Re: decapsulating brine shrimp eggs

[Barry Cooper <bjc3 at cornell_edu>]

Diane,

What protocol are you looking at? There is no need to use lye. Chlorox is 
already alkaline as all get out.

Here is what I used to use:

In a brine shrimp hatcher, such as the inverted soda bottle type, add a 
small cup of water, then add your bs cysts and continue to bubble 
vigorously for 30-60 minutes to rehydrate the cysts. Don't leave them 
longer than 60 minutes.  Add about an equal quantity of Chlorox. Have air 
bubbling this solution very vigorously. The time required varies for 
different cysts. For most Utah cysts the process takes about 5 minutes. The 
solution will begin to froth and after 4-5 minutes the color will change 
from brown to orange. I find this easier to see if I have a lamp shining on 
the hatcher. Once the color change has occurred you need to filter the 
cysts through a handkerchief. In my setup I have an airline glued into the 
cap on the bottle, which I can just disconnect from the air supply at the 
valve, allowing me to run the suspension out. You will be left with a wad 
of wet decapsulated cysts in the handkerchief. Wash this thoroughly with 
water. I would run maybe a quart through, in multiple aliquots. That is, 
add say half a cup of water, let it drain through, add another, and so on. 
Some people recommend using hypo or acetic acid (white vinegar) to remove 
remaining Chlorox, but it is not necessary. Once washed, you can put the 
cysts into your brine in the hatcher and wait for the baby shrimp. You can 
also store decapsulated cysts under saturated brine in the fridge for some 
weeks. I had better hatches, however, by decapsulating daily, and hatching 
immediately.

The main reason I used to decap was to avoid getting empty cysts in my 
tanks. That is, to avoid problems separating hatched bs from empty shells.

Having described all that, I must say that I have stopped doing it, because 
using high quality cysts I get great hatches and very good separation by 
hatching conventionally. I can recommend the cysts that Jehmco sells, 
especially packed for the AKA. These give superb hatches.

Hope this helps,

Barry

At 06:49 PM 8/1/2003 -0500, you wrote:
> My brine shrimp hatching is not yet optimal, and I am considering
> decapsulating them before hatching.  The standard protocols include bleach
> and sodium hydroxide:  where do you get the sodium hydroxide?  Is there any
> common source of lye that is pure enough to use, or do you get it from
> pharmacies or chemical supply houses?  I can use a small amount from my lab
> to do a trial batch, but that's not a good solution for the long term if I
> decide that's how I want to prepare them routinely.
>
>
> Diane Brown in St. Louis
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Barry J. Cooper, Prof. Emeritus, Dept. Biomedical Sciences, Cornell University
Adjunct faculty, College of Veterinary Medicine, Oregon State University
Home address: 27505 Riggs Hill Rd., Sweet Home, OR 97386 (bjc3 at cornell_edu)


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