Brine Shimp Hatch Failures...

[jwcarlson]

After my initial struggles with hatching BBS, I have been cruising along using two Ziss hatcheries without issue for months.  I don't hatch much (about half a teaspoon).  Using ACO brine shrimp eggs.  I am at the bottom of the egg bag and now two hatches in a row have been total failures.  And putting the eggs in was an immediate failure even, they sink and most will not get tumbled at all.  What's weird is ZERO live shrimp in the soup at all.  Really confusing.  The first two pics are from yesterday the second two today.  Eggs in 12-48 hours in the pics.  The last pic almost looks like I put WAY more eggs in then normal.  But even if I did, I am not sure that would cause this problem.  I haven't tweaked air or salt or anything since I dialed everything in. 

 

Any ideas?  I started two new ones this AM and the eggs seem to be acting normal.  One from a new tin of eggs and the other from the old one. 

I do use a heater for a bit in each hatch, but the eggs sinking was independent from the heater being used. 

Edited April 21 by jwcarlson

[Cory]

When ever we encounter this, there has been a reason. Start with making sure you clean the ziss hatcher well. We've had employees who clean it "good enough" and not remove all the "film" that grows on the sides and bottom of the hatcher. This causes the eggs to not circulate correctly.

Next take note of temperature, temperatures change during the year. You may be a bit cooler or hotter than normal this can affect how long it takes to hatch.

[jwcarlson]

Thanks, Cory! 

I scrub the hatchers every couple of days with a dedicated scrub brush.  But it is probably 10 or 15 degrees warmer than it has been in the basement all winter.  That was one of my first thoughts.  I don't think it would cause the eggs to immediately not tumble as they are still straight out of the freezer and into told tap water which is still in the low-to-mid 50s.

I have had successful hatches with same process and temps have been increased for at least a few days.  But maybe I crossed some fine line recently. 😄