Since the early '90s, the technique of bio-encapsulation
has been used to enrich brine shrimp with
essential fatty acids that are ordinarily
missing in Artemia. This technique can be
extended to get drugs into the intestines
of fishes. Like all saltwater organisms,
brine shrimp must take in quantities of water
to maintain osmotic balance. (In freshwater,
the osmotic situation is reversed, and freshwater
fishes drink little.) So, medication for
Hexamita or for Camallanus nematodes is put
into the brine, and after two hours or more,
when the first brine shrimp begin to die,
they are rinsed off and fed to fishes. This
great technique was written up in an article
in F.A.M.A., by Dr. Beverly A. Dixon, in the June 1998
issue.