FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

It's my first try with Utricularia. U gibba arrived in a small baggie with what looks to be pond-bottom mush. I can't see any utrics but assume they are in there. I tipped this brown "soup" into a large yogurt tub with base layer peat, then sand, filled up with fresh rainwater. Placed in bright indirect light. Does this sound okay? Or should I do something different?

The next day I noticed many thin worm-like critters in there, 10 to 25 mm long, about 1/2" to 1", very active. Perhaps aquatic worms or larvae.? Does anyone know what they are? And are they a potential problem?

Thank you MikeB, that's very helpful. I found info about Tubifex and they do look similar to the worms that came with the Utrics. I will search further in this group of animals.

If you do have tubifex, you may have a different problem: tubifex are also called the sludge worm or sewage worm. They like dirty surroundings. Your growing medium may be in bad shape...

Thanks for the warning evenwind. If I could remove these critters I would, but I don't see how I could do that without losing the tiny bits of utric.

My container and media were new and fresh. Don't know the state of the seller's pond which is where these critters came from, together with the utrics. But I think it would be okay, all the other plants I bought from this seller are good and clean.

I'm trying to narrow down the id of these worms. After searching a lot of info, I think they might be Lumbriculus rather than Tubifex. Not sure, still worried...