What went wrong? Microworms

[Becca]

The microworm culture I got at the September meeting was finally looking fluid beyond rescue 2 weeks ago, so I set up a new culture. I used a slightly larger container because it was the closest in size I could find at the grocery store.

I followed Frank's instructions and kept the old culture around, just in case. In a week I had a strong culture with an unprecedented amount of worms squirming up the sides. I harvested, fed them on water change day, and even had some Aspidoras eggs the next day for my troubles. I took this as a sign that I could toss the old culture, which was really watery and a bit stinky.

This past week there seem to be NO worms. This weekend I opened the culture up and it was really watery on one end. There weren't many worms on the sides, which is typical when a culture gets watery. I sprinkled some baby oatmeal on top. Last night I went to check it - no worms - no movement, nothing.

Any ideas on what might've happened?

I made my new culture with oatmeal cooked in tap water.

 

[Greengirl]

The same thing happened to my new culture! I think it needs to be a bit watery or the worms dryout or something. I added yeast every week but no luck. Thank goodness I still have my starter culture. I will try again.

 

[DougGosnell]

I used to do them before the angels. It seems to be a balancing act between too much water and a dead culture and too little and same dead culture. I used to have to make these up like 8 at a time just to ensure I had at least one viable.

 

[mchambers]

No idea. I've never had a complete crash like that.

 

[MarkK]

I add yeast every time I harvest worms and if it is too watery after a few weeks I add dry oatmeal. I think the worms live in and on the oatmeal--they can not live more than a few hours completely submerged. Think of the oatmeal as their medium and the yeast as their food.

The idea is to keep the container humid enough to encourage them to crawl up the sides. I place the container on top of my flourescent lights for a while because the worms are heat dystrophic and that encourages them to crawl up the sides.

 

[Becca]

Maybe it was the temperatures? I keep mine on a concrete floor under a cabinet stand in my basement. It got really cool this past week, although I can't say the basement ever felt that cool. Usually it's warmer than the rest of the house because of all the tanks.

 

[thedavidzoo]

I usually have about 6 cultures (2 new each cycle every 2-3 weeks or so) going at one time in small hummus, etc. containers, just in case. I feed a lot of microworms and the cultures barely keep up. Although I have never had a complete crash either, I do notice that they can't handle it when it is too dry.:blush:

Another weird observation...why do my various cultures smell differently, even the ones started on the same day? I don't measure anything, and don't cook the oatmeal, and just wing it, but one will smell sour, one will be neutral, one will smell like a stale urinal...Is it just the small differences in yeast/oatmeal/worm amount?
My culture has been going continuously for almost 2 years.