Artemia munches on bacteria when there’s no algae.

Reading this article made me think of an alternative use for Artemia nauplii. What if, we can harness their hunger for bacteria to help with cases of pathogenic bacterial blooms? This might be particularly useful in hatchery situations, provided of course that the Artemia nauplii do not predate on your cultured organisms.

Aquaculture
Volume 391, Number 2 (April 2013)
	Bacteria contribute to Artemianutrition in algae-limited conditions: A laboratory study
	Authors:	Huynh Thanh Toi, Pascal Boeckx, Patrick Sorgeloos, Peter Bossier, Gilbert Van Stappen
	Author Affiliations:	no affiliations available
	Source:	Aquaculture, Volume 391, Number 2 (April 2013)
	Page Numbers:	1 – 7
	Available Full Text:	Full Text: Subscription Required to view full text Format: PDF Size: Unknown Location: Publisher’s Site Authentication: Publisher’s Site
	Abstract:	We investigated the effect of the stimulation of bacterial growth on Artemia performance in combination with a standard and with a low algal feeding regime. In both regimes, organic carbon (supplied as sucrose or soluble potato starch) and 15N labeled inorganic nitrogen (supplied as NaNO3) were used to stimulate bacterial growth in the Artemia cultures at C/N ratio 10 and 50. After a culture period of 15days, significantly improved biomass production was obtained in all treatments with the low algae feeding regime, supplemented by carbohydrate addition. In addition, results of 15N accumulation and fatty acid analysis in Artemia indicated that Artemia utilized more bacteria in algae-limited conditions. Our study shows that bacteria can be used as a nutrient source for Artemia compensating for suboptimal algae supply. In Artemia pond cultures, carbohydrate addition may hence potentially be used to stimulate the conversion of nitrogen waste into heterotrophic bacterial biomass. This can be converted into protein-rich Artemia biomass, especially when algae are in sub-optimal supply. These findings open perspectives for alternative Artemia pond production protocols, in addition to the present management procedures that exclusively focus on phytoplankton blooms as nutrient source to sustain dense Artemia populations.
	Citation:	Huynh Thanh Toi, Pascal Boeckx, Patrick Sorgeloos, Peter Bossier, Gilbert Van Stappen . Bacteria contribute to Artemianutrition in algae-limited conditions: A laboratory study. Aquaculture, Volume 391, Number 2 (April 2013), pp. 1-7, <http://ejournals.ebsco.com/direct.asp?ArticleID=456F9ACE297733BDC76B&gt;
	URL:	http://ejournals.ebsco.com/direct.asp?ArticleID=456F9ACE297733BDC76B