Week #5

I noticed no new organisms this week other than more flatworms. Most everything had died off and there was a grow of a little bit of mold growing in the middle of my MicroAquarium. It waws said seeing my little world just die.

Week #4

As promised here are pictures of what is living in my MircoAquarium. Top to Bottom: Vorticella, Difflugia, Flatworm, seed shrimp, freshwater cyclops.

These pictures and observations are from two weeks ago. Not much had changed that week and I was surprised that the food pellet (Atison's Betta Food*) didn't make much of a difference in the quality of life in the MicroAquarium. A lot of organisms had already started dying off. Many smaller unidentified micro organisms fed off of seed shrimp casings. The plants had begun to yellow as well.
However, the organisms pictured we very lively and I notices the vorticella for the first time. It's very pretty and a creates a whirlpool of water around itself.

Patterson, D.J. 1992. Free-Living Freshwater Protozoa: A Color Guide. London (UK): Manson Publishing, Ltd. p.169.

All of the other organisms I had seen before but never identified. I had a video of a difflugia but could not load it on here. If I figure it out I will post it as soon as possible.

Other Sources used for Indentification:

Thorp JH, Covich AP. 1991. Ecology and Classification of North American Freshwater Invertebrates. San Diego (CA): Academic Press, Inc.

Ward HB, Whippl GC. 1918. Fresh-Water Biology. Boston (MA): Stanhope Press.


*"Atison's Betta Food" is 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%.

Week #3

Last Tuesday I went to the lab and made more observations of my MicroAquarium. I learn more of the proper names for my organisms and was surprised to see that some of my seed shrimp (formerly the skeletal organisms) and died off. I thought the food pellet would have been most helpful to them, but it doesn't appear to have been.
Halteria are the organisms that I have noticed that have wavy, spindles coming off of a circular body.
Diatoms are harder to describe, but they are more of what you think off when you picture looking under a microscope. They have what seems to be a cell wall with nuclei. They are also kinda green in color.
I noticed more spyrogyra algae throughout the MicroAquarium as well.
Difflugia are the organisms that I think resemble aliens. They look like one huge alien head with little tiny legs coming off of it. They are also close to the seed shrimp and in the plant leaves and pond scum.
Of course there are still ostracods and nematoads swimming about. The water also appeared to be less transparent and full of more pond scum.