simple question with hopefully a simple answer

[S13<3]

i just started to culture my own phytoplankton and rotifiers and things seem ok for now, but what i want to know is how do i tell if they go bad? will they smell really bad or turn a different color than green? i dont want to add bad stuff to my tank and contaminate things, any help appreciated

 

[betamed]

Taste test?

 

[Reefing Newbie]

I am no expert on either of these things and have no clue on the phytoplankton... As far as rotifers go, after the first three days from start up you will want to harvest everyday whether you have anything to feed them to or not... Doing that you will keep a healthy population of rotifers going constantly.

 

[S13<3]

Taste test?

no thanks lol

I am no expert on either of these things and have no clue on the phytoplankton... As far as rotifers go, after the first three days from start up you will want to harvest everyday whether you have anything to feed them to or not... Doing that you will keep a healthy population of rotifers going constantly.

yeah i read that yesterday, i need to remove about 20-30% everyday to keep a healthy population of juveniles, thanks

anyone know how to tell if they are bad tho?

 

[billdogg]

I'm pretty sure the bad ones have tats and wear bandanas

sorry - got nothing

 

[SecretiveFish]

If your phyto culture is crashing, it will slowly turn from a bright green to a nasty yellow (however, this also can be indicative of rotifer contamination). One way to tell whether the phyto is suffering from a rotifer contamination is to pour a decent amount into a clear glass, wait for a few minutes so that the loose particles will settle, and look for anything in there swimming of its own accord. If there are no little buggers swimming in the glass, then your culture crashed otherwise your culture was contaminated. This is also a way to tell if your rotifer culture crashed.

 

[S13<3]

when i was reading about culturing they mentioned contamination but didnt say anything about it, can u please teach me so i dont mix the wrong things, currently i dont feed the phyto and feed the rotifiers phyto

 

[Reefing Newbie]

To prevent any rotifers from getting into the phyto, don't share equipment between the cultures. Another thing is to keep the phyto culture above the rotifer culture, if you drip phyto into the rotifers, no problem you still have phyto. Now if your dripped rotifers into the phyto, you will have a problem!

 

[S13<3]

my rotifier culture has a slight funk to it, not rotten but like a bag of brine shrimp kinda smell, should i start all over or its normal for it to smell a little?

 

[SecretiveFish]

I would wait it out to see, but maybe cut your culture and add some fresh saltwater.

You should be feeding your phyto! They need more than just light to flourish. You could either use a liquid miracle grow type fertilizer, but we have had the best luck with the Micro Algae Grow from Florida Aqua Farms.

 

[S13<3]

yeah i was worried and did a 40% water change and am gonna do 30% tommorow and everyday from now on and hope for the best, ive been looking into feeding the phyto and am gonna deff get a bottle of micro algae grow, seems to be the best and most reccomended and while im ordering from them im gonna buy a disk and start a culture from scratch, thanks for the help guys

 

[jeff@zina.com]

You'll smell it if the culture goes bad.

But bad is usually too late. Keep an eye on the culture, use (or dump) about a third of your rotifers a day, split cultures when you can, keep a greenwater density that lets rotifers feed, if it gets clear they starve quickly.

Lots of info on culturing Nanno/T-iso/rotifers on mofib.com, mbisite.org and the sites of various rotifer suppliers too. Thought there was some in the fish breeding forum here, but I'm not finding it right now. It's happy hour here so my search skills are fading...

Jeff

 

[S13<3]

ive read tons from various sources but they just explain how to grow it and mention it can get contaminated with bacteria or crash for no reason but dont say what contaminates it, how to tell its coming and so on, ive stopped dosing the rotifiers to the tank till im sure its ok, i guess if im unsure ill start all over again