Corpses, Amebas, and Swimmy Things

On October 21, 2011, a single 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.
The following images were taken last Friday, October 28, 2011.

Below is the corpse of a cyclops that I was not away was present in my tank before I notices it's poor body. If you look carefully you can see several small  organism, too small to be easily identified by the camera.

 The Next image is of a Diffulgia sp., an amebic organism that was moving slowly in the middle of the tank.

The next image is of one of the large number of Vorticella sp. that could be found all over my tank, especially latched to the plants around my organism.

 The next picture is of one of few Tachysoma sp. swimming lightly through my tank. Notice the large vacuole (The white spot near the top left of the organism), which is a major identifier of the genus.

Though there were a large number of of other organism present in my tank I was unable to capture photographs of the organisms,

Rains, KG, Russell, BJ. 1996. Guide to microlife. Croller Publishing.

Small Circular Things Take a Wild Swirly Adventure

Though I was unable to gather any photographs or video, this past week I tallied the amount of microscopic life forms present in my aquarium.

The largest creature in my aquarium was a single species of some sort of Amphipoda, or some sort of Sea Shrimp (Rains 1996). This adorable little shrimp used his microscopic claws to spin himself in a wild circular motion around a single point in the aquarium for the entire time I chose to observe him.

I saw at least 5 specimen of  Chlorophyta (Rains 1996). These small green, flagellated organisms whipped around my small field of vision, especially around the low muddy substance near the plants. Nearby were several small clean organisms that were not large enough to be identifiable under the 10x objective.

The only other microscopic organisms I was able to notice were two Distigmata (Rains 1996). These typically haunted the very corners of the tank and also had an affinity for circular swimming by means of flagella.

Searched though I did I was unable to identify any other organism withing my  aquarium. I believe Herbert has succumbed to the pressures of Aquarium life and decided that Not To Be was the answer to the question.  Next week my organisms will be fed, therefore I will have plenty of activity in my small ecosystem balanced between the glass.

Rains, KG, Russell, BJ. 1996. Guide to microlife. Croller Publishing

 

The Fuse of Incredible Botanical Joy is Lit

This past week we set up our micro aquariums, the water, and the small little friends that followed it into my aquarium was extracted from Meads Quarry, Island Home Ave, Knox Co. Tennessee. The sample was located in an area of partial shade exposure. It is a  rock quarry located at exactly N35 57.162 W83 51.960 880. Extracted on 10/9/2011.
The aquarium was formed with water from the lower, middle and upper portions of the the water. I added two plants to the aquarium, one of which was a moss sample the other was from an insectivorous plant, the name of which escapes me.  Once the tank was formed, I began my first observation of the magical wonderland contained in my small sample of pond scum. The residents of my small aquarium remained hidden in the dirt. I momentarily glimpsed a small green organism, but was unable to see it long enough to attempt identification. When searching the dirt, I noticed something massive burrowing through the small earth. Then he appeared, a water bear who I shall call Herbert. Though I cannot prove that he is a water bear, Herbert was well visible and had many features similar to that of photos of water bears I have previously seen. Before I could ask an instructor about the  true identity of Herbert the unknown microscopic animal, he moved quickly it almost appeared that he had exploded as quickly as he moved away from the camera. There were no other  movements within the tank.  A quiet night in the small community built in the tiny aquarium.