Culture Journal, Species: Brachionus plicatilis

General
Species:   Brachionus plicatilis
Species description:  L-type rotifers
Culture source (link if possible):  http://www.reedmaricultur..m/support_rotifers.html
If algae, CCMP # (Optional): 
http://ccmp.bigelow.edu/
Culture Establishment Date:  3/28/13
Continuation Date: 

Culturing Vessel Details
Salinity:  1.020
Temperature:   ambient, ~73 degrees
pH:  unmeasured

Vessel description:  5g pail
Lighting description:  ambient
Lighting cycle:  24x7
Aeration description:  air stone with plastic valve to control flow

Methodologies
Split methodology:  1/3 every other day

Culture medium description:  12 drops of RGComplete, 2x per day

Cell count:
 (if known)

Reference links:  

Additional Information
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Notes: 



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Today, crashola. Siphoned off 1/3, per my every-other-day protocol, thru a coffee filter and things were looking much thinner than usual. Today I don't see any rots left. I added a bunch of phyto last night, thinking that would feed them more and make them multiply faster, but I read today that was a pretty bad idea. I was also adding fresh saltwater with each siphoning, and maybe I shocked them. The day before yesterday I couldn't feed them in the morning and the water got pretty clear when I finally fed them that evening, so that could have been the problem as well.
 
I've ordered a new starter culture. With the new batch I'll reuse the water that I siphon off to avoid shock, and add some Prime ammonia remover with each feeding, and do daily siphonings instead of every two days. It also recommends stirring the culture each day, so I'll try that as well. Might bump up the airflow a bit as well. Too many variables!!! But hopefully I can narrow them down and find my issue...

4/12: Received new rotifers. Started 3-5g cultures.  I discovered that even tho the room temp was 73 degrees, the unheated 5g pails of rotifers were at about 68 degrees, presumably from the evap cooling of the airstone. Too cold!
 
I loosely covered the cultures, temp went to low 70's. Added heaters to 2 of the 3 cultures to bring their temp to 77. Will compare heated vs unheated to see if one is more productive.
 
I think I was overfeeding the last batch as well. I'll try feeding less this time, keeping the water a lighter shade of green.
 
I also plan to do 1/3+ water changes each evening, add .3ml Prime water conditioner each morning, and transfer the cultures to fresh buckets every few days. Hopefully this new regimen will keep me in business...

New regimen seems to be working well. Per 5g culture-15 drops RGComplete in the morning, 18 drops at night, +/- a couple drops if it looks light or dark. Move culture to a new bucket every 4-5 days. Siphon off 1/3 to 1/2 of the culture every day (which is strained thru coffee filters and fed to larvae). I keep lids on the cultures, loosely covering them. It keeps the water in the low 70s (70-72ish). I had heaters in two of the three cultures with the temp at 77, but they didn't generally seem to be more productive than the heated cultures (to my untrained eye anyway), so yesterday I removed the heaters.