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Re: Tubifex


> Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 14:34:03 -0700
> From: "David Robinson" <robinson at ichips_intel.com>
> Subject: RE:Tubifex
> 
> iFor what its worth....
> 
> Wright wrote:
> > Both kinds of worms get a reputation for carrying fish diseases. They
> > don't.*
> > _____________________
> > *Source: Private communication from Dr. Barry Cooper, Head of Veterinary
> > Pathology Dept. at Cornell.
> 
> While I agree that the disease issue is often overblown and that
> the main cause of problems with these worms is a dirty culture,
> I throw this tidbit in for counter-balance:
> 
> I had private communication with a tubificid (sp?) researcher
> a couple years ago (sorry, I don't remember his name) and this
> person stated that these worms may carry an intermediate stage
> of tapeworm.  Wright has mentioned Dr. Barry Cooper in this forum
> previously, and at that time, I contacted Dr. Cooper via private
> email to get his opinion on the matter.  Dr. Cooper thought it
> unlikely that this would occur, but said that it was theoretically
> possible.
> 
> So... as with most live foods, they may carry some element of
> risk. snip... 

I agree with David, here. My statement gave them *too* clean a bill of
health.

I'm particularly irritated when I bring in other inverts with them.
Flatworms are vicious fish-egg eaters, and I strongly suspect that hydra
have come in that way more than once (they eat larval fish). Leeches or
flukes of some kind are often in with the blackworms as delivered, too, but
those can be picked out easily.

Most of the bad stuff that I have encountered, after years of heavy use, has
been other aquatic critters rather than disease pathogens, as such. [IDK
whether tapeworms fit in one or the other of those categories, tho. :-)]

Far from perfect, they *can* be used as conditioning food almost as good as
mosquito larvae, if you just increase your water changes to correct for the
deterioration caused by the richer fish poop.

If you *do* get flatworms or hydra, LMK and I'll give you an easy one-week
cure.

Wright

-- 
Wright Huntley, Fremont CA, USA, 510 494-8679  huntleyone at home dot com

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