Bait nightcrawlers

[Hybridfish7]

Safe for fish? I'm talking about the Mike's bait ones, the ones in the little brown cup with the white lid. Had extras I didn't want to go to waste.

 

[jjohnwm]

Unless I knew for a fact that the crawlers had been collected somewhere that was pesticide-free, I personally wouldn't use them. When I was a kid, one of the ways I earned money was by collecting nightcrawlers for sale to the local bait shops. The number one locale for this was on golf courses, and those places used a lot of assorted crap on their grass.

Even if this situation were different today...and I have no idea if it is...plenty of places now sell things like Nitro worms, which are dyed bright chartreuse to make them more irresistible as bait. If they treat the worms with that...who knows what else they might use on them, to make them last longer or wiggle more or whatever?
Paranoid? Maybe...maybe not.

I used a lot of nightcrawlers in Ontario, and still use a fair number here even though they are smaller and less common...but only those I collect myself in areas I know are pesticide-free...in other words, right on my own property.

 

[tlindsey]

Safe for fish? I'm talking about the Mike's bait ones, the ones in the little brown cup with the white lid. Had extras I didn't want to go to waste.

I personally bought bait worms from a bait shop with no issues when fish ate the worms.

 

[tlindsey]

Unless I knew for a fact that the crawlers had been collected somewhere that was pesticide-free, I personally wouldn't use them.

Excellent advice. Before I hired a landscaping company to fertilize my front lawn I would collect worms on my driveway after a good rain storm.

 

[Disturbed.)]

A close friend of mine just lost his flowerhorn to parasites it most likely got from the earthworms he was feeding it. I'd be more worried about critters than chemicals when it comes to feeding live food

 

[jjohnwm]

Are there fish parasites that live part of their lives in earthworms?

I think that terrestrial earthworms are probably the least likely live food to transmit parasites or diseases to fish that eat them. Most live foods are aquatic in origin and have at least some possibility of being contaminated...but earthworms?

How did this fellow come to the conclusion that his fish's parasites were introduced by earthworms?

 

[ruincccc]

Interesting topic. Would people consider the night crawlers and earthworms bought from Petco/Petsmart safe?

 

[phreeflow]

I feed mine wirh nightcrawlers from Petsmart with no issues

however, I’m also curious about John’s question about earthworms passing parasites to fish.

 

[latapy10]

Are there fish parasites that live part of their lives in earthworms?

I think that terrestrial earthworms are probably the least likely live food to transmit parasites or diseases to fish that eat them. Most live foods are aquatic in origin and have at least some possibility of being contaminated...but earthworms?

How did this fellow come to the conclusion that his fish's parasites were introduced by earthworms?

I agree that the risk is posed by possible pesticides in nightcrawlers. Some parasites in nightcrawlers will certainly not be a threat to fish...

 

[dogofwar]

I've fed my extra bait nightcrawlers to fish for years without incident. Feed away...