Fourth and Final Observation

Upon the last observation of the semester, the organisms in the aquarium have almost all died. The food sources have been completely depleted and only a few of the more abundant organism remain. A few unidentifiables are still hanging around, but ,with no food source, will probably not last much longer. It's sad to see them go, but has been fun watching them while they were here.

Bibliography

Patterson, DJ. 1992. Free Living Freshwater Protozoa. Wolf Publishing LTD, London.


Smith, Douglas Grant. 2001. Pennak's Freshwater Invertabrates of the United States.
John Wiley and Sons Inc. New York.

Third Observation

 Patterson, 1992, Page 149

Upon the third observation, the food pellet and the Utricularia gibba was completely gone and many of the organisms had died. There were a few Cyclidia and Philladina remaining along with some indistinguishable organisms that are too small to identify.

Smith, 2001, Page 139

Second Observation

A Beta food pellet was added to the aquariums on the 21st of October. This food pellet was provided by the lab instructor. The food was an "Atison's Beta Food" pellet produced by Ocean Nutrition, Aqua Pet Americas, 3528 West 500 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84104. The pellet contained fish meal, wheat flower, soy meal, krill meal, minerals, vitamins and some preservatives. The nutritional value of the pellet is listed as follows: Crude Protein 36%; Crude fat 4.5%; Crude Fiber 3.5%; Moisture 8% and Ash 15%.

Upon the second observation, many more organisms were present. There appeared to be at least two Cyclops and several Euchlanis and Philidina. Along with the discovery of new organisms, the existing organisms seemed to be reproducing very well. The Cladocera had at least doubled in numbers and the Vorticella had begun to group together in colonies. The Philadina and the Vorticella were very active and produced some good video footage that is included in this post.The Amblestegium was still in tact with a few organisms around it, but the Utricularia gibba seemed to be gradually disappearing. 

Smith, 2001, Page 277

Smith, 2001, Page 490

Patterson, 1992, Page 95

Smith, 2001, Page 143

Smith, 2001, Page 139

Smith, 2001, Page 139

First Observation

Upon the first observation, several organisms could be positively identified. The majority of these organisms were fresh-water protozoa. Those that were positively identified include seed shrimps, water bears, water fleas, and vorticella. There was not a large number of organisms present at this point, but the ones that were observed seemed to be concentrated in the mud level of the aquarium.

Patterson, 1992, Page 209

Patterson, 1992, Page 113

Rainis and Russell, 1996, Page 234

 

Patterson, 1992, Page 212

Setting Up the Aquariums

This week in lab, we began our plant aquarium project. Each student was given a three-piece aquarium apparatus and some plant samples. Colored stickers were placed on the aquariums for identification. Students then filled the aquariums with a water sample of their choice provided from several different locations. These samples were placed into the aquariums by different layers such as bottom, middle, and top. I chose a sample from the Fountain City Duck Pond. The duck pond is a spring fed pond with full sun exposure. It is located just west of Broadway at Cedar Lane. After placing the water sample in the aquariums, two separate plant masses were introduced into the aquariums.  The first plant was Amblestegium. It is a moss that was collected from a natural spring at Carter Mill Park in Knox County. The second plant was Utricularia gibba.  It is a flowering, carnivorous plant that was originally collected from the south shore of Spain Lake in White County and then grown in water tanks outside of the Hesler Biology Building on UT's main campus. When everything was in place, the aquariums were placed under a microscope for observation. As I brought my slide into focus, I immediately saw movement in the mud layer of the sample. Several different organisms were visible through the 10x lens on the microscope. Aside from the moving organisms, there were also small blue green algae particles as well. After making notes of the observations, the aquariums were moved into a different room and placed under a light source. They will remain there while students make further observations. The lab went smoothly and I am interested in what we will see growing in these aquariums throughout the rest of the semester.