At Home Fecal Float Test

@4yearsofchickens How did it go??!!

exactlyzac said:

@4yearsofchickens How did it go??!!

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I havent tried it yet but will be soon

I’m tired of begging vets to just at least do a fecal float. I’ve got the lab skills and money, why not get a microscope??

JCaseyHammond said:

I’m tired of begging vets to just at least do a fecal float. I’ve got the lab skills and money, why not get a microscope??

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We got ours on ebay from a school that had bought new ones. Still works fine! I do still plan on doing this soon, but life has gotten a bit busy.

Update?

casportpony said:

Update?

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It may be a month or so until I get chance, but I WILL do it

4yearsofchickens said:

It may be a month or so until I get chance, but I WILL do it

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i'll stay tuned!

I took Microbiology in college so it might be worth it to get a microscope.

There are a couple methods from UMN at the link below, as well as videos. The more sensitive method requires a centrifuge, which most of us don't have at home. Besides maybe a salad spinner or a washing machine but idk if they'd reach the correct RPM. There are alternatives (for ex. table salt, or epsom salt) to the ZnSO4 solution given in the explanatory text at the link below, as well as pros and cons of different flotation solutions.

From Clinical Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory by Erin Burton:
https://pressbooks.umn.edu/cvdl/chapter/module-2-3-fecal-procedure-2-fecal-flotation/

Simple or Passive Fecal Flotation Technique​

The following instructions are for the technique we will be using in the laboratory sessions.

Fecalyzer ® is a commercial kit that is widely used in primary care settings. The technique below describes the passive technique without the kit. In the laboratory, we will practice using the Fecalyzer ® kit to recover parasite ova using the kit’s instructions. Fecalyzer ® kits use a commercially available flotation solution, Fecasol ®. It is a NaNO3 flotation solution with SpG 1.20 (not saturated) and will float most common eggs and oocysts, but will distort Giardia cysts. In the laboratory today, we will use ZnSO4 instead of NaNO3.

Technique​

1. Mix about 5 gm of feces with 20 ml of flotation solution in a plastic cup or other suitable containers.
2. Strain through a tea strainer into a second cup.
3. Swirl cup and decant fecal suspension into a centrifuge tube or other straight-sided vial.
4. Fill tube or vial with enough flotation solution so that the meniscus is just level with the top of the tube.
5. Place glass slide or coverslip on top of the tube and allow it to stand for at least 20 minutes.
6. Liftoff slide or coverslip, invert, cover drop with a coverslip and examine under 10X and 40x magnification, condenser in the down position, with low light. A drop of Lugol’s iodine can be placed on the slide before placing the coverslip to enhance the identification of Giardia cysts.