saltcritters brine frustration

[knap_123]

I bought some decapsulated brine off ebay from saltcritters. Ive had terrible luck with this product. I was using sally Joe's with awesome results. And need to go get some even though its a good drive. My product was shipped with no gel pack just a envelope. With snail mail. Couald this be the problem? Ive truer fresh salt water, tank water, adding a heater! They just want hatch. I ordered some eggs to try regaling my on as well. Anyway, just blowing off steam here.

 

[rayjay]

A lot of decapped cysts are NOT meant for hatching, but rather feeding to their target just as eggs. Purpose it to make sure ALL the egg sack nutrient gets to the target instead of a partly used egg sack of hatched ones.

 

[mtc1966]

good call RayJay look at the container or web site and see if it says hatching. the price may of been cheaper because they are non hatching

 

[mtc1966]

is this what you got
http://http://www.saltcritters.com/dwarf-seahorse-food-4oz-decapsulated-brine-shrimp-eggs/

looks like it may be non hatching since they call it food

 

[knap_123]

Sorry i cant pull up the link.The label says for hatching. But its all good I went and picked up my usual brand plus received 50 grams in the mail of eggs. Now I'm going to practice recalling my own. What is the wet solution made of? Concerated salt water?

 

[rayjay]

I couldn't get the link to work either so I googled and found this.
http://www.saltcritters.com/dwarf-seahorse-food-4oz-decapsulated-brine-shrimp-eggs/
However, it does state they are hatching eggs.

 

[knap_123]

That's it!! What's the wet solution made of?

 

[tjdouglas]

Hi Knap 123. I believe that the storage solution used for decapsulated eggs is simply a highly concentrated brine. You can read about it here.

http://www.ventralfins.com/misc_articles_decap_bs.html#heading4

 

[rayjay]

Yes, the storage solution is simply saturated salt water.
Once decapped, you add salt while aerating until no more salt dissolves and this process then keeps the cysts from hydrating and hatching for short term storage.
To use, take out a portion and rinse off and add to salt water, preferably at the range you will keep the seahorses at. I do mine at 1.017 because that's what my seahorse fry are raised in when I have them.
Once hatched, transfer to new water, same s.g., and aerate for a day to get them to the second instar stage when they can then feed. Best to enrich for two 12 hour stages with new water and enrichment for each stage or you might have heavy losses from the quickly contaminated water.
Once enriched, rinse and feed to the seahorses/fry.

 

[tjdouglas]

Hey Rayjay, I had wondered why you often recommended two separate 12 hour stages of enrichment for BBS rather than one 24 hour period. So, I guess it is because of the fouling of the water after the first 12 hours?

 

[knap_123]

Awesome info guys!! The link posted is super helpful tj. Now its time to practice this art of recalling and storeing

 

[rayjay]

Hey Rayjay, I had wondered why you often recommended two separate 12 hour stages of enrichment for BBS rather than one 24 hour period. So, I guess it is because of the fouling of the water after the first 12 hours?

Yes, the water gets fouled quickly with enrichments, AND, with the feces the brine produce from feeding. They will end up eating too much of the feces and not all enrichment.
I suspect other problems with it also because if I push it, I end up with more and more dead brine.
Two separate stages, plus not overdoing the enrichment yields good results.
If you just do one 12 hour stage, you get gut loading, but after the second stage you get enrichment assimilated into the flesh of the brine.

 

[tjdouglas]

Rayjay....I did not even think about brine shrimp eating their own feces! But that seems like a great point.

knap 123...would love to know if you are able to successfully decap the eggs on your own. I have been buying mine off eBay.

 

[rayjay]

Another problem growing brine shrimp if you are wanting to grow out to larger sizes is that the exoskeletons that are shed, rapidly decay to minute particles and also get consumed along with the feces and food.
As for decapping your own, it's a PITA but not that bad but it may take you a few tries to get it right depending on the strength of the bleach you use and what volumes of bleach per what unit of water. Once successful, just repeat each time using the same volumes and the same time period.
The stronger the bleach solution you make up, the faster the change and it goes through the end point too fast sometimes, so IMO, it's better to go longer and safer with a weaker solution.
If you google, there are a LOT of variants in the methodology of decapping.
I ran into trouble buying cheap bleach at Walmart and then found out it was a weaker solution than the Chlorox I was buying previously.

 

[knap_123]

I have tryed 3 attempts at recapping and brineing my eggs. I have successfully made it 2 out of 3! Its a fairly simple and enjoyable process for myself. I found a little measureing glass worked for me. I rehydrated at like 10ml. At a hour. And then added 20 ml. Of bleach for a total of 30 ml. and airreated and watched for the Color change. Rinsed well in my strainer and stored. The link provided really helped me a lot. I purchased a 6 gram vile for 8 dollors at the pet store. I had also bought 50 grams off ebay for 12.49 dollors includeing shipping. They arrived the same day I got home with the 6 grams and there's no comparrison in size! The 50 grams filled a ziplock bag as the 6 grams was like a little finger long vile definately use the ebay seller again. http://payments.mobileweb.ebay.com/...mId=140898421290&nFB=false&trxId=778824628004

 

[nanolover80]

Hi everyone. rayjay .. can you tell me the best way to enrich bbs and step throught the process for me?

Thanks

 

[rayjay]

Well I can't say it's the BEST way, but it's the way I use, and that is, after hatchout, collect all the nauplii that have hatched and rinse under the tap to remove any trace of hatching water, and place in new water to let them grow out for a day until they shed their exoskeletons and reach the second instar stage. Some prefer to leave in the hatching water until they get to this stage but I like to get them out of the hatching water as soon as I can.
I then rinse again and place in new water and add the enrichment, (Dan Feed preffered). After 12 hours, they will now be "gut loaded", but if you want better enrichment, change the water again and add new enrichment and let go for another 12 hours. At this point they will have been assimilating the nutrient into their body mass and give you an enriched brine nauplii, PLUS they will have the gut loading as well.
I then rinse again before adding to the dwarf/fry containers.
You can enrich enough for the whole day of feeding and remove what is needed for each feed as you go to do it.
Always be careful when adding the enrichment as too much and the nauplii will die off. It's better to go light and have to add a bit more until you find the best amount to use per 12 hour period.
By the way, I DON'T use a commercial sea salt for these, or for phyto, but instead use 10 parts of water softener sodium chloride salt mixed with one part epsom salts. I buy both at Walmart as it is usually cheapest there.

 

[tjdouglas]

Dear Knap 123, thanks for sharing your success with the decapping process. I just might have to try it myself!