Rotifers

[Corey]

I set up two rotifer colonies to feed my corals, had airlines in them and fed them twice a day. both colonies died, anyone know why.

[Aquattro]

Maybe talk to Wendell about rotifers, he maintains cultures for his clowns.

[christyf5]

How long did you maintain them for? What were you feeding them? Did the water clear after feeding? What were you culturing them in (water volume)? How many rotifers did you have?

Christy

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

I culture rotifers & I've also experienced crashes; although, generally after I did something stupid. Don't overfeed & wait until the water is clear before you add another drop or two of Tahitian Blend or whatever phytoplankton/microalgae you're feeding them.

But like Christy wrote, need more data to see what went wrong in this case.

[Corey]

I bought the starter culture at the last meeting from OA. I kept them in two 2L clear bottles bottoms cut off and turned upside down attatched to 2x4 in a T shape, Fed them twice a day, once in the morning when I got up, and once before bed. At feeding times I gave two drops of Tahitian blend. Dont think I overfed them but I didnt know about the water clearing, as far as I know I did exactly what I was told to do by the guys at OA.I harvested 2 cups from each every other day, replacing with 50/50 water, every week I put the restin a container and cleaned the bottles, and replaced the water with 50/50. maybe Ill have to try again

[Chad]

Sounds like you did everything right. I have had my cultures crash for no apparent reason but its usualy something I had forgotten, like did not feed or the 50/50 was off or not topping off evap.

The clearing of the water just means that they are eating. If you have a decent culture the water will be clear in a matter of hours.

Some people also say that if you clean out the bottles too well it can cause a crash. But I have never experienced that problem.