Monday, November 15, 2010

November 12th - Final Observation

 (Identified by Dr. McFarland)
 (Identified by Dr. McFarland)
 (Identified by Dr. McFarland)
 (Identified by Dr. McFarland)
Photo: Bick, Hartmut. 1972. Ciliated Protozoa. World Health Organization. Pg. 183, figure 92

Today, I observed my micro aquarium for the last time. I immediately noticed a dramatic increase in the amount of organisms inside the micro aquarium. Most were organisms that I had already identified in my past observations, but I did find one new organism. A Vorticella sp. I was not able to get a picture of it but I was able to successfully identify it (Bick, Pg. 13, Fig. 4A). Among the other organisms I saw today were Gastrotrichs sp., Rotifer sp., and Euchlanis sp.

Friday, November 5, 2010

November 5th - Week 3 Observation

Today, I observed my micro aquarium for the third time since the initial setup. There seemed to be quite a few more organisms present today than were present in the last two observations. Just like the past two observations, I saw several rotifers. I did not see any euglenoids today, but I did spot several new organisms. I was able to identify a coleps species with the help of Dr. McFarland. This organism had a long, oval shaped body with multiple different colors. I also saw a euchlanis species. I was able to identify this one from its football shaped body and its spike-like tail.

Friday, October 29, 2010

October 28th - Week 2 Observation

On Friday, October 22nd, one beta food pellet was added to my micro aquarium. Bellow I have included additional information about the food pellet. I observed much more activity this week than I did last week. There were all kinds of organisms swimming around. In addition to the organisms identified last week, I also found several amoeba this week. There were also many organisms that I could not identify because they would not stay still long enough. I managed to take pictures of some amoebas as well as another euglenoid.

Food Pellet: 'Atison's Beta 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%.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

October 21st - Week 1 Observation

Today, I observed my micro aquarium for the first time since the initial set up and took several pictures of the various organisms I observed. At first, I had trouble locating anything, but as I became more familiar with the equipment I was using, I was able to locate several different organisms.

The first thing I spotted was a Rotifer. I was able to identify this as a Rotifer because of the transparent, wheel like structure of the organism. Throughout my observation, I spotted several more Rotifers. The second thing I came across was a Gastrotrichs. This one had a clear "slug like" appearance. However, the characteristic that led to the identification of this organism was its split tail. The last organism that I was able to identify was a Euglenoid. This one was easy to identify because of its green body and its red eye spot. I observed several other organisms, but I was unable to identify any of them. Some of them moved too fast to get a good look at and others were just too small.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Microaquarium 1st entry

On the first day of our term project we set up our micro aquariums. First, I obtained the necessary  materials from the instructor. I then added soil and water from source #5 (Meads Quarry Island Home Ave.). Next, I added plants A and B (to supply oxygen) to my micro aquarium. There was not much activity during the first observation. I only saw one organism under the microscope. It was moving by spinning its body in a spiral motion.