** Warning About Freeze-Dried Bloodworms **

Jesse328 · 02-11-2006, 12:16 PM

I want to post my story to possibly save anyone from going thru the severe symptoms I've been frequently suffering for the past six months! My wife and I have finally figured out what's been causing my symptoms as I'd been having sneezing fits with runny nose, watering/itching eyes, itchy and scratching chin and neck and wheezing breath when I had often been near my aquarium! We had finally noticed last night that the symptoms started about five minutes after I was feeding my fish the freeze-dried blood worms! I am severely allergic to them and you might be too (I hope not)! I had taken a look at the container label this morning and read what I never had noticed before! I read the very fine printed warning (in horror) of what I used to think was the ingredients list written in the same-color print as everything else on the label of Tetra Brand, freeze-dried bloodworms treat in size 0.28 oz.. Here's what the label warning says in very fine print in common-color font:

FOR ADULT USE ONLY *** KEEP AWAY FROM CHILDREN - WARNING: ALLERGY ALERT! THIS PRODUCT CONTAINS INSECT LARVAE WHICH MAY CAUSE ALLERGIC REACTION IN SOME INDIVIDUALS. IF SYMPTOMS OF ALLERGIC REACTION OCCUR (SUCH AS HIVES, ASTHMA, WHEEZING, RED OR IRRITATED EYES OR SKIN, RUNNY NOSE OR SNEEZING), DISCONTINUE USE IMMEDIATELY AND CONSULT YOUR PHYSICIAN. AVOID ALL USE IF SYMPTOMS REOCCUR. DO NOT USE THIS PRODUCT IF YOU SUFFER FROM ASTHMA, HIGH FEVER OR ARE KNOWN TO BE ALLERGIC TO INSECT LARVAE. HOBBYISTS AND HEAVY USERS SHOULD USE SPECIAL PRECAUTIONS NOT TO TOUCH OR BREATH DUST OF PRODUCT. CALL 1-800-526-0650 FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION. HEAVY USERS CAN POTENTIALLY BECOME SENSITIZED TO THIS PRODUCT.

I hope this posting helps ANYONE who uses freeze-dried bloodworms and has suffered occasional or frequent, strange, allergic or cold-like symptoms of unknown causes! I had called our local Poison Control Center this morning and they told me they have this product already in their database! I had also been told by them what to do about the matter after they had asked questions about my symptoms and the brand name of the freeze-dried bloodworms!

shev · 02-11-2006, 03:14 PM

Yeah, im allergic to bloodworms. took me a week before I figured it out. I still use them, and the frozen kind. I get hives but hopefully someday will become immune lol.

Georgia Peach · 02-11-2006, 03:51 PM

wow! thanks for the info! I dont currently use them but might one day.. or now, maybe not!

flamingo · 02-11-2006, 04:56 PM

Yeah, when I first got into fish I bought some of them, read on teh back the warning and I was like ok then who the??? is allergic to insect larvae?

Good thing im not allergic to them though since blood worms are a main food source for my little jag cichlid lol.

craftyflalady · 02-13-2006, 07:26 AM

Another warning about Blood worms I have "heard".

There is some debate about this topic, so just beware. But I have heard that you should NOT feed Blood worms to the dwarf South American Cichlids. I have seen debates on this subject in several different forums.

They say there is something in the Blood worms that can kill your Dwarf SA's.

My experence, I once lost a whole tank of DSA's except 1 Blue Ram I was able to save. It drove me nuts trying to figure out what had happened in that tank. Other fish in the tank where fine. { some Danios and raspbora's} Only the DSA's where effected.

Months later....I read this information on a forum and freaked, cause right before they started dieing I had fed the freeze dried Blood worms. To be honest...I still don't know if that is what happened or not. But....I no longer feed them to my fish. At least to the DSA's. I only use Frozen Blood worm for my other fish, and only Hikari at that.

Just trying to pass along information.
Kathy

**Damon** · 02-13-2006, 07:29 AM

I feed my apistos and angels bloodworms (midge larva not true bloodworms) and have had no problems with them.

**Baby_Baby** · 02-13-2006, 06:14 PM

Thanks for the warning Jesse!

Caitlin Rose · 04-30-2006, 01:19 AM

That is good to know, now thanks for informing everyone!

jwalker · 04-30-2006, 03:45 PM

i know the feeling on the reactions to them. my eyes would almost swell shut. we couldnt figure it out what was causing it... doctor sent me to an allergist and i started the whole shot thing for about 6 months. and till i read in TFH or aquarium fish about the blood worms. it had said if you have allergies u will most likely be highly allergic to bloodworms....got carefull with them and have had no reactions since.

