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Rotifer Counts
We start with a 20ml sample from the middle of the culture tank where there is good circulation. We add a few drops of vinegar to immobilize the rotifers, mix, and while still mixing - pipette 1 ml from the 20 ml sample into a Sedgwick counting chamber. There we count two rows and multiply by ten to get the number of rotifers per ml. The rotifer counts are always repeatable to within 10% and are usually within 5% of each other.
Next we siphon off several buckets of rotifers, again from the center of the culture tank, and place them overnight in a 6° C cooler with a bubbler and extra microalgae feed. The next morning we stir the rotifers and pull out a volume which would yield the correct number of rotifers for each order, based on the count from the day before. As we pull out the rotifers we continue to stir so that the rotifers are evenly distributed. Then for good measure, we add another 25%. The final count should in fact be even higher as the rotifers continue to grow at 3% per hour until they have cooled to the point where they stop reproducing.
