Final Observation (Friday, Nov 12)

Changes:

My microaquarium looked very cluttered this week. I observed an increase in euplotes, cyanobacteria, and paramecium. The middle of the tank was characterized by a great amount of debris, diatoms, bacteria, and various motile organisms. In some places, the cyanobacteria grew in clumps so thick that rotifers had trouble swimming through it. In the soil layer, organisms were living underneath the soil at the very bottom of the tank. These organisms included annelids, large rotifers, and nematodes. Near the top of the tank, my plants continued to decay.


Organisms:

Annelids: I found this annelid (Egmond W V, 1995) burying large tunnels in the soil layer. It was so long that I could not view it all at once. It moved in fast, jerky motions, constantly burying deeper into the soil.

Unidentifiable amoebic organisms: These organisms, which I previously thought were difflugia, changed shape since last week. They proved impossible to identify. Last week they were circular, clear and smooth. This week they had increased by at least double or triple and had developed scales. They also were enclosed in a clear, gelatinous matrix that held them together.

Rotifers: I did not observe an increase or decrease in my rotifers, however, many changed in size and color. In this picture, I caught one feeding near the discarded molted shell of an ostracod.

Flatworms: This is the same flatworm (Egmond W V, 1995) that I have been observing for the past 4 weeks. I found it near the soil layer, where it usually is.

Green algae: This is coleochaete (Tiffany LH, Britton ME, 1952). I only found one cluster of them, at the bottom of the tank.


















Bibliography:

Tiffany LH, Britton ME. 1952. The Algae of Illinois. Chicago, Illinois: The University of Chicago Press. 39 p. Figure 76.


Egmond W V. 1995 [cited 2010 Nov 14].Worms. [Internet]. United Kingdom: Microscopy-UK. Available from: http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/indexmag.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/wimsmall/smal1.html.


Egmond W V. 1995 [cited 2010 Nov 14].Rotifers. [Internet]. United Kingdom: Microscopy-UK. Available from: http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/index.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/pond/index.html.

Week Three Observations (Thursday, Nov 4)

Changes: There was not a dramatic change in my microaquarium compared to last week. Just like every week, water had evaporated. I observed a slight increase in the number of organisms in addition to an increase of dead matter. Most of the dead debris was on the bottom of the tank, but there were also parts of my water moss and bladderwort that were decaying (near the surface of the tank).

Organisms: The most obvious change concerning life in my tank was an increase in nematodes, seed shrimp, and centropyxis.

Nematodes: I found this one on the bottom of the tank. It was very busy digesting whatever it could vacuum into its mouth (Patterson, 1996). I found several more nematodes squiggling around in my water moss, bladderwort, and soil.

Paramecium: This is a Paramecium Bursaria (Egmond W V, 1998). I found it near the surface of the tank. I spotted at least three more around the plant matter and near the soil. It swam rather fast, while it swam the Zoochlorella algae inside circulated rapidly (Egmond W V,1998). The paramecium has a symbiotic relationship with the algae.

Centropyxis: These organisms appeared in huge clumps all around the water moss and in the soil. They are unicellular and stationary (Patterson, 1996). Centropyxis is an amoeba that usually has spines on the outside. These are young and therefore have not developed their spines yet.

Ostracods: Last week I only found one seed shrimp. This week, however, I saw two or three on the bottom.

Cyanobacteria: The number of cyanobacteria remained unchanged from last week. Once again, I found them everywhere.

Plants: Both my plants showed signs of decay. The water moss had chunks worn away from their previously pointed leaves and the coloration was turning from bright green to brown on the tips.


Diatoms: I observed a slight decline in the number of diatoms. A few on the bottom could have been dead, but it was hard to tell since my diatoms are normally stationary.


Rotifers: These guys were all over everything. I spotted at least nine, all of whom were feeding on either bacteria, plant material, or on material on the soil layer.


