4th Observation- Nov. 13

On Thursday, November 13, I was surprised to find that growth in the aquarium had been exponential overnight!!!  This was especially obvious in the Nostoc that continues to grow in every area of the aquarium.  

Also, the amoebas were all moving, and quite a bit, as compared to the day, when all of the ones I observed were completely stationary.  There were many different kinds, some with pointed ends, others with wide, smooth ends.  I observed one approaching and moving down the length of a plant tendril, possibly obtaining nutrients from it.  I also saw its contractule vacuole swelling then deflating as it took in then released water.  I identified this particular amoeba as Amoeba proteus (Lee).                                                                                                           

Citation Information:

Lee, John J.  An Illustrated Guide to the Protozoa.  Lawrence, KA: Society of Protozoologists, 1985.

3rd Observation- Nov. 12

On Wednesday, November 12, there was a ton more life in the micro aquarium.  Cyanobacteria (Nostoc) had begun to grow, and I saw over a dozen amoebas.  These usually hung out in the open water, or near the insectivorous plant and the moss.  All of them were stationary.

I saw about 3 halteria.  These are small omnivores that feed on small protists.  They have 7 groups of 3 cirri located around its middle with a group of long cilia around its mouth (Rainis). 

One of the most interesting observations I made was of 4 brown ciliates that shot across the screen so quickly I could barely snap a picture in time.  Their movement was perfectly smooth, which means their motion comes from cilia.  Other than this, they could not be identified.

In this picture, the ciliates are located near the moss, and also present is a halteria in the upper left hand corner.  Also, there is an amoeba on the right.  The aquarium is just so full of life!!

Citation Information:

Rainis, Kenneth G. and Bruce J. Russell.  Guide to Microlife.  Danbury, CT: Franklin Watts, 1996. 

Second Observation- Nov. 11

I've decided to take a different approach to my blog than the rest of the class.  

Rather than go week-by-week, allowing 7 days in-between observations, I wanted to see the range of changes that occur overnight over the course of 4 days.  

Several weeks after the first observation, the aquarium had underwent many many changes, as expected.  With the addition of the food pellet, life abounded.  The first thing that confronted my sight as soon as I focused the microscope was a huge mite!  It was crawling around in the pond scum, appearing to be consuming the organic material and breaking down the matter.  

The one pictured is a smaller, dead one than the living one that I lost sight of in the transfer to the camera-microscope.  I identified them as Hydrozetes, an aquatic soil mite with a life span of 30 to 80 days (Smith).  

In addition, there were many shelled rotifers among the insectivorous plant and moss swimming in and out of the tendrils.  Their size was quite small, and they were yellow-brownish to clear in color. They moved with the aid of their single flagella. 

The rotifer is present in the upper left-hand corner in the picture at left.

Lastly, I saw one vorticella, sitting in the open water, completely solitary except for one part of it spinning, most likely sweeping food into its mouth.  The many small ciliates present would be caught up in the force of the vorticella and sucked through the current it was making. How interesting. 

Citation Information:

Smith, Douglas Grant.  Pennak's Freshwater Invertebrates of the United States.  John Wiley and Sons, Inc, 2001.

First Observation- Oct. 23

I set up my micro-aquarium a little late, after missing the lab class where the term projects were set up.  On Thursday, October 23, I filled a micro-aquarium with water from an aquarium in the greenhouse, put pond scum from the same tank into the bottom of mine, then added moss and an insectivorous plant.  

Then it was back to the lab to put the micro-aquarium under the microscope and start observing!

In the open areas between the plants and the pond scum, I immediately noticed many tiny, clear, round organisms smoothly swimming along.  These can only be identified as "small ciliates" as it would take other, more complex methods of identifying their exact genus.  

Down at the bottom, among the pond scum, I observed a nematode playing among the dirt and such.  It appeared to be consuming the material surrounding it.  As I continued to scan the scum, I saw two more nematodes behaving in similar fashions.  

The last organism I saw was some sort of very small ciliate swimming in the open water.  It's movement is what made it interesting, as it swam in a back and forth, back and forth manner. We were unable to classify it, despite searching through many references for a similar organism.