Week 3

Last week I ended my observation by adding a food pellet to my MicroAquarium. Upon viewing the area surrounding the food pellet this week I found that there were countless organisms moving around. Most of these organisms were the shelled Rotifers I had observed before, seen in the photo to the right. Another highly populated organism I saw was more linear in shape, and brown-yellow in color.

Beyond the food pellet, my aquarium as a whole was much more busy with life this week. I saw many types of algae unnoticed before. There was a very high population of these small algae near the base of my aquarium. Shapes included were star like, flower like, rod shaped, and rectangular.

I was able to identify several organisms as Rotifera Philodina, using the Guide to Microlife by Kenneth G. Rainis and Bruce J. Russell. I had seen a few of these in the past weeks, but like many of the other organisms, populations had increased since I added a food pellet. The photo to the left is of one of these Rotifers.




Last week I observed a type of alga that spiraled through my aquarium. I have not seen this mystery organism again since, but I was able to identify its genus as "Phacus."
Prescott GW. 1951. Algae of the Western Great Lakes Area. Bulletin no. 31. Bloomfield Hills (MI): Cranbrook Institute of Science.
Below is a photo of this Phacus:


One organism I was expecting to see more of was the Cyclops. This is the largest organism I have found in my aquarium to date. This week I only spotted the Cyclops a couple of times. It did not seem to grow in population from last week. I was able to capture one photo, seen below:
With this much progress seen in only one week after adding a food pellet to my aquarium, I am excited to see how things change next week.