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Re: Dyes for egg incubation

Hello Bruce, Wright, Tyrone,

It seems that the "different dyes for egg incubation" discussion has
petered out. It's a pity, because there is a lot of needless "magic" in
the recipes of various egg incubation media.

First of all, there is very little information on the identity of the
different "Acriflavine" concoctions that people use. Commercially, there
are at least two different acriflavine hydrochloride salts available,
each being a mixture of at least two acridine compounds. (For the
chemically NOT challenged, acriflavine is a mixture of
3,6-diaminoacridine and 3,6-diamino-10-methylacridinium chloride. This
is the "neutral" acriflavine. There is also a 2HCl salt available.) I
suspect that products from different manufacturers have different
proportions of these compounds and then various impurities.

The above is true if one buys the "PURE" compound. However, I assume
that most people use the several nostrums available in the hobby trade,
which often have other ingredients present, including copper compounds.
So, the identity of the "acriflavine" that is being used for egg
incubation is probably fairly much unknown.

Second, I remember only one instance where concentrations of acriflavine
in the incubating solution were accurately given. Mostly the
concentration is indicated as "light yellow", "few drops", or some such.
Since human color perception is quite variable, the concentrations are
unknown.

Third, the age of the acriflavine solution is unknown. Acriflavine in
solution does decompose over time. I realize, that people have no way of
knowing how old is the acriflavine solution they purchased, but age here
is an uncontrolled variable. Furthermore, the decomposition products
remain in the solution and they may also have their own physiological
effects. 

I strongly suspect that the differing reports on use of "acriflavine" in
the killie egg incubating solution -- from "swear by it" to "totally
useless" -- are due to the unknown composition and concentration of the
solutions being used.

(As a personal note: I generally use a 2 ppm solution of Acriflavine
(Kodak) prepared from a 1000 ppm stock solution. I change to plain water
after egg development is visible. But even if I forget to change to
water (as sometimes happens) the eggs hatch in the acriflavine medium
(that by that time is almost colorless) without any problems.)

Best,

George
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