Ringo · 04-30-2006, 08:06 PM

I'll keep that in mind

gemjunkie · 05-10-2006, 05:27 PM

I've known about the allergy to blood worms for YEARS. When I first told people that I was allergic, I was told I was nuts, it must be something else, they had never heard of such a thing.

Funny how times change.

You will NOT de-sensitize to them, you will do nothing but get worse and worse reactions to the worms which could potentially turn to anaphalactic shock (scuze me if the spelling is wrong), where your throat swells shut, you have seizures and with out a shot within minutes of contact, you will die. This is not a 'scare tactic' to make you quit using them either, this is just the facts.

Just something to consider for those of you that KNOW you are allergic and continue to use the product.

For a long time, I used frozen because of my reaction to the dried with no effect. Well, that didn't last forever either and I can't even use the frozen any more. The last 2 flats I had I traded for another frozen food. There are plenty of other foods on the market to feed fish with and although I love my fish, they are not worth losing my life for....
~gem~

Sprite42 · 05-11-2006, 10:02 AM

I am horribly allergic to them. If I happen to touch myself anywhere after I fed the fish, I swell, sneeze, itch, eyes drip...the whole nine yards.

I am also allergic to mosquitoes and any kind of biting flies. Horseflies will put me in the hospital...

**Cichlid Man** · 05-17-2006, 10:30 AM

I'm allergic to bloodworms. that's why I keep malawi cichlids, they can't stand bloodworms, and neither can I.

CaysE · 08-25-2006, 08:21 AM

Interesting stuff here, I'm glad I clicked on it. A particularly bothering part of the warning is this:

...HEAVY USERS CAN POTENTIALLY BECOME SENSITIZED TO THIS PRODUCT.

In case anyone misinterpreted that (shev mentioned that s/he hopes to become immune), it means that even if you don't get a reaction now, you still potentially can if you handle this stuff constantly! Those with reactions now should discontinue use entirely.

I have about 5 cubes left in my flat, but no more for my fish after that.

highliner · 08-25-2006, 10:36 AM

We stopped feeding bloodworms a while ago, but I have to say, I'm not surprised to hear this stuff. They are, after all, mosquito larvae...

My mbuna got sick after feeding them bloodworms; only lost a couple of fish, but I got lucky....I was a lot more ignorant then (they can't easily digest soft-bodied live foods anyway, so we were asking for it), but I still say what made them sick was some parasite IN the worms...and not the worms themselves.

It all goes back to RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH...this is an awesome hobby, but it seems like the longer I'm in it, the less I know about some things...

...and asking questions of & paying attention to better & more experienced 'keepers has gotten a lot more important.

stargate_geek · 02-13-2007, 06:53 PM

I feed frozen ones to my dwarf puffers and as treats for my other fish. I haven't had problems, but I almost never touch them.

I defrost them a small cup with tank water. I then use a pink chopstick (I used to see how long it would tank for them to link the pink chopstick with food. I'm home schooled and the fish count as science

) to pick them up and put them in the tank. Plus that way i can aim them at/give them to certain fish and make sure they get their share.

I'm rather surprised that I'm not allergic as i have many allergies, both food and environmental but glad I'm not!

AquaGirl · 02-18-2007, 10:59 PM

At first I thought it was gross to touch them so I used a plastic spoon to get a few out and then dropped it in the tank. My fish (esspecially my betta) love them. But after reading this.....

02-11-2006, 12:16 PM	#1
Jesse328 Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Newport, Rhode Island Posts: 2	Warning About Freeze-Dried Bloodworms I want to post my story to possibly save anyone from going thru the severe symptoms I've been frequently suffering for the past six months! My wife and I have finally figured out what's been causing my symptoms as I'd been having sneezing fits with runny nose, watering/itching eyes, itchy and scratching chin and neck and wheezing breath when I had often been near my aquarium! We had finally noticed last night that the symptoms started about five minutes after I was feeding my fish the freeze-dried blood worms! I am severely allergic to them and you might be too (I hope not)! I had taken a look at the container label this morning and read what I never had noticed before! I read the very fine printed warning (in horror) of what I used to think was the ingredients list written in the same-color print as everything else on the label of Tetra Brand, freeze-dried bloodworms treat in size 0.28 oz.. Here's what the label warning says in very fine print in common-color font: FOR ADULT USE ONLY *** KEEP AWAY FROM CHILDREN - WARNING: ALLERGY ALERT! THIS PRODUCT CONTAINS INSECT LARVAE WHICH MAY CAUSE ALLERGIC REACTION IN SOME INDIVIDUALS. IF SYMPTOMS OF ALLERGIC REACTION OCCUR (SUCH AS HIVES, ASTHMA, WHEEZING, RED OR IRRITATED EYES OR SKIN, RUNNY NOSE OR SNEEZING), DISCONTINUE USE IMMEDIATELY AND CONSULT YOUR PHYSICIAN. AVOID ALL USE IF SYMPTOMS REOCCUR. DO NOT USE THIS PRODUCT IF YOU SUFFER FROM ASTHMA, HIGH FEVER OR ARE KNOWN TO BE ALLERGIC TO INSECT LARVAE. HOBBYISTS AND HEAVY USERS SHOULD USE SPECIAL PRECAUTIONS NOT TO TOUCH OR BREATH DUST OF PRODUCT. CALL 1-800-526-0650 FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION. HEAVY USERS CAN POTENTIALLY BECOME SENSITIZED TO THIS PRODUCT. I hope this posting helps ANYONE who uses freeze-dried bloodworms and has suffered occasional or frequent, strange, allergic or cold-like symptoms of unknown causes! I had called our local Poison Control Center this morning and they told me they have this product already in their database! I had also been told by them what to do about the matter after they had asked questions about my symptoms and the brand name of the freeze-dried bloodworms!

