Tubifex...

Hi, as a tropical fish keeper of yesteryear (25 years ago) and who has recently started again, i used to feed my fish tubifex regularly.
I recently read an article on the internet advising that tubifex are not a good thing to feed tropical fish  as they carry parasites which may harm the fish.
Is this correct ? and if so is it possible to buy "parasite free" tubifex?.

Regards,

Dino. 
 

Fish parasites can only, by definition, be found in water which contains fish as otherwise they wouldn't be able to survive. On the other hand, Tubifex are only found in water that doesn't contain fish, it would be far too polluted for fish. Therefore, it's impossible to see how tubifex could harbour fish parasites or diseases. Problems appear to be caused when people have fed dead and decaying tubifex, but the same could be said for any live food if you let it die and decay.
Like you I fed fish on tubifex many years ago and am happy to continue today.

i used to collect my own tubifex worms
from the settlement tanks at the local
treatment works i used to keep them in
glass jars in the toilet cistern where every
flush of the chain they used to get a change of water
i used to hatch brine shrimp in a 20 ltr tank in the fish
room and in the summer i used to collect daphnia from the
local ponds and seed the tanks i had in the garden and over
winter it in a tank in the house i also used to go and collect
fresh water shrimp from the hill streams on the moors and try
and keep them alive fish used to go mad for them