RE: NANFA-- Aquatic Earthworms (Again)

Hoover, Jan J WES (HOOVERJ_at_wes.army.mil)
Fri, 26 May 2000 17:17:11 -0500

>>>I have seen aquatic earthworms in the ditches by my house recently, and
wanted to try keeping them in an aquarium with some baby goodeids.... One
thing that I am worried about is any parasitic diseases that they may spread
to the fishes, such as trematodes or flukes.<<<<

Its probably safe. Parasites of your local worms are probably not adapted
for completing their life cycles in goodeids. But some fish parasites do
use aquatic earthworms as intermediate hosts. They include: Triganostomum,
a trematode of numerous suckers and Notropis hudsonius;
Caryophyllaeus, a tapeworm of suckers (Catostomus spp. and Ictiobus).

"Parasites of North American Fishes" by Glenn Hoffman has very thorough
synopses of who parasitizes what and which intermediate hosts they use. The
second edition came out in 1999 and costs $90. I have not seen it but it
was reviewed in the latest issue of Copeia. The 1967 edition was still
available from book dealers as recently as 5-10 years ago. My copy was only
a few dollars. I'll bet that copies can be had easily and inexpensively.
Its a good resource.

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