Hi,
I am looking for methods to immobilize Ceriodaphnia dubia for live imaging without damaging the organism. I have read that for Daphnia magna the specimen can be put in commercial carbonated water, does anyone know if this method would work for Ceriodaphnia dubia?
I am also trying to find a way to kill the animals for preservation after toxicity test, for late measurements and conservation. What can I use? Would a solution of ethanol 70% work?
Thanks a lot!
I know that freshwater fish can be immobilized or euthanized with the appropriate dose of buffered MS-222 (Tricaine mesylate), which is a muscle relaxant that is selective for cold-blooded animals. Perhaps you could perform some subacute exposures with your C. dubia to determine the EC50 for immobilization and investigate recovery time.
Probably, decrease of temperature will reduce the activity of the organism.
For preservation use 60-70% ethanol or 3-5% formalin.
70% Ethanol is good for preservation (Article Ethanol: a better preservation technique for Daphnia: No mor...
see this article as example of study).For what concern taking picture of the organism live, when I take pictures of Daphnia magna I try to reduce the amount of water. I usually keep only a drop around Daphnia and then I adjust the light to a low level. I wait a couple of minutes and usually the organism adapts to the new condition and it stays stay for long enough to take a good picture. I attached an example of a picture I took with this technique. Daphnia is perfectly fine when I put it back to the water.
Regards
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