Vermicelli
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plankton
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Like corydoradine catfish when they're spawning?
If at first you don't succeed....
...get someone else to do it!
Enjoy your fish, shrimps and snails!
Ian
...get someone else to do it!
Enjoy your fish, shrimps and snails!
Ian
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Vale!
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Yes, @plankton - I do indeed like corydoradine catfish in general, but most particularly when they're spawning!
My Cyclops elimination campaign continues and I now have the result of the heat stress test. Apologies for the detail following that you almost certainly don't want!
The subject of the test consisted of Cyclops which were deliberately collected, plus Moina that were caught in the cross-fire of that collection process. I meant originally to treat them separately but ... what the heck! Prior to the test I'd had a different lot of Cyclops/Moina in the bain-marie at around 35C for two weeks (max temp I saw was 36.1C) but that had had no observable effect.
So on the day of the test I put some new Cyclops/Moina into a pint glass and immersed that in the bain-marie. That happened at 1120 and the temperature inside the glass was 23.2
At 1300 the temperature had stabilised at 34.4C ; I withdrew a sample (turkey baster!) and all occupants seemed happy enough.
I withdrew 300mls of water from the bain-marie and replaced it with 300mls of hotter water. Fifteen minutes later the temp in the glass had risen to 36.4C ; everyone OK inside it. I repeated the process.
At 1330 the glass temp was 38.6C ; again, everyone OK but getting a bit manic. Repeated the 300mls swap.
At 1340 it was at 39.9C ; all OK. Repeated the 300mls swap.
At 1355 and at 40.8C I withdrew a sample from the glass and noted that all the Cyclops were immobile (mwahhaha!) while the Moina were still bouncing. I withdrew another sample with the same result. Those two samples were put in a different glass and returned to ambient temp (windowsill) to see if the Cyclops revived in due course.
I then continued with the heat-stressing to see what would happen with the Moina. At 1420 the glass temp was 43.6C and two samples revealed that some/many of the Moina were still alive, but looked to be struggling. Those two samples were put into a separate glass and berthed on the windowsill as well.
At 1700 I checked both windowsill glasses : none of the Cyclops had revived but (so far as I could determine) all/most of the Moina had recovered. Promising!
I'm currently steeling myself to try the heat-stressing for real. I'll have to try it in small batches in the same bain-marie, I reckon. I can't seem to work out a way of doing it otherwise. I plan to raise the temperature to 40C and hold it there(ish) for fifteen minutes to start with and see how it goes.
Speaking of steeling myself : in relation to a different thing (but coherent with what's come up in this thread) I appear to have made a schoolboy error. By no means a catastrophic one, I don't think, but really very annoying. I must confess at some point but it's too raw at the moment!
My Cyclops elimination campaign continues and I now have the result of the heat stress test. Apologies for the detail following that you almost certainly don't want!
The subject of the test consisted of Cyclops which were deliberately collected, plus Moina that were caught in the cross-fire of that collection process. I meant originally to treat them separately but ... what the heck! Prior to the test I'd had a different lot of Cyclops/Moina in the bain-marie at around 35C for two weeks (max temp I saw was 36.1C) but that had had no observable effect.
So on the day of the test I put some new Cyclops/Moina into a pint glass and immersed that in the bain-marie. That happened at 1120 and the temperature inside the glass was 23.2
At 1300 the temperature had stabilised at 34.4C ; I withdrew a sample (turkey baster!) and all occupants seemed happy enough.
I withdrew 300mls of water from the bain-marie and replaced it with 300mls of hotter water. Fifteen minutes later the temp in the glass had risen to 36.4C ; everyone OK inside it. I repeated the process.
At 1330 the glass temp was 38.6C ; again, everyone OK but getting a bit manic. Repeated the 300mls swap.
At 1340 it was at 39.9C ; all OK. Repeated the 300mls swap.
At 1355 and at 40.8C I withdrew a sample from the glass and noted that all the Cyclops were immobile (mwahhaha!) while the Moina were still bouncing. I withdrew another sample with the same result. Those two samples were put in a different glass and returned to ambient temp (windowsill) to see if the Cyclops revived in due course.
I then continued with the heat-stressing to see what would happen with the Moina. At 1420 the glass temp was 43.6C and two samples revealed that some/many of the Moina were still alive, but looked to be struggling. Those two samples were put into a separate glass and berthed on the windowsill as well.
At 1700 I checked both windowsill glasses : none of the Cyclops had revived but (so far as I could determine) all/most of the Moina had recovered. Promising!
I'm currently steeling myself to try the heat-stressing for real. I'll have to try it in small batches in the same bain-marie, I reckon. I can't seem to work out a way of doing it otherwise. I plan to raise the temperature to 40C and hold it there(ish) for fifteen minutes to start with and see how it goes.
Speaking of steeling myself : in relation to a different thing (but coherent with what's come up in this thread) I appear to have made a schoolboy error. By no means a catastrophic one, I don't think, but really very annoying. I must confess at some point but it's too raw at the moment!
(meant in the nicest possible way).-
FishBubs
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Forgot to ask, if your next results of the heat stress achieve same results, would you attempt the cryro just to get the other end of the spectrum ? Or would you consider this as mission accomplished?
