Diagnostic Laboratory Section

SIMPLE FLOATATION TECHNIQUE

Simple floatation / Will’s technique

• Small floatation tube with emulsion of faeces in the above solutions is filled to its full capacity till a convex surface is formed and is allowed to stand for 20 to 30 minutes, by which time eggs would have floated up.
• Apply a coverslip or slide to the surface to remove the first drop of fluid, containing eggs and then examine that drop on the slide.
• It is worthwhile to remember that almost all cestodes, except the members of Cotyloda, do not discharge eggs, but gravid segments containing numerous eggs are shed and passed out.
• Hence it is not always possible to find cestodes eggs in faecal samples.

Parasite stages found with the floatation method

• Eggs of cestodes and most of nematodes
• Larvae of lungworms
• Oocysts of coccidia
• Trematode eggs are not satisfactorily detected with the flotation method.