POULTRY FECAL FLOTATION PROCEDURES AND PICTURES

[casportpony]

I don't have any books, I am a vet tech, so I know many parasites by sight and the ones I don't know, I just research on google.

Maybe you could post some of your pictures?

-Kathy

 

[rbaker0345]

IF YOU'VE NEVER USED A MICROSCOPE BEFORE:

1. PLACE YOUR PREPARED SLIDE ON THE STAGE
2. USING THE ROUGH FOCUS KNOB (THE LARGE KNOB) FOCUS ON A TARGET UNDERNEATH THE COVER SLIP USING YOUR LOWEST VALUE LENS. A BUBBLE IS USUALLY THE EASIEST THING TO FOCUS ON.
3. PLACE YOUR TARGET ITEM IN THE CENTER OF YOUR VIEWING FIELD OR AT THE END OF THE POINTER WHICH MOST MICROSCOPES POSESS.
4. NEXT, WITHOUT MOVING THE SLIDE, CHANGE YOUR LENS (USUALLY BY ROTATING THE LENS ATTACHMENT CAROUSEL) TO THE NEXT HIGHEST POWER LENS AND FOCUS ON YOUR BUBBLE. YOU CAN START FOCUSING ON THE BUBBLE OR OTHER PIECE OF DEBRIS BY USING THE ROUGH FOCUS KNOB FIRST AND THEN REFINING THAT FOCUS USING YOUR FINE FOCUS KNOB (THE SMALL ONE).
YOU SHOULD BEGIN SEEING SMALLER FECAL DEBRIS ITEMS BY NOW.
5. BEGIN LOOKING FOR EGGS BY MOVING THE SLIDE SYSTEMATICALLY THROUGH YOUR VIEWING FIELD. I LIKE TO START AT ONE CORNER OF THE SLIDE COVER AND GO, SLOWLY DOWN TO THE OTHER CORNER, THEN I MOVE THE SLIDE OVER A SCOCHE INTO THE SLIDE COVER AREA AND MOVE THE SLIDE SLOWLY UP TO THE EDGE OF THE SLIDE COVER AND SO ON, SO FORTH UNTIL I'VE COVERED THE WHOLE SLIDE.

 

[rbaker0345]

getting there Kathy, give me a second to get everyone to the level of actually completing a fecal flotation and viewing and then I will post pics of what we're looking for. I may even be able to post some pics of spirochetes.

 

[rbaker0345]

WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR IN MEDIUM POWER IS ANYTHING THAT LOOKS GEOMETRICAL. USUALLY ROUND OR OVAL TO SOME DEGREE.

IF YOU FIND SOMETHING THAT LOOKS GEOMETRICAL AND IS SUSPECT, PUT IT IN THE CENTER OF YOUR FIELD OR AT THE END OF YOUR POINTER AND THEN CHANGE TO A HIGHER POWER OF LENS. THIS WILL GIVE YOU A VERY CLOSE VIEW OF THE ITEM AND ALLOW YOU TO (HOPEFULLY) DETERMINE WHETHER IT IS OF PARASITE OR FECAL ORIGIN.

 

[rbaker0345]

Okay, here are some pics:


Coccidia under high power
















I was thinking that the round item in the upper left was a tapeworm egg






trichomonas or giardia maybe








Capillaria


poop bubble


budding yeasts




roundworm


tetrads-normal intestinal flora


possibly a diatom, there is a tapeworm that has a square egg, but I'm pretty sure this was a diatom


fecal material


roundworm


hookworm


cryptosporidium

 

[casportpony]

And anyone with a scope should be able to do their own gram stains, right?

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

http://cal.vet.upenn.edu/projects/dxendopar/techniques/comfecal.html

Disclaimer: I know nothing about doing fecal floats, lol.

-Kathy

 

[rbaker0345]

These are all open to debate, but maybe as we all post our pictures we can compile a more definitive photo album.

I used to have better pictures and a lot of them, but they were on my phone and I dropped it into a cup of soup. I'll do some fecals this week and get more pics up.

 

[rbaker0345]

gram stains require a bunsen burner, ethyl alcohol and two different stains, but it is possible to do them at home. There is also something called "dif quick" which can take the place of gram stains and a few different differential stains, its a quick dipping system that comes in a kit for about $50.

 

[dawg53]

Kathy, you have the same parasitology book as me. Everything you need to know is in that reference manual.