My wife had a question for Chat GPT about my copepod culture...

[freddyk]

Wife: What happens if I put sourdough starter in with the copepod culture?

Chat GPT: It is not recommended to put sourdough starter in with your copepod culture as this could potentially harm or even kill the copepods.

Copepods are delicate and highly specialized organisms that require a specific set of environmental conditions to thrive. Adding sourdough starter, which is essentially a mixture of flour and water containing naturally occurring yeast and bacteria, could disrupt the delicate balance of the copepod culture and lead to a decline in their health.

Additionally, sourdough starter contains a range of microorganisms, including some that may not be beneficial to the copepods. This could lead to the growth of harmful bacteria or fungi in the culture, further compromising the health of the copepods.

In short, it is best to keep your sourdough starter and copepod culture separate to avoid any potential harm to your copepods.

Edited April 1, 2023 by freddyk

[Eatfrenchfries]

I wouldn't use sourdough starter but rather yeast instead for feeding cultures/ tank. Corn/wheat flour and yeast is good for bulk culture since there is so much trash involved. Its amazing how many land derived products end up in our fish foods. Great for active filter and suspension feeders but can be tricky to use on a singular pod culture. Best used in a bulk container for pods or artemia. 

Majority of yeast powders available will be only <20% usable with the rest being skimmed out by filtration or just falling out of suspension. The rest of it will be consumed if given to an appropriate pod species like tisbe or tig. Too much powder will trigger a bacterial bloom which is great if you have tig pods because they love anything in the water column. It'll be detrimental for other pods that require surface area. I believe the bacteria ruins the cysts they leave on surfaces. 

I personally don't use yeast to feed cultures but I do use it to feed my tanks. Used to be the old way of maintaing brine shrimp with selcon + yeast before better foods came around. Corals have a direct response to it. My leptogorgia didn't have the best response to brine, pods, phyto but it did react extensively to yeast + PNS.

I recently discovered chat GPT because of Southpark and I must say this post made me laugh when I saw it was a real thing.