Hikari frozen bloodworm problems

[Jim Powers]

The last batch of Hikari frozen bloodworms, in the cubes, was full of HUGE bloodworms. Many were two to three times larger than normal.
In fact, they were so large that many of my small fish could not eat them. Has anyone else noticed this?
I hope this is not what we can expect from Hikari from now on.
Their frozen bloodworms, as well as all their other frozen foods, are the best on the market as far as I'm concerned, but I can't use them if my fish can't eat them.

[Crissyloach]

Really?? That is actually not good! Wow!

The San Fransisco bay worms that I have right now are a bit big too- I need to be careful, and chop them up even just to give to the older fry. Which gets kinda annoying...

[Jim Powers]

A guy at my favorite lfs said the same thing. I just contacted the company about this so maybe, if they get feedback, they will change back to the normal size bloodworms.

[plaalye]

Haven't had this problem but i buy the flats. I do shave frozen foods with a sharp knife for my small mouthed fish. Might help with your problem?

[Jim Powers]

That's a thought, but I really don't think I should have to do that. I can always buy another brand if this is the new norm for their bloodworms. I don't want to do it, but I don't have the time in the morning, before work, to do that.
You should have seen the new Crossostoma trying to eat the jumbo bloodworms today. They are only about an 1.5" long and looked like an alligator eating a python. It was hilarious...but aggravating!!

[Jim Powers]

I just received a very quick response from Hikari, only a couple of hours after emailing them. Here is what they had to say.

Jim - thank you for taking the time to contact us and for your support of our products. The size standard has been relaxed slightly recently (to slightlty less than double the size of the normal one) due to extremely cold weather in the production areas which has made the supply of the normally very consistent sized worms unpredictable. We anticipate this issue, with the help of mother nature, will correct itself shortly and allow us to return to the very consistent size as we have become known for. We have found little issue with most fish being able to bite off a piece of the slightly larger worm in the feeding tests we have done here and in our lab at the production facility. If you are seeing something larger than this, please provide the best before date on the package you have so we can ask our QC department to check in to this matter. We are sorry you have not found the size to meet your expectation and look forward to being able to earn your trust in the very near future by returning to the prior standard.
The Hikari Customer Service Team

So, it sounds like this is only a temporary problem.

[Crissyloach]

That is good! Perhaps get an extra pack or 2 (or however many you need to go just into the spring) before the winter this year, depending on that best before date- that way there is no need to get the larger ones this year. Might be safer that way.

[starsplitter7]

I love the huge bloodworms and so do most of my fish. For my smaller fish I gave them black worms. I noticed the change too. I thought the fish really appreciated the upgrade, but it is true that the smaller ones can't get their mouth around the huge bloodworms.