decreased facility egg production

[Mike Kacergis]

Looking for a response from other zebrafish facilities that have 
experienced similar drops in egg production:  

About four weeks ago we had a system upgrade. Our one-liter 
racks, originally steel that rusted quite badly=8A(note: stay away 
from steel in a fish room for all the obvious reason), were replaced 
with beautiful stainless steel racks. The one-liter rack plumbing 
was isolated via ball valve and the rest of the system operated 
normally with the exception of with reduced feeding schedule. Rack 
replacement occurred over the course of three days, with a fair 
amount of PVC gluing. The gluing did generate a strong odor within 
the fish room. The system was flushed and water resumed flowing 
to the one-liter tanks.  

Only two days after the work was completed egg production 
appeared normal. The following week (three weeks ago) egg 
production from all lines within the facility ceased. These were fish 
housed in two-liter tanks on the same loop as the one liters. 
Normally fecund lines of wildtypes produced nothing. These 
crossings represent several wildtype lines of varying age groups, 
which rules out old fish lines. This egg drought continued for next 
two weeks bringing us to the present. Today egg production seems 
to have recover slightly.  

Has anyone ever experienced such a drop in production post work 
in a facility? Does anyone have information on the leaching of PVC 
glue/solvent into system water over time? Feel free to respond 
directly to my Email address or share with the rest of the group.  

Thanks,

Mike
-- 
Michael Kacergis
Laboratory of Molecular Genetics
NICHD, Building 6B, Room 315
National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, MD 20892
Phone (301)-435-8263
Fax (301)-496-0243
E-mail kacergis at box-k.nih.gov