Second Week's Observation - Oct. 28

This week, there was definitely a change in my micro aquarium. This change was probably heavily influenced by the food pellet that Dr. McFarland put into the aquarium. The food was placed in my aquarium on Oct. 24, 2014. The data for the food pellet can be found at the end of this post. The amount of organisms in the aquarium was significantly greater than it was just one week ago. Before, I would have to searched for bit to find anything, but this week, everywhere I looked, there were critters swimming around. The most numerous of the organisms that I saw were unicellular swimming cells. Anywhere I looked in my aquarium, there were always several in my view. Also I noticed that the traps on the plants seemed to have much more dead organisms in side of them and I don't know if this was caused by natural progression of time or by the increased amount of organism within the aquarium. Either way, the plants are definitely getting their fill.

Organisms

- Just like last week, I saw a single annelid. I'm not sure if it was the same annelid from last week, but if it was, then it had grown almost twice it's size! This growth was probably influenced by the food pellet that was placed in the aquarium. An interesting note about this annelid is that it was not within a tube, which is uncommon. Most annelids reside within a tube, but I guess this one decided it was too good for that.

- I saw several Raphidiophrys (Figure 405). There were about ten in near proximity to each other near the bottom of the aquarium. These were circular with long, slightly rigid spindles sticking out, very much like a sea urchin. They have a vacuole to regulate water inside of them and you can actually see it release water every so often. The one in figure 405 can actually be seen splitting.

Figure 405 p.173 (D.J. Patterson 2003)

- I observed that there were many more limnias populating my aquarium from last week.

-  I also observed a Stentor (Figure 213). It was colorless and was attached to a plant. It had beating membranelles on the end that moved in a wave like motion. It would also retract  into itself when disturbed, either by other organisms or me tapping on the glass, much like the limnias

Figure 213 p.106 (D.J. Patterson 2003)

- I also noticed there were many more rohefurs swimming around.

Food Pellet (McFarland, 2014) -  "Atison's Betta Food" made by Ocean Nutrition, Aqua Pet Americas, 3528 West 500 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84104. Ingredients: Fish meal, wheat flower, soy meal, krill meal, minerals, vitamins and preservatives. Analysis: Crude Protein 36%; Crude fat 4.5%; Crude Fiber 3.5%; Moisture 8% and Ash 15%.