This week a food pellet* was added to the micro-aquarium on Friday October 21. When I observed the aquarium on Oct 25 I noticed at high magnification that there were large numbers of bacilli surrounding the pellet as well as long transparent filaments that looked like webbing all around the pellet and the plants. At lower magnification I noticed an increased number of organisms in the aquarium and could see without any magnification that the plants were turning brown and dying.
On Friday Oct 28th I was able to spend more time in the lab and noticed that the bladders on one of the plants were larger and opaque, even though the plant had browned. The sediment was too deep to measure in some spots.
Using Guide to Microlife by Rainis and Russell (Danbury, CT: Franklin Watts, 1996) I was able to identify a diatom in the sediment of the genus navicula. I was also able to identify some filamentous algae, tribomena, using the book Freshwater Algae by Canter-Lund and Lund (Bristol: Biopress LTD, 1995). I was able to photograph several microorganisms but did not have time to identify them.
* "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%.
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