Mosquito Larvae versus Glassworms

[Comet1993]

I bought some frozen glassworms today; they say that they're also called white mosquito larvae.. Are these the same as the mosquito larvae that some on here feed their bettas? Are they safe for Turbo?

[guardianfyre]

They're safe to feed in small quantities. They're actually not mosquito larvae, even though they're commonly listed as such; they're the larvae of a midge (which looks like a mosquito, but doesn't drink blood). Treat them just like you would bloodworms (Often labeled as red mosquito larvae, but is also midge larvae).

*takes off her teacher hat* Sorry for the little mini lecture. I dislike it when companies mislabel things like that. Midges and mosquitos are related and look alike, so I can see how they get away with it, but it's definitely a pet peeve of mine.

[Kytkattin]

We had a midge infestation in our 55 gallon fish tank once. We kept seeing these mosquitoes on the wall, but no one in the house was getting bit. Once we restocked the tank with more fish they were hunted to extinction in larvae form.

[Comet1993]

I'm new to frozen foods. Should I just thaw out on of the little blocks and pick the midges out individually? Should I thaw them at room temperature or in the refrigerator?

[atteb]

I feed these to my bettas they love them. I unthaw a small portion I need in a bit of water using a very fine strainer I then just use a toothpick to take out what I want to feed to each betta. If you have to much you can keep them for one night in the fridge in the water and feed the next day. I have done this with several types of frozen foods.

[Comet1993]

Thank you, everyone, for all of your help! =] The glassworms come in little cubes.. :/ You can kind of see them in there.. So.. I should thaw a cube in some of his tank water (not in the tank), and pick them out individually. Then, I should put the rest in the refrigerator? :/ Could they grow? That would be kind of creepy, having a bunch of midges taking over my refrigerator... >.< Could I just freeze them?

[guardianfyre]

They're dead. You don't need to worry about them coming back to life. I would divide each cube into about four pieces and only unthaw one of those pieces at a time. Since they won't keep for long once they're unfrozen, you want to try to thaw only what you can use in two days. Keep the rest of the cubes and pieces that are frozen in your freezer until you are ready to use them. If you store them in the fridge, they'll go bad pretty quickly.

[Comet1993]

Oh; dead.. That would make sense... xD Okay. :) Thank you.

[dramaqueen]

Instead of thawing out the whole block you can just chip off a little piece and thaw it out and put the rest back in the fridge.

[Comet1993]

That sounds like a good plan. =]