Its been a while...

On Friday October 21, 2011 "one" Beta Food Pellet was inserted into my microaquarium.

"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%

Since the last time I observed my Microaquarium, nearly half of the water has evaporated from the tank. Fortunately the Microaquarium is teeming with life. Dr. McFarland explained that due to the air getting drier in our classroom, much of the water is evaporating out of the tank, besides the fact that there is a lid. Within my tank there is a lot of algea and cyanobacteria growth. The Copepod or cyclops has grown immensely since the last time I saw him. He is now clearly visible to the naked eye as a little dot in my tank. I do say "he" becasue it is a him from the lack of an egg sack. Unfortunately, he will not find a mate because he is the only one in my tank :'(.  In addition to my cyclops, we see the presence of Nematodes, Vorticellas, Litonotus, Epalxis, and Difflugia. There is even a Mite within my tank, that looks pretty scary if you ask me.

The Nematodes were pretty interesting because they are in a constant whip-like motion, and are found down in the mud of Microaquarium. After reading  a little about them, from Fresh-Water Invertebrates of the United States: Protozoa to Mollusca by Robert W. Pennak, I learned that not much is known about the Nematoda phyllum. Even among all this life, there is still death. According to Dr. McFarland there was a dying Desma in my tank.

This little guy sucked up all those little bubble things like a cyclone

This the organism that whips around (this is a nice action shot)

Scary Little Mite

Notice the little hook on the top!

Looks like a brown little jelly fish

Named Sophie for Copepod, before I knew it was a guy :/

 

Boooring!

These are the picture I took in under the microscope and will be adding the books I got them from on Thursday because I had to wait so long to get a computer and then Dr. McFarland had to vote by 8 o'clock. Maybe I will even add more photos. More to come