02-11-2006, 03:14 PM	#2
shev Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Montana Age: 19 Posts: 1,561	Yeah, im allergic to bloodworms. took me a week before I figured it out. I still use them, and the frozen kind. I get hives but hopefully someday will become immune lol. __________________ no one will ever notice my Camouflaged typing.

02-11-2006, 03:51 PM	#3
Georgia Peach Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Gray, Georgia Age: 42 Posts: 1,610	wow! thanks for the info! I dont currently use them but might one day.. or now, maybe not! __________________ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Cichlids have more personality than most people I know !*

02-11-2006, 04:56 PM	#4
flamingo One Word: Croutons. Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Wisconsin Age: 17 Posts: 1,899	Yeah, when I first got into fish I bought some of them, read on teh back the warning and I was like ok then who the??? is allergic to insect larvae? Good thing im not allergic to them though since blood worms are a main food source for my little jag cichlid lol. __________________ If you put "u" instead of typing out the actual, shocking, three letter word... i'm not going to read your ramblings. I'm so behind it's not even funny.

02-13-2006, 07:29 AM	#6
Damon Aquatic Naturalist Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Dayton, Ohio Age: 32 Posts: 14,982	I feed my apistos and angels bloodworms (midge larva not true bloodworms) and have had no problems with them. __________________ For in much wisdom [is] much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. Member of the AGA (Aquatic Gardner's Association) Member of the IBC (International Betta Congress)

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02-13-2006, 07:26 AM	#5
craftyflalady Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Age: 50 Posts: 397	Another warning about Blood worms I have "heard". There is some debate about this topic, so just beware. But I have heard that you should NOT feed Blood worms to the dwarf South American Cichlids. I have seen debates on this subject in several different forums. They say there is something in the Blood worms that can kill your Dwarf SA's. My experence, I once lost a whole tank of DSA's except 1 Blue Ram I was able to save. It drove me nuts trying to figure out what had happened in that tank. Other fish in the tank where fine. { some Danios and raspbora's} Only the DSA's where effected. Months later....I read this information on a forum and freaked, cause right before they started dieing I had fed the freeze dried Blood worms. To be honest...I still don't know if that is what happened or not. But....I no longer feed them to my fish. At least to the DSA's. I only use Frozen Blood worm for my other fish, and only Hikari at that. Just trying to pass along information. Kathy

02-13-2006, 06:14 PM	#7
Baby_Baby Friendly Neighborhood Mod Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Tulsa Posts: 3,681	Thanks for the warning Jesse! __________________ *Why do you have to "put your two cents in"... but it's only a "penny for your thoughts"? Where's that extra penny going to?*

04-30-2006, 01:19 AM	#8
Caitlin Rose Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Bay Area California USA Age: 26 Posts: 33	That is good to know, now thanks for informing everyone!

04-30-2006, 03:45 PM	#9
jwalker Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 35	i know the feeling on the reactions to them. my eyes would almost swell shut. we couldnt figure it out what was causing it... doctor sent me to an allergist and i started the whole shot thing for about 6 months. and till i read in TFH or aquarium fish about the blood worms. it had said if you have allergies u will most likely be highly allergic to bloodworms....got carefull with them and have had no reactions since. __________________ Jwalker Greater Pittsburgh Aquarium Society

04-30-2006, 08:06 PM	#10
Ringo I'm just a Twig Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: The Sticks Age: 16 Posts: 965	I'll keep that in mind Last edited by Ringo; 02-14-2007 at 11:24 AM.

