Wednesday, November 12

Each week I like observe the changes that I can see both with and without the microscope. This week when I was observing my MicroAquarium without the microscope, I could see some distinct algae attached to the glass. Both plants are still turning a nasty shade of brown, but the bright green plant is the only one that is becoming limp and wiltish.


MICROSCOPE

1. Filamentous; Oedogonium; Green Algae (Pond III Photosynthetic Microorganisms poster); There is one incredibly long species of Oedogonium attached to a few different branches of the bright green plant. It is a brilliant green color with many partitions in it that separate the cells. It is non-motile and it took me a while to find the ends.
2. There are still hundreds of Rotifer swimming around eating everything in sight (very active!).
3. The Cymbella diatoms (Pond III Photosynthetic Microorgansims poster) continue to multiply. They seem to hang around the cyanobacteria. Most of them are not clumped and none of them are touching. They are orangey-brown in color and resemble a worm. All of the Cymbella are stationary.
   
4. The cyanobacteria have completely taken over the tank. There are at least 10 clumps or individual organisms in all possible viewing areas. I mostly see Nostoc and Anabaena colonies.
5. There is still no sign of the Carpenter's Ruler, which is most disappointing.

Wednesday, November 5

VISIBLE CHANGES
When I picked up my MicroAquarium I realized that I hadn't replenished the water supply in a while so that was the first change I noticed. The air bubbles are getting smaller, but they are still multiplying. Both plants are almost entirely covered in brown fuzz (that I assume is algae) so the color has dulled from dark green and bright green to a mucky puke color. The seeds I saw 2 weeks have turned into leaves on the bright green plant. The dark green plant has curly hair-like fibers that are about an inch long.









MICROSCOPIC CHANGES

1. Attached to and surrounding the plants are many large colonies of non-motile green algae. When I looked at the Pond III Photosynthetic Microlife poster, I found that the colonies are called gonium. Without counting them all there were at least 300 per colony and at least 100 colonies. The individual organisms within the colonies are round with brown and green insides. These unicellular and colonial organisms come in a large variety of color.
2. There was 1 sighting near the dark green plant of a Euplotes (Pond I Microlife poster), which is a protozoa with cilia in the phylum Ciliophora. This Euplotes was non-motile but I could definitely see it's little cilia moving very quickly. It almost looked like a microscopic tick, although it was clear with green organisms.
3. I had many sightings of Rotifer swimming around the plants trying to eat diatoms and plant material. The coolest part about the Rotifers are the quick, jerky movements, and when they are done eating they spring away from the food.
4. I saw about 10 little organisms that were moving too quickly for Dr. McFarland to identify for me, but I'm pretty sure they were Blephorisma (Ciliates, Ward's Visual Guide to Freshwater Protists poster). They had tiny cilia that made it move very fast in short jerks that almost made it look smooth. It only stopped moving for a split second when it needed to eat. It didn't even stop when it barreled into my Euplotes.
5. There are many species of cyanobacteria hanging around in the tank's middle. One of the species is Nostoc (Pond III Photosynthetic Microlife poster), which lives near the fibers of the dark green plant in little clumps that spiral around itself. Another species is Anabaena ( Pond III Photosynthetic Microlife poster), which hangs in straight lines. All of the Anabaena are completely green in color.
6. Around the bottom only are tons of brown diatoms. Cymbella (Pond III Photosynthetic Microlife poster) are the most prevalent. There were about 500 of them clumped together but none of them were touching.
7. In the dirt at the bottom of the MicroAquarium were many green algae (mostly filamentous Spirogyra and Oedogonium according to the Pond III Photosynthetic Microlife poster). They move kind of like an inch worm.
8. At the top I could only find cyanobacteria and green algae.
   
9. I couldn't find any of the the Carpenter's Rulers at the bottom so they are either dead or hiding.

I talked to Dr. McFarland to get help naming the colonies from 2 weeks ago. I thought the colonies were Volvox, but he told me they were actually Pandorina because Volvox only live in sewers and this water came from a pond. Then, I looked at the Pond III Photosynthetic Microlife poster and found that the sting ray looking organisms are called Rotifer.

