Microaquarium on November 12, 2010



According to Patterson in his book Vorticella Free-Living Fresh Water Protozoa, this is a Vorticella from the phylum Ciliophora. This protista was attatched to one of the plants, and it was not only a single one of these, but they were in a bundle. They randomly, but quickly, closed. And then once they closed, they slowly opened back up and stood straight up.



We had some trouble deciding what this was because the protista was brown, but in the end we figured it was the top part of a Seed Shrimp. It is also know to be part of the subclass, Ostracoda. They mostly feed on algae, and their life cycle has not been verified. All that is know is that the female seed shrimp produces eggs that are released and there has been some disagreement with  what happens next. Some biologists believe that the sperm are too long to fertilize the egg, therefore seed shrimps must reproduce through parthenogenesis. Parthenogeneis is a type of asexual reproduction that can produce a fertilized egg.



This week my aquarium was filled with many water fleas, and they tended to move rapidly around the aquarium compared to the last stationary water flea that I saw last week. Everytime I moved the microscope around, there was a water flea. There were also some rotifers, but not as many as the first week. I actually did see an increase in Actinosphaerium Sarconids. They were stationary like last week, and protistas were not likely to get close to it, if they did touch it, they would quickly back away. Every week I saw more and more protistas near the plants. Maybe they found it easier to get oxygen near the plant or the fact that there was more food around the plants, such as the algae, could be the explanantion to the multiple gathering of protistas around the plants. Overall, I saw an increase in moving protistas.

Clifford H F. 2010 [cited 2010 Nov 15].Ostrocada (Seed Shrimp). [Internet]. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada: Alberta Conservation Association. Available from: http://sunsite.ualberta.ca/Projects/Aquatic_Invertebrates/index.php?Page=31.

Patterson D. 2003. Vorticella free-living freshwater protozoa a color guide. Washinton DC: Manson Publishing. 223 p

Pennak R W. 1989. Freshwater invertebrates of the United States protozoa to mollusca. New York, NY: Wiley-Interscience Publication. 656 p

Microaquarium



According to Dr. McFarland this is a water flea, at first we thought it was a Daphane, but it ended up being a Cladocera. It constantly kicked its legs, and I could see all its insides. At one point, it pooped. The water flea did not move around that much, like I said before it mostly just kicked its legs.





According to Dr. McFarland this is a Rotifera-Philodina. It moved pretty fast and I found it near the plants that were in my microaquarium.


This week I saw some of the same protista in my aquarium, such as the organisms seen above, in addition I saw a Cyclops and many rotifers that were swimming around. The Cyclops looked like it mostly crawled around, it did not really swim, and I was surprised to see that the Cyclops was not near the plants,but by the lower part of the aquarium where the dirt was. I also kept up with a worm. It swam rather fast, and whenever it ate anything its whole body moved. This worm was wide and when  it was stuck in between the plants, it managed to turn itself around. Also, although the worm was long and wide, everytime something came close to it, it quickly backed away. I also saw a Heliozoan. Which according to the manual on lab table, does not move around and those little hair-spikes that are sticking out, are pseudopods. Also this week I also saw a snail, that is visible to the naked eye inside of my microaquarium. I really do not know how it got there.



Week #3/ Week #1

When I went to see my micro-aquarium this week, I noticed the plants were dry, and that was when I realized that my creation was destroyed. The giant crack in the middle of the micro-aquarium should have given me a hint, but unfortunately it did not. Due to the failure, I had to make a new micro-aquarium and start all over again from week 1. Therefore, the first beta pellet will not be added until some other time.

My new micro-aquarium water source is from the water tank outside of the greenhouse at Hesler Biology Building. The University of Tennessee. Knox Co. Knoxville TN.

This aquarium had a greater amount of movement. There was movement every where, and it was hard to keep up with the small organisms. Some had tails, some pooped, some were spherical, some were rod-shaped, and some were flower-shaped(these rapidly opened and closed with the blink of an eye). Most lived around the dark dirt bottom areas, but there were also many among the middle where the plants were. The ones with tails were mostly seen throughout the entire aquarium.

Day # 10 of Life in a Micro-Aquarium

On Friday October 22, 2010 I observed my micro-aqaurium after 10 days of life. I was surprised to see more movement in my micro-aquarium. It might have been that I actually figured out how to use a microscope, but that is a different story. Most of the organisms were living around the plants, much like last week. This week, I managed to see circular things that move really fast(and are difficult to keep up with if you are trying to maneuver a microscope) without moving in any specific pattern. I also saw many Actinosphaerium Sarconids. Although this giant word sounds difficult to picture, the Sarconid is spherical with small hair-like spikes sticking out. I believe I also saw some blue-green algae(cyanobacteria) again mostly around the plants. They look like small squares divides into four smaller squares. The only movement I actually saw was of an organism( I think) that looked like a bumble bee but without the wings. It moved rather fast, and it looked like it kissed the smaller particles that were around it(Probably the cutest thing in my micro-aquarium). Although I think I saw it eat one of those small particles. Also, there were these small pellet looking bacteria(?). They were only visible when the strongest magnification was set, and even then they were hard to see. They were small, but they were probably the fastest things in my aquarium.

Set-up of Micro-Aquarium

Two pieces of rectangular-shaped glass were sealed together leaving space for the water that was to be added with a pipet. The water for my micro-aquarium came from the French Broad River. I gathered a small amount of dirt and water from the bottom of the dish of our water sample, and filled it until the aquarium was one-third full. I added a small amount of dirt so the organisms in the water would not hide in the shadows of the dirt. After this, I filled the aquarium to the two-thirds line with water from the middle layer of the dish. The last few drops of water that were added came from the top layer of the dish water sample. We then added samples of plant A and plant B so the organisms would be able to get a source of oxygen.

Plant A:  Fontinalis sp. Moss. Collection from: Natural spring. at Carters Mill Park, Carter Mill Road, Knox Co. TN. Partial shade exposure. N36 01.168 W83 42.832. 10/10/2010

Plant B: Utricularia gibba L. Flowering plant. A carnivous plant. Original material from south shore of Spain Lake (N 35o55 12.35" W088o20' 47.00), Camp Bella Air Rd. East of Sparta Tn. in White Co. and grown in water tanks outside of greenhouse at Hesler Biology Building. The University of Tennessee. Knox Co. Knoxville TN

2. French Broad River, Seven Islands Wildlife Refuge

French Broad River, Seven Islands Wildlife Refuge, Kelly Lane , Knox Co. Tennessee. Partial shade exposure French Broad River Water Shed N35 56.742 W83 41.628 841 ft 10/10/2010

 

 

Mostly all the organisms in my aquarium were stationary. Those that were stationary were small. The few that

were moving had little hairs around the edges and they moved in a frisbee circular pathway. Around one of the plants there was a large ovular green organism that moved very slowly around the plant's leaves. I believe I saw the giant green ovular organism go over another moving organism and then the other organism never came out from under the ovular organism.  From what I saw, the organisms in my micro-aquarium like to be around the plants.

 

All  infromation was gathered from Ken McFarland and was posted on http://botany1112010.blogspot.com/