"Damage Assessment" Observation for November 11, 2011

After my methanol accident I observed that there were a few more desmids throughout my aquarium and that the flat worms were still alive. The most noticeable change was that there were many tiny organisms that looked like small specs that were swimming around everywhere. 


In the Utricularia gibba one of the bladders had turned a purplish color and with the 10x objective I saw multiple organisms two of which looked like a Crustacea ostracod.


Compared to other observations there was not as much action but there are different things happening. Amblestegium is turning brown possibly dying but the other Utricularia gibba has green sections so it may still be alive. There is still the 2 food pellets and I added water after I had observed it and placed it back under the light.

Observation for November 3, 2011

Today I saw an insect larva down along the dirt in the bottom of my aquarium. There were many little creatures swimming around. Somehow another food pellet was added and I asked Dr. McFarland why mine had 2 and he was unsure who placed it in there? I saw that the number of flatworms have increased to 4. There are also desmids appearing throughout my microaquarium.

Above is a picture of the insect larva that I found near the bottom and the dirt in my aquarium.

I did have an accident today. I went to add a little more water to my aquarium and accidentally picked up a bottle that looked very similar to the water bottles but instead it had 70% methanol in it. As soon as I realized what I had done then I sucked as much out that i could with a pipet and tried to pour a little more out trying to prevent killing everything.

Observation for October 24, 2011

On Friday October 21, 2011 "ONE" Beta Food Pellet was inserted into each microaquarium. "Atison's Betta 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%.


Around the food pellet I saw a Vorticella and a stenostomum (flat worm). I also saw a "pod" that was moving and looked like a kaleidoscope, all of a sudden it started shaking and "popped" and the things went everywhere. Dr. McFarland was standing there when it happened and he said that he had never seen that before. And there are many oval shaped amoebas swimming around.


The flat worm was eating the food pellet the whole time and the Vorticella uses little hair like things to move water to bring the food into it.

Vorticella sp. Patterson, D.J. and Hedley, Stewart. "Free-Living Freshwater Protozoa: A Colour Guide." 1996. John Wiley & Sons Inc. pg. 113. Fig. 232 

 Stenostomum sp. Ward, Henry and Whipple, George. "Fresh-Water Biology." 1918. John Wiley & Sons Inc. pg.336 Fig. 594

Pleurotaenium sp. Forest, Herman Silva. "Handbook of Algae with Special Reference to Tennessee and South East United States." 1954. University of Tennessee Press. pg. 467

Observation for October 20, 2011

I observed 2 Crustacea ostracod swimming near Plant A and seemed to be eating something near the leaves. I also observed a flat worm "gliding" around Plant A as well. Plant A looked to be alive and in good health, but Plant B, not so much. It may have been alive but the stems and leaves were starting to turn brown. After looking around the plants I decided to look for movement near the bottom. I didn't see much but I did see 1 small Crustacea ostracod near the surface of the mud/dirt.

The following links are examples of what I observed:


Crustacea ostracod: http://colinlmiller.com/microscopy/ostracod_01.jpg

Flat worm: http://www.aecos.com/CPIE/flatworm.jpg

Plant A (Amblestegium): http://www.ispot.org.uk/sites/default/files/images/2149/4dc4e1b83831e5d9d9f3f0645937c3d1.mid.jpg

Plant B (Utricularia gibba) http://www.aquarium-kosmos.de/bilder/aufsaetze/utricularia2.jpg

Correction

correction from the previous post
Plant A is Amblestegium a moss collected from a spring at Carters Mill Park off Carter Mill Road in East Knox Co. 
Plant B is Utricularia gibba. IT is Flowering plant, and a carnivous plant. It was collected from south shore of Spain Lake near Sparta Tn in White Co. and grown in water tanks outside of greenhouse at Hesler Biology Building.

The Beginning

I created my MicroAquarium on Tuesday October 11, 2011

The water in my aquarium came from the pond along the Sterchi Hills Greenway. I got water from right above the dirt/mud, in the middle, and from the top along the surface.

I also added "Plant A" and "Plant B" that was provided on our lab bench.

After setting up my MicroAquarium I looked at it under a microscope. There was not very much action but there was a few things swimming around, one of which was even visible to the naked eye!