Week 2 Observation of the Microaquarium

In week two of my observation, I noticed that there was a significant increase in the number of Colpidums, mostly around the moss in the tank. They were swimming wildly and in a random motion. There were also many more Chilonomas than before and some were much larger than others and were mostly around the moss. The moss seems to have shrunk over the past two weeks, probably due to the organisms feeding off of it. In addition, there was a long, thin, green string with many segments,near the top of the water. I later identified this, with the help of the diagrams on the walls in the lab, as photosynthetic cyanobacteria. Also at the top of the water, there were many wide Philodina(pg 194 Guide to Microlife by Kenneth G. Rainis and Bruce J. Russell) and large orange archellas. The archellas(pg 91 Figure 173 Free Living Freshwater Protozoa-A Colour Guide by D.J. Patterson and Drawings by Stuart Hedley) have tiny arm-like things that extend from their bodies and draw things back into themselves. There were also many cyanobacteria cells all around the archellas near the top of the water. Furthermore, the brown tip of the moss visibly slightly shakes from all the activity of the Colpidiums moving in and around it. There were also an innumerable amount of Phacus and Euglena(pg 146 Guide to Microlife by Kenneth G. Rainis and Bruce J. Russell) in the middle and top portion of the tank. The only dead organism I saw in the tank was one dead Annelid in the bottom of the tank. Most of the activity occured in the middle or top of the tank and not much was going on the middle of the tank. For the most part, there was a significant increase in Colpidiums and Chilomonas and an increase in cyanobacteria and not much else. Everything else in the tank, such as the moss, flowering plant, and the Annelids declined in number this week.