Nightcrawling for Koi food.

[Catch&Release]

I'm assuming that good old garden worms and nightcrawlers would make great food for our fish. Right now they get a couple meals of a quality Koi food but they wait until it's worm time to really stuff themselves.
I get my worms out of my compost heap but for the big crawlers I need a good rain, flashlight and a bucket hung around my neck. It take a little bit of time to get your eyes working properly but in a coup hellle of hours I can get up to 13 or 14 dozen BIG crawlers which the fish love. The crawlers only come out when you get a substantial rain and their only goal is to breed.
Are there any drawbacks to feeding my Koi worms as a primary food source?

 

[Lisak1]

I have to say, you're a dedicated worm hunter!

I once mentioned feeding worms to my fish on... ahem... another forum and got beat into the ground. They said it was FINE for them to EAT the worms, but you have to feed them worms that are specially raised for that purpose. Personally I say let them eat worms!

 

[Mmathis]

Of course, I only have goldfish, but mine get all kinds of natural treats, including baby earthworms! I recently had an outbreak of those (I think they’re called) China mark caterpillars attacking my water lily pads — who needs pest control, LOL!

@Lisak1 I have heard that before, except mine had to do with my box turtles. Don’t recall the exact scenario (it was a long time ago), but WTH! “Naturally caught“ worms (night crawlers, plain old earthworms, grubs...) contain all kinds of trace minerals, etc., that are good for the turtles! And I’ve read where some say to cut up the worms before feeding them to the turtles! Have you ever seen a turtle put away a nice wiggly worm?

 

[Lisak1]

Have you ever seen a turtle put away a nice wiggly worm?

haha! Can't say that I have, but it's now a life goal!

Yeah, it had something to do with feeding the worms the appropriately "clean" foods so they wouldn't contaminate the fish. Okey dokey then... I guess I better watch what else crawls, flies, or falls into this pond that those little piggies will devour!

 

[Mmathis]

@Lisak1 I’LL have to make a video for you!

@Catch&Release I’m between ponds at the moment, but at our old house (talking box turtles, not koi), I made a big “worm pit” as an extension of the turtles habitat — the turtles had 24/7 access. The turtles loved it! If they saw me messing around in the pit, they would suddenly show up, and wait for me to dig something up that they could hunt down and eat! I kept a combo of night crawlers and common earthworms. The pit had an earthen bottom, so the worms were free to come and go. My grandfather used to raise and sell fishing worms, so I come by my affinity for worms naturally!

 

[Catch&Release]

I've gotta believe that if a fish doesn't eat a worm it just doesn't know what it's missing. If the worms are missing something nutritionally than the Hikari Gold they receive daily should make up the difference. One thing for sure is that the fish REALLY enjoy a nice plump "Red Wigglers". The crawlers do get broken down into small pieces only because I worry about a 7 inch Koi eating a 5 inch worm. Until I hear that worms are not good fish food I guess I'll continue.
I'm a big fan of both worms and box turtles. I have a large veggie garden and for 10 plus years a box turtle took up residence like he knew what he was doing. I let him have his way and could hand feed strawberries and worms to him. I will attest to how quickly a box turtle would eat a big ole nightcrawler. A box turtle spends it's whole life in an area of less than two acres which is just a bit of a factoid.
PS... If you've never gone nightcrawler hunting after a good rain on a warm summer night you just don't know what your missing. Walk softly though! They can feel you coming and go back down their hole faster than you could imagine.

 

[Lisak1]

It's not the nutrition they are lacking... it's the fear they have something in their gut that would be bad for the fish. Which hello - I've seen my fish pick their way through all kinds of disgusting things, so I really don't think they mind a worm full of garden goodies!