Photos of my Micro Organisms/ Last Observation

Prescott G.W. 1951. Algae of the Western Great Lakes Area. Dubugue, Iowa. W.M.C. Brown Company Publishers. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This first picture is of an Ostracoda (Cypricerous Reticulatus). From my past blogs, I have discussed this little guy. They are nicknamed "seed shrimp" because they sort of look like little seeds. From looking under the microscope, you can see through these "seed shrimp," which I found really cool.

Smith D.G. 2001. Pennaks Freshwater Invertebrates of US. 4th edition. John Wiley & Sons Incorporated. 132 p.

The photo above is of the Rotifera Philodinia. I have also talked about this organism in a past blog. What first caught my eye about this organism was it's inchworm way of moving. During my last observation, I noticed more of these than ever. There was a cluster of about 5 that looked as if they were all hanging out "standing" on the side of the aquarium. Unfortunately when I had the opportunity to take pictures, I couldn't locate them.

Prescott G.W. 1951. Algae of the Western Great Lakes Area. Dubugue, Iowa. W.M.C. Brown Company Publishers. 880 p.

This picture (above) is an Oscillatoria. I found several of these in my aquarium. They did not move but they looked really cool to me.

Prescott G.W. 1951. Algae of the Western Great Lakes Area. Dubugue, Iowa. W.M.C. Brown Company Publishers. 

Last but not least, this is Euchlanis. I found many of these in my Micro Aquarium. To me, they look like the Horseshoe crabs at an aquarium I went to as a kid, just because of the shape. Some of them would swim really fast, so it was difficult to get a decent picture.

During this last observation I had the opportunity to get photos of some of the life I have seen through out these past few weeks. I noticed that there was more life this last observation than any of the past weeks. My micro aquarium was starting to look dirty and organisms were swimming around everywhere!

Week Three

I was very glad to see some more life and identify what I saw. I identified something I saw in week two. It looked as if something was eating another organism from the inside out, but really what I saw was an Ostracod. I learned that they are nicknamed "sea shrimp." They are encased between two shells that you can see through. Interesting enough, I learned that they constantly micro filter the water. While looking through the microscope, I also discovered a funny-moving organism which I later identified as a Rotifier. These don't have shells, they have a revolving wheel organ that is pretty unique, made of two disks and rotating cilia. These organisms move like an inchworm.

Rainis. Bruce. Guide to Micro Life. A division of Grolier Publishing. Damnury, Connecticut. 1996.

Week Two

I was surprised to see many changes in my Micro Aquarium this afternoon. Seven days ago, a food pellet, "Atison's Betta Food" made by Ocean Nutrition, Aqua Pet Americas, 3528 West 500 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84104. Ingredients: Fish meal, wheat flower, soy meal, krill meal, minerals, vitamins and preservatives. Analysis: Crude Protein 36%; Crude fat 4.5%; Crude Fiber 3.5%; Moisture 8% and Ash 15%, was added to my micro aquarium. Today I discovered several different organisms including a Rotifer that looked as if it was eating a Crustation, Ostracod, from the inside out. The Ostracod appeared to be dead and the Rotifer was inside of it peeking out every few seconds. The "bubbles" I thought I saw during my last observation are Protoza with Cilla, Colpidium and Eupiotes. Lastly, I saw tiny worm-like organisms called Nematodes. My bird bath is more interesting than I first thought it would be. I am looking forward to next week.

Week One

Last week we created our Micro Aquariums, and I chose the bird bath water (Plastic Bird Bath pool . 0.9 mile from Fountain City Pond on Fountain Rd. Knox Co. Knoxville TN Partial shade exposure N 36o02.249' W083o55.999' 1121 ft 10/9/2011). The only thing I really noticed during the first observation were small bubbles. Compared to others at my table, my water was pretty calm.I started to second-guess whether or not I should have chose a different water source that might sound a little more exciting.  I haven't really noticed any changes this week, I still see tiny organisms that look like bubbles but that is it. Hopefully by next week I will notice some more changes and maybe some bigger, more noticeable organisms.

Setting Up

For my Micro Aquarium, I decided to use water from the plastic bird bath pool . 0.9 mile from Fountain City Pond on Fountain Rd. Knox Co. Knoxville TN Partial shade exposure N 36o02.249' W083o55.999' 1121 ft 10/9/2011.

To begin setting up my Micro Aquarium, I gathered mud from the bird bath water using a pipette and squirted a few drops into my container. Then I gathered water from the middle and top and squirted it into my small aquarium. I also added two plants, Plant A . Amblestegium sp. Moss. Collection from: Natural spring. at Carters Mill Park, Carter Mill Road, Knox Co. TN. Partial shade exposure. N36 01.168 W83 42.832. 10/9/2011 and Plant B. Utricularia gibba L. Flowering plant. A carnivous plant. Original material from south shore of Spain Lake (N 35o55 12.35" W088o20' 47.00), Camp Bella Air Rd. East of Sparta Tn. in White Co. and grown in water tanks outside of greenhouse at Hesler Biology Building. The University of Tennessee. Knox Co. Knoxville TN. After adding my water and plants, I used an adhesive to place a lid to keep the water from evaporating. Looking at this under the microscope for the first time was already pretty fascinating. Already, I see small bubble-like things moving around. Some are tiny and round, some were a little bigger and oval-shaped. I haven't yet learned what these organisms are.