I keep killing my rotifers.
1. I use RODI water mixed with IO salt. I make sure the salinity is always with in .007. Generally speaking, I always keep my broodstock between 1.015 and 1.020, so that I can use the same NSW for rotifers as well. Generally speaking though, my rotifers are usually 1.015.
2. I change 33% of the water daily - I don't really harvest the rotifers with a sieve, I simply dump 1/3 of the water out after scraping up the sides/bottom of the bucket. My trick is to dump 95% of the water into a new bucket, leave all the crap in the old bucket, and then remove 30% of the water from the new bucket, thus ensuring I'm removing ALOT of the crap every day.
3. I've fed with RGC, now I switched to RG+ and chloram-x - I have been following Tal's website for instructions for a few days. For the chloram-x I did 12 teaspoons per 500ML solution, dosing 5ML per day per culture - sometimes double dosing by accident. I wasn't measuring the RGC. That might have been a problem.
I'm on try #6.New rotifers coming in tomorrow. I plan to continue following Tal's website. My cultures may have been bad during the transition from RGC to RG+
Q1. Is there anything in tap water that might not get removed by RODI that is harmful to rotifers? My town's water system was severely polluted 30+ years ago. I'm wondering if there are chemicals that aren't removed by RODI system.
Q2. What about aged NSW? Sometimes my water sits in the barrell for a week before I use it. Is this a problem?
Q3. Should I be sterilizing these buckets? Sometimes they are getting used for water changes on the broodstock tanks.
Q4. I can see some dust in the buckets, but I can't tell if they are rotifers, ciliates, or something else.
My BBS culures look more like rotifers than my rotifers. I sometimes wonder if I contaminated that with rotifers... =) I see millions of swimming things in that culture, with very few visible shrimp.
I've been reading the forum alot, and nothing is jumping out at me as to what my problem could be.