Preparing infusoria

Infusoria can be prepared in many ways, some of which as follows:

Method 1:
Leave outside leaves of a lettuce in water and in bright light for three or four days. When the water especially round the leaves becomes white or milky, the culture is ready. One drop examined under a microscope will be seen to be teeming with life, appearing as continuously moving dust-like particles. Pond water (free of all enemies) is better than tap water. After about four days, the culture “dies”.

About three bruised leaves per quart of water can be used in this method. Bruising hastens the decomposition of the leaves and the birth of infusoria.

Method 2:
Leave finely sliced potatoes or any other vegetable in water till they begin to smell. Cow dung gives especially small infusoria that can be used for tiny fish.

Method 3:
Pour boiling water on chopped up hay, leaving it to stand in the sunlight till the water becomes light brown.

Method 4:
Using some such mixture as the peel of one potato, one split pea, one yellow skin of a banana, one spinach leaf, thirty drops of milk, one tiny piece of fish to about two gallons of water and leave in the light as described above.

All the above four cultures smell and go foul after three to five days.

Method 5
To overcome this difficulty the cultures can be sterilized. Slow boil for twenty minutes a mixture of almost any vegetable. This slow boil will kill the bacteria of putrefaction. Then the mixture should be left to cool for a day and be carefully protected against dust. We may call this ‘the culture’.

At the same time, similarly boil for twenty minutes separate quarts of water, each containing one of the above ingredients (hay, lettuce, potato, etc). Pour into separate jars and leave to cool for a day, protected from the dust.

Next add six or seven drops of the culture to each jar, keep protected from dust and leave in the bright light for three days. The water will be teeming with life and the infusoria is ready for use.

Advantages of method 5:

The different infusoria of oatmeal, hay, lettuce, etc are separate and fish will soon show which particular one they prefer

The preparation will not ‘die’ under two weeks

There is practically no smell.

Risk of infection is greatly reduced if all implements are sterilized.

All the five methods of making infusoria, are affected by temperature. If the infusoria water is at 80 degrees F or above, the cycle of events is accelerated that makes the culture ready sooner but it dies more quickly. Whereas under 60 degrees F, the development is slow. The best temperature is therefore between 65 to 68 degrees F. Infusoria, like fish, however is affected by temperature changes. Therefore they will tend to suffer if put in an aquarium with vast different in water temperature.