Flatworms: I found one huge flatworm on the bottom of my tank. It was obviously the same one from last week.




Citations:

Patterson D. 1996. Free Living Freshwater Protozoa. A Colour Guide. Drawings by Stuart Hedley. 73 Corringham Rd, London NW11 7DL: Manson Publishing. 28 p. Figure 18.

Patterson D. 1996. Free Living Freshwater Protozoa. A Colour Guide. Drawings by Stuart Hedley. 73 Corringham Rd, London NW11 7DL: Manson Publishing. 95 p. Figure 184.

Egmond W V. 1998 [cited 2010 Nov 7].Green Algae. [Internet]. Microscopy-UK. Available from:http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/indexmag.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/wimsmall/smal1.html

Week Two Observations (Thursday, Oct 28)

Last week (Friday, Oct 22nd), a "Beta Food Pellet" with the following ingredients was put into my microaquarium: 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%.

 The official name is "Atison's Betta Food" made by Ocean Nutrition, Aqua Pet Americas, 3528 West 500 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84104.

Changes: My microaquarium displayed a great diversity of organisms this week. Although most organisms increased in number, a layer of dead matter was found on the bottom of the tank. Some of my bladderwort and water moss had decayed as well. Once again, almost a quarter of my water had evaporated.



Organisms:

Rotifers: These organisms, which I have described in my last post, dramatically increased in number since last week. I managed, with some difficulty, to capture one on video. As one can see, it has clear organs and a clear body. Additionally, it uses cilia to gather food into it's mouth. I found this one swimming close to the water moss. However, rotifera could be found everywhere: by the soil, by the bladderwort, in the middle of the tank, and on the sides. They seemed to prefer to feed on cyanobacteria (not the cyanobacteria itself, but the bacteria living on the cyanobacteria).

 

 Rainis KG, Russel BJ. 1996. Guide to Microlife. Danburg, Connecticut: Grolier Publishing. 193 p.

Diatoms: These algae could be found everywhere. A huge number of them sat on the bottom. In addition to these algae, I spotted an increase in green algae (which contain chlorophyll) on the bottom of my tank also.

Rainis KG, Russel BJ. 1996. Guide to Microlife. Danburg, Connecticut: Grolier Publishing. p 116.

Ostracods: these are commonly called seed shrimp. I found this one on the bottom.

Egmond W V & Walker D. 1995 [cited 2010 Oct 31].Arthropods. [Internet]. United Kingdom: Microscopy-UK. Available from: http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/index.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/pond/index.html.

Plants: this is a picture of one of the bladders on Utricularia gibba. Unlike last week, I found it devoid of paramecium. 

Euplotes: I found this little guy swimming around the middle of the tank.

 

Patterson D. 1996. Free Living Freshwater Protozoa. A Colour Guide. Drawings by Stuart Hedley. 73 Corringham Rd, London NW11 7DL: Manson Publishing. 124 p. Figure 260.
Paramecium: Wherever rotifers popped up, paramecium showed up too.

Flatworms: There was a very large flatworm in the soil of my tank. Perhaps it was the young flatworm (from last week) all grown up.

Cyanobacteria: A plethora of these long, clear bacteria appeared in my tank.

Citations:

Rainis KG, Russel BJ. 1996. Guide to Microlife. Danburg, Connecticut: Grolier Publishing. 116-193 p.

Patterson D. 1996. Free Living Freshwater Protozoa. A Colour Guide. Drawings by Stuart Hedley. 73 Corringham Rd, London NW11 7DL: Manson Publishing. 124 p. Figure 260.

Egmond W V & Walker D. 2010 [cited 2010 Oct 31].Arthropods. [Internet]. United Kingdom: Microscopy-UK. Available from: http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/index.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/pond/index.html.

Week One Observations: Oct 22, 2010

Changes: Ten days after my initial setup, I returned to observe my microaquarium for signs of changes in the tiny ecosystem. The first thing I noticed was that 1/3 of the water had evaporated. Additionally, some of the bladderwort plant had dried out and died.

