Week 3

Last week we fed the microorganisms in the aquarium, the food pellet that was put in is no longer there. I discovered a new semi transparent organism known as a Daphina near the sediment layer of the aquarium. I also found new organisms freely swimming around and in the sediment layer. The organisms belong to the group Annelid, which is a group contain segmented worms such as an earth worm. The difference between a segmented worm and a flat worm is that a segmented worm can retract and redirect while a round worm can only move left and right in a whip like motion.

I witnessed a small transparent unidentified organism engulf about three Euglenoids. When looking at this process I started to realize that the number of filamentous algae had significantly increased. I deiced to check the Euglenoids that were originally in the plant bladders, they were moving much slower and had significantly decreased. I found that the organisms had relocated to the other plant in the aquarium.

Week 2

I chose to study the microorganisms from water source ten. There is a wide variety of organisms that can be found in the micro aquarium. There are numerous green organisms known as Euglena, they can be found in the bladders of plant B. There are huge numbers of these organisms in each bladder of the plant. Paramecium can also be found throughout the aquarium, these organisms appear to be some what transparent with flagella coming off the front to capture food. These organisms seem to be more concentrated around plant A.

Towards the bottom of the aquarium there is a section where sediment has settled. This sediment layer holds numerous organisms. Filamentous algae can be seen at the edge of the sediment layer and the water, they are a transparent green color. Also found on the edge of the sediment layer are some protists called stentor. This cone shaped organism has hairs near one end that help push food into its opening on the top of the organism. Rotifers can also be found in the same area as the stentor, they look transparent and are elongated with an opening g at the tip.

Seting up the Micro Aquarium

When setting up the micro aquarium you must first obtain the glass tank, the stand, and the lid. After that you put the tank on the stand, then you code it by sticking little colored dots that correspond to your lab section, then table, followed by your seat. After that you put your initals on the three dots. Next using a pipet we extracted water and setiment from the bottom of a waterscource so thet we have a thin layer of settiment on the bottom of our aquarium. After that we took water from the middle layer and added it to the aquarium. Then we took water from the top of the water source and added to fill the aquarium about two centimeters from the top. We then put two plants that were provieded by our lab instructor, and placed them in the aquarium