Storing Phytoplankton

Fresh live phyto will keep for quite a while in the fridge. It is best to give it a gentle shake and open the bottle once a day.  If you have multiple bottles, switch the one you dose from each day.  For the first month of storage, there isn’t any noticeable change in the phyto. During the second month, the motile cells become less active, but there is still a fair amount of activity. By the end of the third month, there isn’t really any activity, but the cells are still intact. If a new culture is started with the three-month old sample, it will grow and some of the cells will be motile. So, using the phyto within a month would be ideal, within two months is fine, and even three months is probably okay.