Aquatics Testing
Sample Collection & Shipping Guidelines
Zebrafish and other laboratory fishes
- For submission of live fish for necropsy: Please ship live fish in clearly labeled heavy-duty plastic bladders or in doubled plastic bags, secured so that they will not leak and containing approximately 1/3 system water and 2/3 air. Fish should be shipped in insulated containers by overnight courier.
- For submission of fish for PCR only: Please submit frozen fish with sufficient ice packs to ensure that fish remain frozen during transit. Dry ice is not required.
- For submission of fish embryos or larvae for PCR: Please euthanize embryos and submit frozen on ice or cold packs. Dry ice is not required.
- For submission of fish for histopathology only: Please either submit fish fixed in 10% buffered formalin or another formalin-based fixative such as Dietrich’s, Davidson’s, or Bouin’s fixative (please indicate). To ensure proper fixation, open up the coelom (abdomen). This can be accomplished by making a lengthwise incision through the body wall or by removing a small piece of the body wall. Fish cannot be pooled for histopathology. Samples may be shipped at ambient temperatures by overnight courier.
Environmental samples and feeds
- For submission of detritus (biofilm or sediment) for PCR: Please collect 1 mL of detritus into a tube and submit frozen with cold packs. Dry ice is not required. Collection of detritus is recommended over environmental swabs.
- For submission of fish feces for PCR: Please collect a pool of fish feces into a microcentrifuge tube and submit frozen with cold packs. Dry ice is not required.
- For submission of live feed cultures for PCR: Please submit at least 1 mL of live feed cultures (e.g., Artemia, rotifer, or Paramecium) frozen with cold packs. Dry ice is not required.
Samples for bacterial or fungal culture
- For submission of culture swabs: Please submit culture swabs collected from skin, gills, or lesioned organs in a culturette containing a suitable transport medium, such as Amies Medium without charcoal. Swabs should be shipped with cold packs in an insulated container by overnight courier.
- For identification of bacterial and fungal cultures by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry: Please submit cultures on agar plates wrapped in Parafilm®, or submit cultures on culture swabs with a suitable transport medium, such as Amies Medium without charcoal. Swabs and plates should be shipped with cold packs in an insulated container by overnight courier.
- For culture of water samples: Please submit 100 mL of water in a plastic container with a tight-fitting lid that will not leak in transit. Water samples should be shipped with cold packs in an insulated container by overnight courier.
Ship samples to:
Phone Number:
Email:
Sample Collection Kit Request
Please click the button below to go to our Animal Health Monitoring request sample collection materials form, where you can request Opti-Spot® cards, swabs, tubes, or REPLACE® matrices. Requested supplies will ship within 4-7 business days via FedEx. In order to help clients manage resources, we suggest ordering supplies to cover 3 months’ worth of testing.
If you have questions regarding order status, tracking, or changes to your order, please contact us at bioanalytics-lss@idexx.com. For all other inquiries, please contact idexxbioanalytics@idexx.com.
NHP Sample Collection Kit Request
Please click the button below to go to our NHP request sample collection material form. We suggest ordering supplies to cover 3 months’ worth of testing. If you have questions about quantities or would like assistance determining items and quantities, please contact us: idexxbioanalytics@idexx.com
Animal Health Monitoring Online Submission Guide
A quick reference guide to Animal Health Monitoring sample submissions in our online portal.
Aquatic diagnostics in action: a novel discovery in the Zebrafish
Through a collaborative effort, we discovered the first novel viral infection in zebrafish— "A highly divergent picornavirus infecting the gut epithelia of zebrafish (Danio rerio) in research institutions world wide."