Blog #4

Percy McReynolds

Mr. McFarland

Botany 111 003

11/10/14



I went and saw my micro aquarium this week and saw multiple changes in different areas of my aquarium. Last week, A food pellet was placed into my aquarium. This caused a great increase in activity all around my micro aquarium. This week was different than the week before. Many of my organisms that I saw since week one had changed in multiple ways and their overall patterns of activity also changed. I was also able to see and identify some organisms that had not seen before.

Two of the biggest changes I saw in my aquarium this week involved the Rotifers and the Chroocus spp. I saw much less activity in the rotifers than the week before when they were feeding and breaking down the food pellet. This week they were more than double their original size. Their movement was also much less than usual. I saw multiple Rotifers that were near the bottom of the sediment and almost had no movement. The sear size of the rotifers was overwhelming! I almost thought they were a new kind of organism in my aquarium! Their size also had a direct correlation with the size of the food pellet. The pellet had shrunken to half of what it was the week before. I would say that the rotifers had a large part in the break down of the food pellet because of my observations during week 3 when they were very active around the pellet and week 4 when they doubled in size. I also saw a big change in the Chroocus organisms. Overall, the organisms had finished their separation cycle numerous times. I saw 3-4 groups of Chroocus organisms in numbers ranging from 10-15 of them. I simply scanned the bottom substrate and found them in these large numbers.

The overall activity of my aquarium was also lower than it was in week 3. There was still some activity around the food pellet but not nearly as much as before. I saw that many organisms were found in the two plants. When I found this, I saw that multiple types of organisms were being active around the area. I found that multiple Glaucoma organisms were feeding off of the scattered food pellet that had been broken down and scattered around the aquarium. The were creating a current using their membranelles to attract the food and capture it for entry into their mouth that is located on the ventral side of their bodies (Patterson 126). Some organisms had very little movement and were being idle in between the protection of the plants.

 I also found some new organisms within the two plants. I found a massive nematode inside of the Amblestegium varium ( Patterson 28). The size of this organism was crazy to me. It had a snake like gliding movement and was moving through the plant like it wasn't even there. I didn't see it feed on anything while I was looking at it, but it was moving towards the food pellet so it was on a mission to find something to feed off of. I also found numerous diatoms scattered around the open areas of my aquarium near the bottom of the substrate. These organisms were slowly gliding along using their raphe to create motion. I was able to examine them closely and find their golden chloroplasts and their cells that were enclosed in the frustule region of their bodies (Patterson 28).



Sources:

Patterson, D.J. 1992. Free living Freshwater Protozoa: A colour Guide. Washington D.C.: Wolfe Publishing LTD. 28, 126 p