A Guide to the Meso-Scale Production of the Copepod Acartia tonsa

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Quality Control


Air Quality Control

  1. Microfilter all air entering algae and copepod culture vessels.
  2. Draw cool, filtered, interior air for aeration, whenever possible. Contamination issues will increase when using exterior air, increasing filter replacement costs.
  3. Use disposable in-line 0.2 µm pore anti-bacterial air filters (Pall 37mm or Gelman Acro50 vent filters) for all aeration.
  4. Maintain Acartia at >4 mg/L DO while trying to cause minimal damage to or loss of the organisms.
  5. Aerate to maintain algae culture CO2 saturation, pH stability, and uniform mixing; while trying to cause minimal damage to or loss of the organisms.

Water Quality Control

  1. Monitor incoming seawater for salinity, pH, DO, color, and scent (particularly the “rotten egg” smell of H2S) prior to collection and treatment. Log all coastal “Red Tide” and other harmful algal bloom advisories. Record all readings in a waterproof journal.
  2. Serially filter raw seawater through 50 µm, 10 µm, and 1 µm mesh bags then pass through an ultraviolet sterilizer (at no more than half the maximum flow rating). Filter set and ultraviolet sterilizer are mounted on a garden cart for portability around the facility (Figure 4).

    3. Filtration System Figure 4. Filter set and ultraviolet sterilizer

  3. Filter bags are cleaned, then sanitized overnight in hypochlorite solution once a week under normal usage (more often, if needed).
  4. Follow manufacturer recommendations regarding UV bulb replacement.
  5. Maintain a ten-day reserve of filtered seawater and a reserve of artificial seawater mix. Never use questionable seawater for cultures, use the reserve or artificial mix.
  6. Filtered, UV treated seawater can be used directly to culture copepods (once aerated to saturation with 0.2 µm filtered air) or chlorine treated prior to other use.
  7. Treat container of filtered seawater with 10% commercial hypochlorite solution at 0.2 ml/L, let stand overnight without aeration. Dechlorinate with stock thiosulfate solution volume for volume (V/V) at 0.2 ml/L. Use this water for filling all wash bottles, stacked sieve holders, harvest samples, population counts, egg hatching trials, etc.