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		Blackworms Part 1
		Page 2 of 3	Pages: 1 . 2 . 3
		I have received a copy of another letter from Dr. Drewes in response to another hobbyist's inquiry. Here is that letter... Thanks for your message and questions. I consulted with a professor-colleague here, who is an expert fish parasitologist, and he tells me that parasites (several species of which certainly do infect fish) DO NOT use any intermediate host (such as oligochaete worms or any other species) to harbor and transmit the parasite. Instead, one fish can directly infect another fish by releasing the parasite into the water in its feces and then by another fish ingesting the parasite. So, transmission is like Giardia, in respect, and involves only a single host and no intermediate hosts. So, your concerns about Hexamita infection occurring from worms themselves is not warranted. Of course, the water that the worms were in might be a potential concern if it was water that came from infected water. To be "safer" when you feed worms to the fish, you could rinse and drain the worms several times in distilled water to help flush away any fish feces. I might add, that if the fish feces were consumed by the worms, then I supect that any Hexamita therein would most likely get fully digested in the worm gut. As I mentioned, there is no evidence of invertebrates being an intermediate host for Hexamita. I verified this information through a search of research publications using the Biological Abstracts database. In regard to your questions about blackworms and tubifex worms... they are both oligochaete worms, but they are quite different in terms of taxonomy, ecology, and biology. Tubifex is most abundant in habitats where there is silty mud and organic and thermal pollution. Lumbriculus (blackworms) prefer more pristine habitats. Blood worms are insect larvae. See http://www.dph.nl/sub-article/cat-01/bloodworms.shtml I hope this answers your questions and clarifies things a little. Feel free to share this informatin with your colleagues. Charles Drewes Professor of Zoology and Genetics ****************************** I am sharing this information not to prove that blackworms do not carry these diseases, but to show that they have not been proven to carry these diseases. This doesn't prove that they are a safe food. For the time being we will all have to make that decision on our own. My personal feelings are that any accidental ingestions by the worms of parasites/eggs would be voided before we even get them. This doesn't address the question of bacterial problems that have been associated with black worms in general. more...

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