artemia de-cap question

[David M]

I know that some of you keep decapsulated cycsts in a brine solution in the fridge. That sounds a lot easier than what I do, (dry them out and then rehydrate), so I wanted to ask the salinity or SG of the brine solution and any other details I may need to know. TIA- D

 

[gemini aquarius(t)]

350g/litre of tap water i believe

 

[Kathy55g]

So after you rinse the decapsulated eggs and get the chlorine off, put the eggs in some clean saltwater and then add more salt until it does not dissolve anymore. Stick this in your fridge and tomorrow add a little more salt. The eggs give off water as they dehydrate, and you want to keep the water they are in, saturated with salt.

 

[David M]

OK thanks, will try it.

 

[rutledgek]

Now will they hatch after all this or is this just feed the unhatched eggs to adult fish.

 

[ediaz]

They will still be viable after the treatment.

David, after you are done, place the eggs in a 1/2 liter container a bowl with lid or so, add some tap water and 3-4 tablespoons of cooking salt , stir and there you go.

Ed

 

[Luis A M]

and what is the practical way to scoop out the eggs needed for hatching?
Edgar,is that you in that funny t-shirt,what is that all about?

 

[ediaz]

I use a medicine dropper that is calibrated and makes it easy to dispense into the hatcher.

No Luis, ese es un muchacho de el barrio donde yo me crieen PR, bien pobre, que ahora se hizo cantante famoso aqui en US y tanbien muestra apoyo.

The shirt is about opposition to a inhumane antiimigrant law HR4437. I am involved in imigrant movements here in my town and in Chicago.Even when i am a born citizen i think that everybody has a right to a better life, after all everybody in US comes from imigrant ancestors.Maybe there a a few senators that own a reef and will see my avatar.

Ed

 

[Kathy55g]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7219227#post7219227 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rutledgek
Now will they hatch after all this or is this just feed the unhatched eggs to adult fish.

This was just the last steps after decapsulating them so one can store the decapsulated eggs in the fridge and hatch some out as needed. I hatch eggs twice a day. Glad I don't have to decapsulate every time.

I usually decapsulate 2 g at a time, lasts me a week or so, but now i have more fish so I gotta stop talking usually. There is no usual.

 

[2divers]

I dont store them in salt water. I let them air dry (overnight) and put them in a sealed container and use them in a week. Works fine for me.

 

[rutledgek]

Well these things must be up there with cockroaches for their indestructability. I mean to be able to dry them out and store them, then soak them in a bleach solution, then to finally store them in a saturated salt solution and still have them hatch and be nutritious is amazing.

 

[David M]

I dont store them in salt water. I let them air dry (overnight) and put them in a sealed container and use them in a week. Works fine for me.

Right, that's what I've always done, but it takes time. I drain the cycts and then place them on a sheet of glass, cover with wax paper and smooth out to a thin sheet so it dries evenly and quickly. OK, a few minutes, but every second counts these days Seems a lot quicker to just drop 'em in a container with water & salt.

Thanks all for your ideas.

 

[Luis A M]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7221931#post7221931 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rutledgek
Well these things must be up there with cockroaches for their indestructability. I mean to be able to dry them out and store them, then soak them in a bleach solution, then to finally store them in a saturated salt solution and still have them hatch and be nutritious is amazing.

YouÃ"šÃ‚´re right.They are designed to live where nothing else could live.That is their survival strategy.

 

[Fishboy42]

I *usually* (same as Kathy, I've got to stop saying that, as I change my mind all the time!) decap ~2 tablespoons and just let them drip-dry for a few seconds after rinsing / dechlorination and throw them in a jar in the fridge--no brine solution and no drying. I know that they last at least a month this way with good hatch % -- probably longer, but they don't ever get the chance!

If I am getting a good hatch doing this, would there be an advantage to using the brine solution? I'm just curious if it is better to keep them dehydrated?

Matt

 

[Fredfish]

Well these things must be up there with cockroaches for their indestructability

Yup. To my amazement I had brine grow to adult stage in a bucket of plain salt water that had been sitting around for a couple of months. What the heck did they feed on??

And to make this post marginally on topic, I have used the saturated salt method as well and it worked just fine for me for up to two weeks(eggs never lasted longer than that).

Fred

 

[Luis A M]

Years ago I used to decap using a much simpler protocol,not involving alkalis nor ice.I didnÃ"šÃ‚´t notice any heat production,though I used only a small amount of eggs for immediate use.Storage in brine was not known at that time.
I donÃ"šÃ‚´t have the exact protocol at hand but I remember it was something like this:

1-Hydrate bs eggs in one part tap water for one hour,with heavy aeration in a transparent jar.
2-Add two parts of Chlorox .
3-When the eggs turn orange,rinse them thoroughly under the tap.
4-Place in water with vinegar for a while.
5-Rinse again.Presto!

Vinegar was intended to neutralize any remaining chlorine,and could be replaced with thiosulfate nowadays.
Some of these days I will try it again checking what happens with temp.and pH.

Ed,yeah that boy looked too young
Joe L. said you were close to our age.
Suerte con la causa!

 

[David M]

1-Hydrate bs eggs in one part tap water for one hour,with heavy aeration in a transparent jar.

Yup, that's how I do it but I use 3 parts fw and 1 part bleach. I really don't think it matters, just effects the speed of the process I suppose. I have seen at least a dozen different ratios posted

 

[Kathy55g]

I do 50 50 saltwater and bleach. Some recipes describe a strong basic buffer, so I figure the saltwater's alkalinity will cover it . i also do not notice that it heats up, but I put a small bottle of bleach in the fridge while the cysts are rehydrating. It works, so I am not going to fix it.

 

[rutledgek]

I think I just batched my first decapsulation. Nothing is swimming and It looks like a bunch of white things at the bottom of the jar. This was after 20hrs. I will go home tonight and see if anything is suspended in the water or if it all settles.

 

[KMatysek]

I've been using JW's recipe (1/2 tsp in 2 oz FW, then add 1 oz chlorine and stir continually, rinse and dechlorinate then store in super-sat SW). I've done this multiple times with great success. Then all of a sudden, this week, when I've got 7-10-day old larvae wanting bigger and better food, I can't get a successful for the life of me. I've decapsulated 4 batches now and none of them succeeded. I'm using the same eggs (stored in the freezer) that I used just a few weeks ago with no prolem.

Any ideas? I wondered if I either did the chlorine too long or not long enough. Each time the eggs went to a grayish-white and then orange. I'm not aerating (except for stirring when the bleach is added), and am wondering if that would help.

I don't want to risk feeding them bbs that might still have egg capsules but at this point I'm getting desperate! Is it OK for them to be in the late stages of metamorphosis and still only getting rotifers (and some dry food)?