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>.