Dear Nataly,
I would suggest to put the specimen in a bath of distilled water and shake it periodically (this might help to dissolve the cristals). If you believe that the crystals are attached to the worm by a protein based mucous, some drops of a contact lens cleaner also help to dissolve the mucous and improve the cleaning.
If you have access to a jewelry ultrasonic cleaner them the work will be far more easier. I usually leave my worms for up to 2 minutes in the bath in a low frequency (30kHz), in your case maybe you may need to use more time.
Regards,
Vinícius da Rocha Miranda
De: Наталия Днестровская
Enviado:quarta-feira, 14 de fevereiro de 2018 18:54
Para: annelida from magpie.bio.indiana.edu
Assunto: [Annelida] How to clean the chaetae?
Dear Annelideans!
I have a problem and want to ask you for advice.
The worms that I received from my colleague were covered by *very small*
crysltals or parts of something.
The body and chaetae all together – see the photos.
So I can’t consider the shape of spines
How dissolve them – to make good SEM photo ?
Sincerely
Nataly
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Nataliya Dnestrovskaya
Senior Researcher
Dept of Hydrobiology
Moscow State University
http://hydro.bio.msu.ru/
