Week 2

This week was much more active in my MicroAquarium. Last week there weren't any life forms I could find, just the chlorophyll plants that were placed to provide oxygen. This week though, I saw a variety of life forms, all multi cellular. I could find 3 different cyclops in my aquarium, all in different life stages. They seemed to hang around the middle part of the aquarium, closer to the dirt and moved in sudden, jerky movements. I also observed 3 rotifers swimming around smoothly with little tails right above the dirt line. Also right above the dirt line was a type of crustacean called a copepod. The copepod swam smoothly through the water with frequent pauses. A little further down, settled into the dirt line a diatom could be observed. Its a seemingly stationary organism, but it does, in fact, move quite frequently. I couldn't see any dead organisms at the bottom of the tank this week, but it was definitely more lively. There number of organisms greatly increased, and the Amblestegium varium moss and Utricularia gibb were both still present. This week, there was also a beta food pellet added to each aquarium on Friday, October 25 of 2013. "Atison's Betta Food" was made by Ocean Nutrition, Aqua Pet Americas, at 3528 West 500 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84104. The ingredients include: Fish meal, wheat flower, soy meal, krill meal, minerals, vitamins and preservatives. The analysis includes: Crude Protein 36%; Crude fat 4.5%; Crude Fiber 3.5%; Moisture 8% and Ash 15% (McFarland, 2013).

Setting Up My MicroAquarium

 To set up our MicroAquarium we received a a glass tank, a stand holder, and a lid. We then coded our aquariums with color dots so that we could find them each time we came back to the lab. Mine was coded with two green dots and a blue dot, signifying the lab section, the table I sat at, and My seat number, respectively. I then wrote my initials on the dots just for extra assurance. My water came from the Tennessee river at a boat camp across from the Knoxville sewage plant. With a pipet, I extracted enough mud and water from the bottom of the water sample to fill about 1/3 of my MicroAquarium, then another 1/3 from the middle, and the last 1/3 from the top of the water sample. After my water sample was complete, I placed a small bit of Amblestegium varium moss and Utricularia gibb in the aquarium so that there would be an oxygen supply for any potential organisms in the sample. Right after set up, I put my MicroAquarium under a microscope to look for any organisms. This first week I could not find any stationary or moving organisms, but both the Amblestegium varium moss and the Utricularia gibb are chlorophyll green organisms. After observing my MicroAquarium, I placed it on its stand, put on the lid, and placed it in my lab section's container.