armadillo

Hi everyone. A while ago, my mollies started acting very funny. Darting and thrashing and scratching and the likes. To this day, I still don't really know what's caused it. All I know is that a course of anti skin parasites meds seems to have cleared it up. This happened just after I fed them tubifex worms (in the form of dried cubes). Any chance the dried worms would have infected my mollies? It would be soooo surprising that any pathogen could resist the drying treatment, but I am just exploring possibilities.

They found it so yummy, it would be a shame to deprive them of it for no good reason.

Neville

yeah!! mollies act funny sometimes, they r very playful.....i don't think dried tubifex r harmful for them, unless u overfeed.

armadillo

Naaah, that wasn't playful. That was full blown spasms. It was heart-breaking to see. They were really really really sick. No doubt about it. Wish I'd filmed it, you'd know what I mean.

Sabi

I dont think it could be that, though there is a chance i guess. Tubifex worms are the only desert i can get for my fish and give it to them every 3 weeks/once a month. But mine is frozen. Dunno if that makes a diff...

armadillo

Mmmh, maybe it does make a difference (that fact that it's frozen). I wonder if the drying process (which I guess is done through freeze-drying, but not sure) isn't safer, though (in terms of getting rid of nasties).

I used to feed them the stuff every day for a little while. They loved it so much. I didn't overfeed, though, so it wasn't a water quality issue (and I checked the water). Could it be I made them hyper or something, because it was hypercalorific, or overly full of protein?

COBettaCouple

I'd be surprised if the tubifex caused it.. like you said, it'd be surprising for some nasty bugs to survive the freeze-drying process. Maybe it was a coincidence or some sort of reaction between the tubifex and the water? Did you feed it to them often or just one time before they started acting like that.

armadillo

I fed it to them too often I think. Not overfeeding in that I always waited until it was all eaten before giving more, and I gave 1/2 a 0.5mm cube for 6 mollies, but it became their staple diet. Perhaps that's caused it? Perhaps it should only be fed as a treat, once in a while?

Jim

I have heard that some foods can contain parasites, but like everyone already said, it's unlikely they surved the freeze drying process. Still there's always that one-in-a-million chance...

armadillo

Yeah, that's what I think too. I think what most likely happened is that their unbalanced diet (just tubifex for a few days) made their immune system weaker, and they picked up whatever there was to be picked up.

COBettaCouple

yea, it could even be that their systems couldn't take so much protein and left them open to bacteria in the water. i'm glad they're alright now and i would think that an occasional treat of the tubifex would be fine.

armadillo

Great! They love the stuff.