Doing Fecal Floats at Home

[casportpony]

And your horses' poop! Save a bundle; worm with the drug appropriate for what you find, vs. a blanket worming with chemicals you don't need.

Miss Veronica Lake, a registered Appendix Quarter Horse and all around great gal

Welcome to BYC!

-Kathy

 

[KsKingBee]

And your horses' poop! Save a bundle; worm with the drug appropriate for what you find, vs. a blanket worming with chemicals you don't need.

Miss Veronica Lake, a registered Appendix Quarter Horse and all around great gal

Welcome aboard!

 

[zeppley]

I think one or both of you should write an article on doing fecal floats and enter the article writing contest. Heck, maybe you could do one together?

-Kathy

Originally Posted by KsKingBee


I am so not qualified! However, I think we know who is...
Yep - Paccmanranch!

 

[zeppley]

First picture looks more like a strongyle type egg if it is an egg - the magnification that you mentioned makes theses eggs small compared to strongyles type - the 2nd picture looks like an ascarid more than any coccidia but again - the magnification is throwing me off - you can usually see most parasites with 100x mag - 10x ocular plus 10x objective - the coccidia will be very small at 100x and the ascarids will be prominent. the last picture is pollen, you will see different types of UFOs depending on type of year and what your birds are eating.
Disclaimer: I'm a vet so I make a living looking at poop (among other things

My hero!! Hope you'll look at my next post on last night's failed fecal float and give me some tips. It's hard to figure this stuff out from reading.

 

[zeppley]

Last night's attempt at identifying parasites...4 hrs, pollen, and figuring out what I thought were worm eggs were probably bubbles containing crystallized flotation medium, eyestrain and a headache.

I tried a different method for the prep - Previously, I had been using Fecalyzer vials (e.g., http://www.pet-informed-veterinary-advice-online.com/fecal-flotation.html#float-performed).

For last night's prep
I mixed poop in a paper cup with flotation solution
strained it through 3 layers of cheesecloth into a vial
floated a cover slip on the fluid meniscus for 20 min
put the cover slip on a slide
scanned the slide at low power [10x ocular x 10 x objective = 100x magnification]
switched to higher power (10x ocular x 43x objective = 430x magnification]

First, here are the poop samples (click on photo to see larger version)


Sample 1 foamy poop


Sample 2 large wet plop (size reduced)


sample 3 different foamy poop


sample 4 extremely fresh "normal-looking" poo, author known.
Inside I found a chunk of gut the size of the cotton swab of a Q-tip


sample 5 another wet plop (size reduced)



Here is a photo of what I had thought was a worm egg - magnification 430x.
The object is about 340 µm (did I do that right paccmanranch?).
After I looked at this, I found a huge long narrow bubble that contained the same stuff.
I'm now thinking it was crystallized flotation medium.

In slides of the first 4 samples I saw nothing but bubbles, and the stray bit of grass/feed.
In the last slide, which was getting old, I saw the "not a worm egg" above and pollen.

Perhaps the cheesecloth contributed to the blank samples (too many layers?) and froth.

I'm hoping you did better KSKingBee!

Suggestions gratefully accepted.

 

[paccmanranch]

Last night's attempt at identifying parasites...4 hrs, pollen, and figuring out what I thought were worm eggs were probably bubbles containing crystallized flotation medium, eyestrain and a headache. I tried a different method for the prep - Previously, I had been using Fecalyzer vials (e.g., http://www.pet-informed-veterinary-advice-online.com/fecal-flotation.html#float-performed). For last night's prep I mixed poop in a paper cup with flotation solution strained it through 3 layers of cheesecloth into a vial floated a cover slip on the fluid meniscus for 20 min put the cover slip on a slide scanned the slide at low power [10x ocular x 10 x objective = 100x magnification] switched to higher power (10x ocular x 43x objective = 430x magnification] First, here are the poop samples (click on photo to see larger version) Sample 1 foamy poop Sample 2 large wet plop (size reduced) sample 3 different foamy poop sample 4 extremely fresh "normal-looking" poo, author known. Inside I found a chunk of gut the size of the cotton swab of a Q-tip sample 5 another wet plop (size reduced) Here is a photo of what I had thought was a worm egg - magnification 430x. The object is about 340 µm (did I do that right paccmanranch?). After I looked at this, I found a huge long narrow bubble that contained the same stuff. I'm now thinking it was crystallized flotation medium. In slides of the first 4 samples I saw nothing but bubbles, and the stray bit of grass/feed. In the last slide, which was getting old, I saw the "not a worm egg" above and pollen. Perhaps the cheesecloth contributed to the blank samples (too many layers?) and froth. I'm hoping you did better KSKingBee! Suggestions gratefully accepted.