Organisms: Another major change in my microaquarium was the noticeable increase in organisms of all kinds. I observed six different kinds of organisms: several rotifers, a cyclops, a flatworm, several paramecium, several diatoms, and a few green algae.

1. Rotifers: These organisms are completely clear and composed of many cells. They have round heads that have a crown of cilia, little red eye spots, clear organs, and little flagella that help them move around (Egmond, 1998). 
I observed at least seven crawling around my bladderwort plant, and many more swimming around the water moss.

2. Cyclops: A cyclops is a little creature that can be seen with the naked eye. It swam very fast and buried into the soil when I exposed it to light. The head and thorax of this arthropod are fused, it has twelve pairs of limbs, it uses it's antennae to propel itself through the water, and it only has one eye (Morgan, 1996). 

3. Flatworm: I saw a young flatworm on the bottom of  my microaquarium.

4. Paramecium: There were at least twenty of these in one of the bladders of my bladderwort plant. They also could be found in the middle of my tank just worming around. They are unicellular. The bladderwort plant probably trapped these paramecium by swinging open it's door-flap mouth and sucking water in after the paramecium triggered it's sensory hairs (Amos, 1999). Another possibility is that the bladder's hairs produced an edible mucus that baited the paramecium (Amos, 1999).

5. Diatoms: The bottom of my microaquarium was littered with these golden brown stationary rectangular algae. There were also some concentrated on the outside of one of the bladders on my bladderwort plant. They are unicellular.

6. Green Algae: There was one large green algae and one small green algae in the soil of my microaquarium. They were stationary. The small one was unicellular while the larger was appeared to be composed of two cells.



Citations:

Egmond W V. 1998 [cited 2010 Oct 24].The Smallest Page on the Web. [Internet]. Microscopy-UK. Available from: http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/indexmag.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/wimsmall/smal1.html.

Amos W H. 1999 [cited 2010 Oct 24].HUNGRY UTRICS. [Internet]. Micscape Magazine. Available from: http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/index.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/pond/index.html.

Morgan M. 1996 [cited 2010 Oct 24].CYCLOPS. [Internet]. Microscopy-UK. Available from: http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/index.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/pond/index.html.

Initial Setup

Introduction: On October 12, 2010, I set up my MicroAquarium, which I will be observing over the course of the next four weeks. The objective of this project is to observe aquatic life forms on a micro scale (McFarland, 2010).

Procedure: The first step was to get a glass tank, a stand holder, and a lid (McFarland, 2010). The next step was to color code my aquarium according to section, table, and seat number (McFarland, 2010). I also wrote my initials (S.A.Y.) on the colored dots. Next, I chose a water source (listed below) and used a pipet to inject my aquarium with water and soil. The last thing I did was place two kinds of plants (Fontinalis and Utricularia gibba) in my aquarium. Fontinalis is common water moss and Utricularia gibba is bladderwort (McFarland, 2010).

Water Source: #3, Carter Mill Park at spring source.

Observations: I used a microscope to observe the organisms in my aquarium. The first thing I looked at was the soil, which appeared to be composed of small pieces of dead leaves, debris, and fine grained sand. Then I looked at the moss. It had pointed leaves, the vacuoles could be seen, and no visible organisms attached to it. The bladderwort was surrounded by many clear, round, free floating objects. These objects might have been either part of the plant or a type of organism; they convulsed sporadically. Every now and then I observed a small bean-shaped organism swimming around in the water. This organism was clear with some brown skeletal elements. It moved extremely fast.


Citations:

McFarland, Ken. An Inquiry into the Dynamic Microorganisms in Our Environment. Biology 111 2010, 4 Oct. 2010. Web. 17 Oct. 2010.

<http://botany1112010.blogspot.com/2010/10/inquiry-into-dynamic-microorganisms-in.html>.