'ello all! I have some grindal worm cultures on sponges in my room, and for about a month they were thriving. However...they have ceased producing as heavily as they were before and have started to smell absolutely RANCID. I am planning to restart the cultures for the sake of my own sanity, but for future reference any tips on preventing the cultures from spectacularly going south again? I have thus far decided that (A) they need less than the two pieces of cat kibble I was giving per sponge per day, (B) that I should remove uneaten food before feeding again, and (C) I should do several water changes a week instead of just one. Thankx in advance!
Grah the great
BAD grindal worm odor...could use advice
I use reptile coco coir. That works well. The rancid smell is probably from the meat protein. I use ground up oatmeal, a little soy protein, and ground flax seeds. It works for all worms.
I have white worms not grindals.
I have used reptile coir as well, the very fine kind. I actually prefer regular worm bedding that you can buy at any big box department store.
I lure the worms with pre-moistened cat kibble for harvesting. But every week or two I put some bread slices, yogurt, egg shells, veggie scraps, etc in a nutribullet. After I blend it I add it to the culture to keep it producing strongly.
I harvest 1/8 cup or more of whiteworms a day for my tanks.
I have used reptile coir as well, the very fine kind. I actually prefer regular worm bedding that you can buy at any big box department store.
I lure the worms with pre-moistened cat kibble for harvesting. But every week or two I put some bread slices, yogurt, egg shells, veggie scraps, etc in a nutribullet. After I blend it I add it to the culture to keep it producing strongly.
I harvest 1/8 cup or more of whiteworms a day for my tanks.
Its probably best to start a rotation. Start a new culture when you have enough and throw out the old ones when they sour too much. I would think when it starts to get rancid that the culture is about to crash.
Yeah. Good I idea on the rotation. I have 3 (white worms) running at the same time. One is ready for new media.
You need to change the water more often if you're planning on using the pot scrubber/sponge method and not feed so often. I usually feed some fish flakes to my grindals only twice a week and I wait until all the food is eaten before adding any more.
For me this is an important one! The water at the bottom will get foul fast especially as the culture grows, i do bare minimum 2-3x water changes a week. I put removed water into a small bucket to pour on garden plants (who love it). I use about 1g of water to wc 3 cultures (pour in and pour out water several times to get all the yucky stuff out-i repeat until strained off water is clear).
You can also look at other food options. I've used cat kibble and agree it can smell, some use wheat bread, even fish foods. I ended up changing over to repashy soilent green and meat pie for my grindal culture, they swarm on it when I put it in (nothing like a big writhing mass-o-worms!)I pre-thaw my frozen chunks for a few hours before putting them in the culture, they're naturally moist after thawing (as long as you don't forget them and let 'em dry out). Pre-soaking hard foods like kibble or algae wafers prior to putting in the culture helps soften them up to be eaten faster (and spend less time getting smelly in there).
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