I've been using this Lidocaine spray solution with some success for stunning pond water organisms:
I spray the solution into a brown glass dropper bottle and then let the opened bottle on a sunny windowsill to gas-out the aerosol propellants. One drop of this solution to one or two drops of pond water seems to pretty effective on most organisms.
Mike
Michael Reese Much FRMS EMS Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA
You can also get Benzocaine up to like 20% in Bactine spray and it's clones. It also has alcohol and disinfectant which you may like to let evaporate.
They work by depolarizing the cell membranes.
Lidocaine hydrochloride is water soluble and is the common form of lidocaine in many pharmaceuticals - benzocaine is not very water soluble (which may explain the alcohol in Bactine spray) and will precipitate crystals if a non-aqueous solution, such as an alcoholic solution, is added to an aqueous medium. Benzocaine may partition into the lipid of living cells better than lidocaine HCl, however, thus giving more rapid immobilisation, but the crystals can be a real nuisance...
I usually use lidocaine hydrochloride.
Graham
Though we lean upon the same balustrade, the colours of the mountain are different.
