4th and final post from week of nov 1st-nov 5th

This week had a lot going for it. I noticed a very big increase in the cyanobacteria in the tank. They were everywhere! Then I found a perfectly round protist that Dr. Mcfarland said was a Trachiosoma.

-If one were to took closely around the edge there are little teeth-like fixtures.

The next spectacular thing that I saw I named Clem. Clem is a fresh water protozoa called Lacrymaria. It has spindle shaped cells and a long, very mobile neck. At the end of the neck there is rounded mouth. I read that the neck may extend up to 1 mm and is used to search for food.

-I thought seeing one was crazy but then I saw 2 and as I moved the lense around the tank and zoomed in and out I could see tons of these interesting organisms!

 This information is from the book:

    Free-Living Freshwater Protozoa by D.J. Patterson

Published in N. America in 2003 by: ASM Press, 1752 N. Street NW, Washington DC, 20036-2804

--other than that i noticed that the beta pellot was now an ugly, mossy green lookin color and plant A has begun to turn brown.

third post from week of oct. 24-29

On Friday October 22 a single beta food pellet was inserted into my microaquarium.
                 -"Atison's Betta Food" made by Ocean Nutrition, Aqua Pet Americas, 3528 West 500 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84104.
                           -Ingredients include: 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%
 -From my point of view the beta pellet was a brownish hazy color with lots of little hairs and tons of moving, circular bacteria moving around it.

This is the new organism that i found that moves in a crazy way by these little moving black bead-like things inside of it. These pictures are taken consecutively of this little guy moving.

    -Next up is a long stick-like bacteria that is a type of cyanobacteria according to:
 Fresh Water Pollution Algae
Us Environmental prtection agency
Environmental research center
Cincinnati, Ohio 45268

Other than that the only thing else i noticed was that there were a few more larger air bubbles in the middle of the tank and at the bottom. Also I found two small red blotches or spots on the stem of Plan A that i haven't been able to figure out what they are.

2nd post from week of october 18-22

this is the mite that i found on tuesday. still not sure what kind it is because I can't figure out the actual size of it. It's on plant A in my aquarium and has 8 legs, 4 on each side.



-Other than that I noticed that there were way more air bubbles

-the soil/dirt is the same color

-this is the slow moving stick that i talked about in my last entry
-Nitzschia Filiformis is what I think the name is. I found it in A guide to the common diatoms at water pollution surveillance system stations.



first post from week of oct.11-15

I decided to use the water from number five, the Meads Quarry on Island Home Avenue, Knoxville County Tennessee. Partial shade exposure Rock Quarry N35 57.162 W83 51.960 880 10/10/2010
-I used 1/3 water from the top, middle, and bottom layer of water.
        -The bottom layer containing all the dirt/soil was a tan-brown color and very cloudy looking through the microscope.
        -There was little to no movement here.
-Next I added a part of plant A and plant B.
        -I could easily see the cells and cell wall of plant B.
        -I used the 40x lense mostly.
-I noticed that most of the movement of organisms took place around the plant parts.
        -There was one big, creepy looking bubble type organism that was the biggest one I saw but it came and touched the plant and then left super fast. It moved in a quick zig-zag kind of way.
        -There were a few tiny moving organisms that were round and looked like a donut in the sense that i could only make out the nucleus. They too scurried in a spiral manner.
        -One particular organism that really caught my eye was a longer, thin, very slow moving "stick".
               -It looked to have three stationary dark dots: one at the top, middle, and bottom. All which appeared inside the organism.
              -What was interesting was that as it moved by these stationary, squigly, bundle-of-noodles-lookin things, they attached to it at an end and stuck to the stick as it moved on. Not for long though, because they always seemed to "fall off" after awhile.