Micro Aquarium Week Two

I viewed my Micro Aquarium for the second time on Thursday October 25th at 11 am. This time, I got a lot of good pictures to share, and found a lot of really awesome changes to my organisms.

First off- the sac of eggs turned out to be Snails, not frog eggs. A couple have hatched so far and are growing and moving quickly.One can observe that they are feeding on the sides of the tank, as it is possible to see their mouths suck things up.

The Snails in the eggs (mollusks), that have not hatched yet, have grown much larger than they were a week prior. There is now a definite shape to the mollusk, and it is possible to now conclude that they are in fact snail eggs. 

Also, the snails that have hatched since last observed, have grown significantly, and hold a very distinct shape. They also have a very unique pattern on their shell, almost swirl- like bands going around their bodies.

 This is a view of a snail from its underside.

One can observe the snail's distinct pattern on its shell. The amazing thing about the snails is how many have hatched since just last week. I could hypothesize and say that by next week, the aquarium will be full of them.

The fully grown Snail (or snail shell) remains about the same as before. It appears there is nothing inside of it, as it has stayed in the same place since last observed, and has not seemed to make any more development or progress.

Next, the Midge has grown significantly longer. Here, one can observe how much larger it has gotten. 

In addition to all of these observations, I also encountered a Cyclops! It is a pretty ordinary cyclops. It swims around very fast, has small hairs poking out from it, and two sections on the back end of it which can be determined as mobilizers for the cyclops (something to help it move).

To get these pictures and observe the things I did, I used two different microscopes with two different cameras attached to them.
The first was a microscope with an Infinity 2, which uses a self-directed light source and captures a much more magnified picture.

The second was a Laborlux 11, with a sony camera attached to capture images.

So, what I observed this week is:

- The sac of eggs are snail eggs.

- Some of the eggs have hatched and I was able to observe the snails

- The snail shell is barren

- The Midge has gotten bigger!

- A new organism, the cyclops!!

Micro Aquarium Week One- So It Begins

On Tuesday October 16th I created a Microaquarium in my lab section. The sample I obtained came from the pond at the University of Tennessee Hospital on Cherokee Trail in Knoxville, Tennessee. This is a storm sewer sediment pond. My aquarium holds various plant species as well as micro organisms.

In my aquarium this week I found what appeared to be a sac of frog eggs. As seen in this picture, the sac is stationary and stays freely in the water. This is a gel-like round structure that contained many small cells with dots in the center of them, as shown below. 

I also found what appeared to be a midge, or what could have also been a mosquito larvae. It moves a lot, and makes many surprisingly quick movements. It is interesting to look at the lines throughout the organism and determine that it is the skeletal make up of the midge. There was only one found in my aquarium, but I am eager to see what he will look like next week!

Other than the midge and the frog eggs, I found that there wasn't much movement in my aquarium and water sample. The dirt settled at the bottom, and I did not find anything going on within it. There were, however, multiple small brown organisms swimming around, as well as little clear ones with what appeared to be green splotches in the middle of them. These all were so fast that I could not observe much more than that about them, except that there were two clear ones with green centers (which I figured was due to the presence of chlorophyll), and about four brown. 

The pond contained full sun exposure and I believe that may be responsible for most of the movement in my sample. 

What I observed this week:

- Sac of eggs (possibly frog eggs?)

- Midge/ mosquito larvae 

- Not much movement except for organisms I could not view as they moved too fast.