Two questions about my aquarium / fish

[Mudfrog]

Hey everyone.

One of my snails recently had baby's. I have no idea how many there are but from time to time I see them climbing the sides. Now the question is how do I vacuum my gravel as this is where they hide. I have tried vacuuming just the top of the gravel but sometimes this suction is still too much and one gets sucked up. Any suggestions? It's getting a little dirty in the gravel.

My second question is what should I use as a "meat" food in place of blood worms. I bought some frozen blood worms from the LFS but as soon as I touched them I had a really bad allergic reaction and my eyes were swollen for 3 days. I have a Violet goby which is supposed to eat bloodworms and such but I cannot not feed them to him. He eats the shrimp pellets that I put in for him but I want him to have a little bit of a variety. I'll probably buy some ghost shrimp to put in for him but is there a different type of frozen food similar to the blood worms that I can try?

[Psyhampster]

You could wear rubber gloves and a breathing mask when you feed bloodworms.
As for vaccuuming the snails, if you take the water out into a bucket, just check it. If not, ummm... IDK

[mayreee]

I don't know about other stuff you could feed him, but you could try useing a turkey baster to suck up the blood worms so you don't have to touch them. I did that when I first started feeding mine frozen bloodworms.

[FawnN]

Why are you needing to touch the frozen blood worms? Don't they come in individual packets you just pop out with your fingers?

I will pop mine into a cup of tank water, swirl around until it comes apart and then poor the cup into the tank without ever touching it.

[Toirtis]

Many people can have a severe reaction simply by being in close proximity to bloodworms....and with bloodworm allergies, subsequent exposures usually produce more severe reactions (some requiring emergency medical attention). I would go with frozen tubifex worms and small/chopped earthworms.

[FawnN]

Wow, I had no idea. I've never heard of people being allergic to bloodworms. Is it the worm themselves or how they are packaged?

[smallfry]

There is a warning on my package of dried bloodworms too....dried is probably worse because the dust can be breathed in....

[Menagerie]

Why are you needing to touch the frozen blood worms? Don't they come in individual packets you just pop out with your fingers?

Often the cubes are too big. I find that one cube goes into 3 tanks, requiring me to touch it.
Also try mystis shrimp, my gobies like it

[TomK2]

I do the same. For entertainment, every now and then I pop the cube in frozen and watch the fish go nuts picking at it as it floats around the tank softening up. Only problem with that is when it finally gets soft enough one lucky fish inhales a huge amount, leaving nothing else for the rest.

[FishLover14]

AVoid bloodworms and try blackworms or tubifex worms also fish love shrimp.

Dan

[illuminum]

You could also try using beefheart. My fish love the stuff. It's available at LFS's.

As for the snails, do you really want to keep those snails? They're just going to multiply and take over your tank. If I was you I'd do something to keep the snail population to a minimum. Maybe loaches (or meds that inverts can't tolerate ).