Observation 5

On November 11, 2011 I observed an increase in the number of colonial single celled green algae and closterium.  There were less dead organisms at the bottom of the tank, too. I did not see many coleps at the bottom of the tank, but I saw three or four in the top of it.  I could not find another philodina.

Observation 4

There were about twice as many single celled algae and diatoms.  There was also twice as many dead coleps at the bottom of the tank and less living ones swimming around.  I found a new organism as well.  It was a philodina which is a rotifer(Pennak 1989).  I only saw one of these organisms in my tank but there are probably more.

Reference:

Pennak RW. 1989  Freshwater Invertebrates of the U.S.  3rd ed.  New York (NY):  John Wiley & Sons Inc.  179 p.

3rd Observation

There were many more organisms in my micro aquarium on November 1 than there was last time because of the food pellet added at on October 21.  The pellet contained fish meal, wheat flower, soy meal, krill meal, minerals, vitamins and preservatives, and these percentages of nutrients: crude protein 36%; crude fat 4.5%; crude fiber 3.5%; moisture 8% and ash 15%.  However the stentor that I observed last time was gone without a trace.  There were a lot of dead coleps on the top layer of soil(Patterson 1998).  I also observed and photographed a live one.  The other organisms I saw were a closterium, which is a green alga, and a Pinnularia, which is a diatom(Lund 1995, Patterson 1998).

References:
D.J. Patterson. 1998.  Free Living Protozoa.  New York (NY): John Wiley and Sons Inc. 26, 163 p.

J.W.G. Lund.  1995.  Freshwater Algae: Their Microscopic World Explored. Bristol (England): Biopress Ltd. 118 p.

Set-Up and First Observation

I assembled my micro aquarium using a base, tank, and lid.  I took the tank and filled it with a layer of soil and water from water source 1. Tommy Schumpert Pond at the Seven Islands Wildlife Refuge, Kelly Lane, Knox County Tennessee.  Then I placed plant A and plant B in the tank.  After that I placed my aquarium under the microscope to observe it.  I was unable to find any micro organisms so I took the tank off the microscope and put the lid on it and put it away.  I observed my aquarium again on October the 21st.  I saw little activity in my tank.  Most of the action was in the soil where I saw and identified a stentor which is a single celled protazoa, and a ostracod (Rainis, Russell).

 Reference:
Rainis KG and Russell BJ.  1996.  Guide to Microlife.  Danbury (CT): Franklin Watts.