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Oh yes - it's still on my list of things to do!
I'm not yet quite sure of the best way to go about it but I will be giving it a go. Probably successive samples in the freezer compartment of my 'fishy fridge' for increasing lengths of time until one is completely frozen?
The only event even vaguely similar in my experience was thawing out a container from the garden that had been frozen solid for a couple of weeks to see what would happen - and the only thing I remember from that is that the bloodworms in it seemed totally unfazed by the whole affair and resumed operations straight away!
I'm not yet quite sure of the best way to go about it but I will be giving it a go. Probably successive samples in the freezer compartment of my 'fishy fridge' for increasing lengths of time until one is completely frozen?
The only event even vaguely similar in my experience was thawing out a container from the garden that had been frozen solid for a couple of weeks to see what would happen - and the only thing I remember from that is that the bloodworms in it seemed totally unfazed by the whole affair and resumed operations straight away!
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Right. I can't bear the guilt any longer. *enters confessional*
[JethroVoice] Whaat haapened waaas ... [/JethroVoice]
When I cleaned the sponges in my Rio240's filter a week or so ago I saved the gloop (see: Breakfast Guinness, upthread) to add to my blackworm/Moina co-culture. I'd changed its substrate from gravel to sand and it was far too 'clean' even though I'd introduced other stuff to encourage development of microblighters etc.
When it came to putting the Guinness in the tank I thought I'd better inspect it, so I put it into a big glass bowĺ and waited to see what might crawl to the surface. The only obvious activity I could see were a few Planarians which I took out before pouring the Guinness into the blackworm/Moina colony.
Imagine (well, try anyway) my surprise a couple of days later when I looked into the tank and saw a bunch of scuds running around!
I don't think I've mentioned that I converted a tank (Sheba 4) to be a scuds/Daphnia co-culture a while back. It's a bit of a faff separating out the smallest ones (my fish won't bite at the larger scuds) but they are occasionally added to various tanks' menus. Of course some swam into the 240's filter - the only tank with an internal powered filter - and they had signally failed to announce their presence in the Guinness!
*sigh*
Now it shouldn't make a difference to the tank's approved occupants. However I hadn't been able to establish a colony of Daphnia with the scuds, so I'm very suspicious of them and worried that they may have the same effect (if real) on my Moina. So I'm going to make the effort to remove as many as I can over an extended period. From past experience I know how difficult it is to get rid of them but I'll at least be able to keep them under some kind of control. Maybe.
I've just had an initial go and removed 19, including several pairs who were busy making little scuds! Incidentally, some of the smarter blackworms have discovered the filter ...
... and are seductively wiggling their booties at the scuds. Either that or they're cruelly mocking me!
[JethroVoice] Whaat haapened waaas ... [/JethroVoice]
When I cleaned the sponges in my Rio240's filter a week or so ago I saved the gloop (see: Breakfast Guinness, upthread) to add to my blackworm/Moina co-culture. I'd changed its substrate from gravel to sand and it was far too 'clean' even though I'd introduced other stuff to encourage development of microblighters etc.
When it came to putting the Guinness in the tank I thought I'd better inspect it, so I put it into a big glass bowĺ and waited to see what might crawl to the surface. The only obvious activity I could see were a few Planarians which I took out before pouring the Guinness into the blackworm/Moina colony.
Imagine (well, try anyway) my surprise a couple of days later when I looked into the tank and saw a bunch of scuds running around!
I don't think I've mentioned that I converted a tank (Sheba 4) to be a scuds/Daphnia co-culture a while back. It's a bit of a faff separating out the smallest ones (my fish won't bite at the larger scuds) but they are occasionally added to various tanks' menus. Of course some swam into the 240's filter - the only tank with an internal powered filter - and they had signally failed to announce their presence in the Guinness!
*sigh*
Now it shouldn't make a difference to the tank's approved occupants. However I hadn't been able to establish a colony of Daphnia with the scuds, so I'm very suspicious of them and worried that they may have the same effect (if real) on my Moina. So I'm going to make the effort to remove as many as I can over an extended period. From past experience I know how difficult it is to get rid of them but I'll at least be able to keep them under some kind of control. Maybe.
I've just had an initial go and removed 19, including several pairs who were busy making little scuds! Incidentally, some of the smarter blackworms have discovered the filter ...
... and are seductively wiggling their booties at the scuds. Either that or they're cruelly mocking me!
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Vale!
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I'm cautiously optimistic that the first scaled-up heat-stress test has been a success. I'm cautious because, although I can't see any live Cyclops, I can't see any dead ones either!
I'll have a proper look tomorrow and 'do' the other half of the batch. I held a smidge above 40C for about 5 minutes rather than the 15 originally planned.
The Moina look fine, btw.
More anon ...
I'll have a proper look tomorrow and 'do' the other half of the batch. I held a smidge above 40C for about 5 minutes rather than the 15 originally planned.
The Moina look fine, btw.
More anon ...
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They are notably randy small crustaceans. I will take a pic of one tomorrow - if I can find one that's on its own, that is!