05-10-2006, 05:27 PM	#11
gemjunkie Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 141	I've known about the allergy to blood worms for YEARS. When I first told people that I was allergic, I was told I was nuts, it must be something else, they had never heard of such a thing. Funny how times change. You will NOT de-sensitize to them, you will do nothing but get worse and worse reactions to the worms which could potentially turn to anaphalactic shock (scuze me if the spelling is wrong), where your throat swells shut, you have seizures and with out a shot within minutes of contact, you will die. This is not a 'scare tactic' to make you quit using them either, this is just the facts. Just something to consider for those of you that KNOW you are allergic and continue to use the product. For a long time, I used frozen because of my reaction to the dried with no effect. Well, that didn't last forever either and I can't even use the frozen any more. The last 2 flats I had I traded for another frozen food. There are plenty of other foods on the market to feed fish with and although I love my fish, they are not worth losing my life for.... ~gem~

05-11-2006, 10:02 AM	#12
Sprite42 Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Arkansas Age: 46 Posts: 315	I am horribly allergic to them. If I happen to touch myself anywhere after I fed the fish, I swell, sneeze, itch, eyes drip...the whole nine yards. I am also allergic to mosquitoes and any kind of biting flies. Horseflies will put me in the hospital... __________________ First, Do No Harm!

05-17-2006, 10:30 AM	#13
Cichlid Man Super moderator Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 2,100	I'm allergic to bloodworms. that's why I keep malawi cichlids, they can't stand bloodworms, and neither can I. __________________ If you have a big enough tank with enough hiding places, pH of around 7, you can keep virtually any fish together as long as all the fish are around the same size and these two groups of fish are avioded: Serrasalmus Tetradon(figure eights and dwarfs are the exception). I keep a successful community of fish in a 4 foot tank including the following families: Cichlids, tetras, loaches, gouramis, barbs, rainbows, livebearers, killiefish, catfish, puffers.

08-25-2006, 08:21 AM	#14
CaysE Stowaway Winner Join Date: May 2006 Location: Bloomfield, NJ Age: 29 Posts: 316	Interesting stuff here, I'm glad I clicked on it. A particularly bothering part of the warning is this: ...HEAVY USERS CAN POTENTIALLY BECOME SENSITIZED TO THIS PRODUCT. In case anyone misinterpreted that (shev mentioned that s/he hopes to become immune), it means that even if you don't get a reaction now, you still potentially can if you handle this stuff constantly! Those with reactions now should discontinue use entirely. I have about 5 cubes left in my flat, but no more for my fish after that. __________________ 20gal tall! The display tank. Flourite substrate, Nutrafin CO2 system, Aquaclear 50, 55W 6.5k bulb @ 10hrs, 65W 10k bulb @ 2hrs, 100W Visi-Therm 4 furcata rainbows (and 8 fry!), 1 albino longfin bristlenose pleco, 6 crystal red shrimp, ramshorn & physa snails 5gal hex! Mini planted tank Eclipse Hex5 with Eco-Complete substrate, 25W heater, 1 male crowntail betta, some ramshorn and physa snails.

08-25-2006, 10:36 AM	#15
highliner Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Bloomington IN Age: 40 Posts: 38	We stopped feeding bloodworms a while ago, but I have to say, I'm not surprised to hear this stuff. They are, after all, mosquito larvae... My mbuna got sick after feeding them bloodworms; only lost a couple of fish, but I got lucky....I was a lot more ignorant then (they can't easily digest soft-bodied live foods anyway, so we were asking for it), but I still say what made them sick was some parasite IN the worms...and not the worms themselves. It all goes back to RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH...this is an awesome hobby, but it seems like the longer I'm in it, the less I know about some things... ...and asking questions of & paying attention to better & more experienced 'keepers has gotten a lot more important. __________________ Several tanks with several Malawians...Mbuna & otherwise.

02-13-2007, 06:53 PM	#16
stargate_geek Official Geek Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Massachusetts, USA Age: 16 Posts: 84	I feed frozen ones to my dwarf puffers and as treats for my other fish. I haven't had problems, but I almost never touch them. I defrost them a small cup with tank water. I then use a pink chopstick (I used to see how long it would tank for them to link the pink chopstick with food. I'm home schooled and the fish count as science) to pick them up and put them in the tank. Plus that way i can aim them at/give them to certain fish and make sure they get their share. I'm rather surprised that I'm not allergic as i have many allergies, both food and environmental but glad I'm not!

02-18-2007, 10:59 PM	#17
AquaGirl Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: California Age: 17 Posts: 64	At first I thought it was gross to touch them so I used a plastic spoon to get a few out and then dropped it in the tank. My fish (esspecially my betta) love them. But after reading this.....

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