Above picture - not an egg. I'll have to refresh my microbiology on calculating size of object based on magnification in order to answer your question about size. Suggestion #1 - don't float so long - try 10 min that will prevent some of the crystallization also increased ambient humidity will decrease crystallization - so that may change based on your environment Suggestion #2 - don't cheesecloth the first few times - it will increase some of the debris you see but if you have low parasite loads you will increase chances of finding them - I only use a open piece of gauze to filter out the really big stuff - but in chickens you usually don't have a lot of fibrous material Centrifugation is going to be the key - 10 min w/out cover slip and then add enough solution to create miniscus on top and add the coverslip let sit for another 60 - 120 seconds and then read. Don't forget, not finding things in your animals' feces is a good thing

. Ask a neighbor goat for some feces - guarantee you will find some eggs in those. I'll try and take pictures of some parasites as I find them.

 

[zeppley]

Above picture - not an egg. I'll have to refresh my microbiology on calculating size of object based on magnification in order to answer your question about size.

Suggestion #1 - don't float so long - try 10 min that will prevent some of the crystallization also increased ambient humidity will decrease crystallization - so that may change based on your environment

Suggestion #2 - don't cheesecloth the first few times - it will increase some of the debris you see but if you have low parasite loads you will increase chances of finding them - I only use a open piece of gauze to filter out the really big stuff - but in chickens you usually don't have a lot of fibrous material

Centrifugation is going to be the key - 10 min w/out cover slip and then add enough solution to create miniscus on top and add the coverslip let sit for another 60 - 120 seconds and then read.

Don't forget, not finding things in your animals' feces is a good thing

. Ask a neighbor goat for some feces - guarantee you will find some eggs in those. I'll try and take pictures of some parasites as I find them.

RE: calculating size - I measured 10 units on the reticle with a stage micrometer. Does it seem about right to you given the magnification, like you mentioned on the possible strongyle in my earlier post?

Excellent! I'll make those changes you suggest.

Centrifuge shopping - am I looking for a clinical swinging bucket, or will a fixed rotor do the job?

I've been fighting coccidiosis (I think) in this flock for about year. I've lost several birds along the way to coccidiosis (bloody poops>near death>cull) or resulting enteritis (bloody poops>really smelly poops/diarrhea>near death>cull).

Not finding things...those poops look pathological to me - am I just being a nervous Nellie? Kathy?? When I start seeing poops like this I worm them (albendazole, hydromycin B, fenbendazole in rotation - need another class I know), then treat with a coccidiocide and probiotics. The poops will look OK for 2-3 weeks, then start looking bad again - foamy or with bright blood or intestinal bits in them.

This is a young flock of Ameraucanas that lay gorgeous blue eggs. The Splash and Blue colors are most susceptible, followed by the Blacks. The Lavenders don't seem to be affected. Weird.

Thanks for all your help and advice! Let me know when I owe you for a consult

 

[KsKingBee]

I am so frustrated! I prepared two slides tonight and once I had found something to take a pic of I could not get my camera to work. I had downloaded the drivers last night and installed them. When I plug the camera in nothing pops up. I did some exploring and found that the drivers were not found so I went to the downloads and reinstalled them. That part worked, but I still can not find the camera on my laptop!

Anyway, I found both cecal eggs and cocci on the same slide and another egg I can not identify. The other slide had one roundworm egg and two cocci. Very clear and concise, I really like this scope!

 

[zeppley]

I am so frustrated! I prepared two slides tonight and once I had found something to take a pic of I could not get my camera to work. I had downloaded the drivers last night and installed them. When I plug the camera in nothing pops up. I did some exploring and found that the drivers were not found so I went to the downloads and reinstalled them. That part worked, but I still can not find the camera on my laptop!

Anyway, I found both cecal eggs and cocci on the same slide and another egg I can not identify. The other slide had one roundworm egg and two cocci. Very clear and concise, I really like this scope!

If you are very patient, you use your cell phone camera to take a picture through the microscope eye piece. A couple of the ones I posted were done that way.

I connected my camera to the usb port on my computer. Plug & play found it and installed the drivers (Windows 7). Then I unplugged it, started the camera software [is this the problem? you lack the camera software??], reconnected the camera and viola!
PM me and I might be able to help - I don't want to hijack the thread with tech support

.

BTW nice emoticon. I don't see it on the list. Maybe you have to be a poobah to get extra ones?

 

[KsKingBee]

Thanks, Zep! I may do that if I can not figure it out with a fresh mind this morning. If you are using a phone, they seem to be a bit limited on this site. DW's Ipad does not have all the features my laptop has here.

I did try to take a pic with my regular camera, but it did not focus.