Week 2 Observations

Hey Guys,
This week I must say, there seems to be a lot more going on activity wise in my aquarium. Lets take a look!
From the naked eye, I can see that the water level had dropped some, the water also appears to be a bit more cloudy compared to last week. It appears to have a slight brownish tint to it. I can see several organisms swimming around, which I could not see at all last week.

Ok, now using my microscope, I can definitely see there is a whole lot more activity. There are are a whole lot more organisms moving around compared to week one. Some seem to fly across the aperture at amazing speeds. Others, which I believe are some kind of Amoeba or protazoa, seem to lurch around like a slug.

This one species, which I have identified as a Cyclops sp. seems to have a flagella like tail that propels him through the water, in small bursts. I also identified a Paramecium sp., which looks a lot like a slug. It moves very slowly through the water and sifts through the sediment for food. I also identified, and took a great photo of a Urocentrum sp. This organism spins like a top in the water, around and around. According to the book "Free living Freshwater Protozoa" they use their tail to spin in that motion, and they feed off of bacteria in the water. I did notice that there was a lot more activity towards the bottom of the tank, but compared to week one, there was more activity in the top of the tank than the previous week. I have attached some photos I took with a camera attached to a microscope. I hope you enjoy! (Sources at bottom of blog.)

Sources:
-Patterson, D.J.,"Cyclops sp. Urocentrum sp., Paramecium sp." Freeliving Freshwater Protazoa. New York. 2003

-Photo: Cyclops sp., Utrocentrum sp., Paramecium sp. by Todd J. Williams