I set up an DIY outdoor filter and filled it full of bioballs, ceramic noodles, sponge and then on the top, a whole lot of filter wool.

I pulled the lid of yesterday to see if I needed to rinse the wool out and found a few little red worms embedded in the wool and am curious, would these be bloodworm?

I tried to take some close up pics.

This is the filter



And the wool

Yup!

That's them. I get them in my filter media occasionally too.

Yep upon feeding mine yesterday I noticed a few hours later this odor and sure enough that's what it was.... Thinking about keeping the bloodworms frozen till everyone goes outside in the Spring...

Ahhhh, so they're bacteria free food I get the dreads when I think of bloodworm because a frozen batch cost me the life of 2 of my guys (the other 2 survived it)... I think it was a processing problem.

But these worms - I wonder if I should pluck some out and feed them to my guys... Or should they be dead first?

And Kat, now i'm gonna have to sniff them just to check if they smell

That's what I did. They can't have more bacteria than their environment - and the fish loved them.

Ahhh, free food - what a nice concept

I promise they smell! lol