Feeding live food to fish

[sombunya]

I was talking to the woman who runs the store where I get most of my supplies and mentioned how much my Bluegill like crickets. She cautioned me against feeding them too many, suggesting that they could possibly get hit with some kind of harmful bacteria or something.

My wife suggested the same thing regarding the frozen and live blood worms I feed them. I told her those were farm raised (I think) and were safe.

Is it harmful to feed them too many crickets that I catch in my backyard? The four of them may eat 10-12 small to medium sized ones.

I use no harmful chems in my back yard, I just catch them as they crawl around on a wall.

 

[brian1973]

Yes it can b harmful, just because you dont use chems doesnt mean that your neighbors dont or just chemicals that may be in the ground and plants from agriculture, rain fall, etc. I think all bloodworms all wild caught but freeze drying and freezing should kill any harnful bacteria. I have found posts elsewhere linking whirling disease to tubifex worms, which is wht i think one of my tanks succumbed to after i started feeding tubifex worms.