Wednesday, October 29

Since last week, Dr. McFarland has fed my MicroAquarium and boy did it make a difference! I could see a ton of changes without a microscope. There were more/bigger air bubbles around the plants, the plants are becoming more brown with some sort of growth, and the seeds have shrunk a bit on the bright green plant. I was amazed at how much my micro-organisms have changed, too.

TOP

1. There is much more debris than last week. Most of it looks like algae and carcasses.
2. There isn't much of a variety of organisms, but nonetheless there are many diatoms and clear stingray looking organisms.
3. The diatoms, which Dr. McFarland told me are single-celled organisms that have shells made of cilla (I think that's the word he used), are in large clumps and are not active. No fear though! They are still alive.

MIDDLE

1. Mostly in the middle I saw my Pleurosigma elongatum. There were about 50 of them and they were much more active. I saw a lot eating something off the bright green plant, and about 10 were swimming around a group of reproducing diatoms.
2. I'm kind of sad that there isn't any activity around my dark green plant. I see a few small organisms but nothing of great significance.

BOTTOM

1. My carpenter's ruler has expanded and stayed in the dirt the whole time I was observing.
2. Other than that there was no change at the bottom of the MicroAquarium.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Day 9
When I observed my MicroAquarium for the second time, there were quite a few differences visible with the naked eye. I noticed that air bubbles and brown growth (that I assume is some sort of algae) had formed on the inside of the glass. The plants I added to the water had also begun to sprout seeds. With further observation of these seeds under the microscope I could see that there were tiny root fibers attached to them.
I looked at my MicroAquarium under the microscope on 10X objective for about an hour and found some interesting inhabitants.

1. There was an unidentifiable creature that looked like a clear, blobby sting ray. It stay mostly in the middle of the tank around the bright green plant. I saw quite a few of them swimming around in a spiral motion.
   
2. The coolest creature I found in the middle and top of the tank around the bright green plant was a Pleurosigma elongatum (Diatoms of North America. William C. Vinyard. Image 138). It looked like a long, pointy worm with orange insides. There were at least 50 sightings. The movement was a sort of pivot on one of the ends.
3. There was only 1 Euplotes in the tank, and it resided in the middle of the tank. This organism looked like a clear amoeba with colored insides. There were definitely flagella that helped it move in a jerky fashion around an algae-like smudge (green) on the glass. It seemed fairly content just eating away at the algae.
4. In the middle and bottom of the tank were a few Colpidium colpoda (Ciliated Protozoa. Harmut Bick. page 81). This one would touch a plant then spring away very quickly. I could not tell if it was eating or not, but it would definitely touch the plant. The cool thing about this organism was the head-like bulge at one end. It also had flagella that helped it move around. The body was clear and it had black insides.
5. A crescent moon shaped, stationary Closterium (Pond III Photosynthetic Microlife poster in room 118) was near the bottom of the tank. I only saw a handfull of these, but there were a few distinct characteristics. The body was a light green with darker green spots in a line along the middle. It did not move like the rest of the organisms I saw, which may mean it was a carcass.
   
6. My absolute favorite organisms in the entire tank were the Carpenter's Rulers or Nitzschia paradoxa (Diatoms of North America. William C. Vinyard. page 111 image 143). Dr. McFarland told me that they are a bunch of single-celled diatoms that are held together by a phenomenal bond that scientists still do not understand. Somehow they multipy to mend themselves when necessary. The movement was definitely distinct because it was like a spiral. The end would curl up towards the microscope then slap down and move forward. It only resides in the bottom of the tank feeding on carcasses and dirt. I tried to Google a video of the movement, but was unsuccessful.
   
7. At the top of the tank were quite a few carcasses, but not many organisms. There were a few colonies of round organisms with green spots on the inside.
   
8. The bottom of the tank held mostly large micro-organisms and their carcasses. There were also a lot of cyanobacteria called Lingbia. These are long and rectangular with blue-green partitions.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Day 1 of my MicroAquarium
I added water from Tank 5 and I added plants A and B
I saw quite a few worms and a few long, orange diatoms, but that was about it
I was able to see everything from the 10X Power on the microscope
There was little difference in the organisms on the top, middle, and bottom of the Aquarium