the slime secretions by snails and catfishes have protective function against innumerable spectra of microorganisms. using vial tubes to scrap the surfaces of the these organisms is hurtful to them and produces very little of the slime not enough for experimentation.
Hi Happy see someone is working on that. we have tried it sometime ago. We tried to provoke the snail to produce some slime and pipet it, not very useful. another method tried is dipping the snail in saline, salt irritate the snail and that trigger and produce large amount of slime. it worked very well. You may also try to put the snail in any buffer and try the saline method. All the best. waiting for your result.
In the instance of catfish the slime production can be stimulated by using salt as well. Slime is produced as an anti stress response. Therefore, you would have to stress the catfish first, maybe by lowering the water level in the holding tank to an inch or two (for 15 to 20 minutes) depending on the size of the fish. Then raise the water- level, add 3.5-4 ppt salt and aerate well. The fish should start to produce significant quantities of slime. Best of luck
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