Week 4 Observations

Hey Guys! I am back again, come check out what I discover this week as I look...

Just below the Surface!

For my first observation, I first used my naked eye to see what I could observe. Well, I do not see those white colored paramecium sp. That I saw last week moving around anymore. The tank looks pretty still. One thing that clearly came to my attention this week was that the sediment at the bottom of the tank, on week one it looked very thin, made up of clear sediments. Today it looks a lot thicker. It has almost doubled or tripled in thickness. It also looks very fuzzy. It has a much more grey color than the brownish color seen in the previous weeks. I am not quite sure what the reason for this is. Wait, I just saw one white paramecium, But other than that the tank looks still from the view of a naked eye.

Let’s take a look under the microscope. One comment I must make, I have just had a realization. In previous weeks, I was only mostly using the 10x objective on my compound microscope, and that has produced ample magnification to be able to see organism activity in my aquarium. This week, I am using the 40x objective most often. I at appears as if many of the organisms I have seen in previous weeks have died off, or are present in much fewer numbers. On the other hand, I have noticed a large population gain in many smaller organisms. Today,  I am going to talk a little more about some of the smaller organisms I am seeing today. I have seen many colonies of bacteria, all over the tank. They look like groups of tiny air bubbles. Most likely, they are living off of some particulate of dead organic matter that is present in the water. The organism that I have seen the most of today, has to be Diatoms. I have seen several  different shapes and sizes of them as well. According to the book, A Guide to Microlife by Kenneth Rainis and Bruce Russell, Diatoms are a major group of Algae. They are known for a unique cell wall, that is made of silica. Here are a few of the Diatoms that I observed today.

Fragellaria genus. (rectangular shaped) I have seen several of these in my aquarium. One has divided into two cells but has not yet made a ribbon. Each strip seen is a new cell.

Sources:

-Photo 1: Fragellaria genus. By Todd J Williams

-Photo 2: Cyclotella genus. By Todd J Williams

-Photo 3: Meridon genus. By Todd J Williams

-Rainis, Kenneth;  Russell,Bruce. A Guide to Microlife. Franklyn Watts Publishing, 1996. Connectcuit.   Diatoms pg. 113

-Canter-Lund, Hilda; Lund, John. Freshwater Algae. Biopress Limited, 1995. United kingdom