PLANARIA CARE

General notes

Use only some kinds of spring water (‘Poland Spring’ or ‘STOP & SHOP Natural SPRING WATER’ is best one), not distilled water or tap water. Another possibility is this artificial water recipe: Stock = 8.77g NaCl + 0.45g KCl + 11.1g CaCl2 or 12.65 CaCl2·2H2O + 1 Liter distilled water; use 10ml of this for every 1L of distilled water.
Keep the worms at 21-25° C. Appropriate cycle of light (9:00 am – 6:00 pm) and dark (6:00 pm – 9:00 am) in a day prompts smooth expansion of the worm population.
There are 6 worm trays. The three of them are labeled new date and the other three are labeled old date. Just exchange the water in new trays (next time, you should feed them). Feed the worms in old trays.

Procedures

To feed the worms:

Thaw a small aliquot of chicken liver (stored in the freezer) at room temperature.
Cut up the chicken liver on the cutting board. Remove the tough fibers in the liver.
Throw little bits of liver into the worm trays.
Pipette water up and down a few times to free up the worms so they find the food.
After most of the worms finish eating (it takes for 3-4 hours), but before their water get dirty, BE SURE to exchange their water. If you forget this, the worms will die.

To exchange water:

Remove the livers by using the pipette almost completely. Don’t disturb the worms, until you remove most of the livers. If you disturb the worms, you never figure out where the livers are.
Push the floating worms down to the bottom of the tray by pipetting and wait for the worms to settle down. Pour out the water carefully into the chemical-free sink or bucket. If some worms get floating, pick them up (return into the trays later) or push them down by pipetting.
Pour small amount of fresh water into the tray. Wash the bottom of the tray by pipetting. If some particles of livers are remaining, remove as completely as you can. And then pour water out carefully.
Refill with fresh water and label the date.