Rotifer sighted, cynobacteria, and tachysoma

Before this week's observation, the following food pellet was inserted into Habitat17: "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%.

Tachysoma undergoing mitosis

This week, I observed several new developments in Habitat17. The above picture shows an organism called a Tachysoma undergoin the process of mitosis. (Patterson) You can see it starting to split into twin organisms.
 Another new development was the cynobacteria moving slowly through the water, looking like robotic peices of spaghetti. (Below)

Cynobacteria

Patterson, D.J., Free-Living Fresh Water Protoza, Manson Publishing, Washington D.C., 1996

Using the new 'Scopes!

This week was the first time using the new specialized lenses for viewing Habitat17. Using this new lens, I was able to focus in on some of the microscopic and transparent organisms of the past week. For the first several minutes, I observed the sea shrimp burrowing through the mud at the bottom of Habitat17. Also, one of the first things I noticed was a juvinile seed shrimp. It was approximately one-fifth the size of the grown ones. Much of my time was spent trying to capture video of the seed shrimp feeding on the plantae in the aquarium. However, they moved too rapidly for me to succeed. I did, however, get several good pictures, which I will post later. The diversity of Habitat17 ranges from the large seed shrimp to extremely small, transparent microbes which I hope to identify in the week to come.

First Glimpse

Placing the Aquarium (which I will dub Habitat17) under the lens for the first time was shocking as I instantly saw small organisms moving all over the place. There was one very large organism that Dr. Mcfarland identified as a sea shrimp. It seemed to have a type of mouth, with hairs or cillia surrounding it. I observed it feasting on smaller particles that I could not identify. There was also very thin but long snake-like creatures that I could only see with the 10X lens. These, along with several odd-shaped other creatures, were almost completely transparent in nature. The thirty minutes I spent observing Habitat17 wasn't nearly enough! I wonder if the organisms will multiply or die?

How I set it up

I took two micro slides attached together with silicone adhesive and added mud and residue from the bottom of the container the water sample was in. I then added the water with the dropper. There was about 3 mm of silt on the bottom. After this, I added plants A and B on opposite sides of the aquarium.

New Aquarium!!

Wednesday I set up my Micro Aquarium using water from a Plastic Bird Bath pool. The location is 0.9 miles from Fountain City Pond on Fountain Rd. Knox Co. Knoxville TN Partial shade exposure N 36o02.249' W083o55.999' 1121 ft. For for information on this water source, visit: http://botany1112010.blogspot.com/.