spirulina loaded brine. Here is what Hikari says and its the right thing to be doing to create nutritional brine, Bio-encapsulation is the term you want to see:
 

 
Feed them Hikari! These foods are Bio-Encapsulated with multi-vitamins to provide maximum nutrition for your fish. Hikari utilizes a process similar to gut loading that guarantees your pet will get the vitamins, not the water. Processed through our Mega-Power Freezer so the animals retain their natural color, shape and nutritional benefits.

 
If one wants to feed live brine, there are now readily available commercial foods which one can feed to the nauplii or adults to fortify them.
 
Brine are fairly indiscriminate filter feeders. So it is pretty easy to load them with all the good stuff fish need. What fascinated me in doing some research into them was to learn they are being studied as a way to deliver medicine to fish. Mix the med into the shrimp food and then feed the shrimp to fish which will actively chase down this living pill, so to speak.

 

[DrRob]

Now this is the sort of cunning approach that I like.

 

[stanleo]

Mine is Omega One Brine Shrimp Spirulina Enriched- guaranteed analysis: min. Crude Fat 0.9% Min Crude Protein 5.4% Max Crude Fiber .04% Max Moisture 90% Ingredients 100% Brine Shrimp, Spirulina
 
It doesn't say anything about Bio-encapsulated. I feed it to them 2 or 3 times a week. Am I doing something wrong? I have never noticed any adverse effects but that is not saying that I wouldn't believe there aren't any. Frustrating thing about fish is sometimes you don't know there is a problem until it is too late!

 

[TwoTankAmin]

The problem is what needed to be added are not any of the ingredients listed.
 
The enrichment is more important for sw than fw fish due to HUFAs. Fw fish can make their own to some extent but sw fish can't. However, additional nutrition can be beneficial to fw fish as well.
 
Newly hatched bring can not eat for the 1st 8 hours or so (Until the instar II stage- after the 1st molt). So they must be fed fast before they consume their nutritious yolk sac. After this one should give them two 12 power feedings before feeding then to your fish. here is a quick explanation:
http/www.brineshrimpdirect.com/Enriching-Brine-Shrimp-c82.html
 
 
http/www.brineshrimpdirect.com/Enriching-Brine-Shrimp-c82.html