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OK I have a question, I have often wondered just where do the paramecium's and ameba's and the sort come from? are they airborne or in the water. or on the plant material ? Your aware how to make a hay culture I'm sure, ( a handful of hay some water and a jar) I have gone as far as taking 4 sterile jars 2 with lids 2 without lids and put in each some hay some water and set them in different spots one in the dark, one in the dark with a lid, then one in the light, then one in the light with a lid. The water was ordinary water out of the tap. The only results that I noticed were the ones with the lids produced very little to none in a week, but had good growth of bacterias, the one in the light with no lid produced paramecium's, and microbes, the one in the dark with no lid produced a great many microbes with flagella's , so the only thing that I learned is that. either their airborne or need air needs to be with the mix, I dont believe in spontaneous generation so where do they come form. they have to have a origin?
I have checked the water with my microscope at the time of adding the hay and saw no presents of microbes.
Hello,
There are several issues here.
1. Amoeba and Paramecium are water organisms and can be found in stagnant ponds, lakes, puddles etc. Maybe it is also possible that wind and weather transport water droplets with these organisms over longer distances, but generally they do not live in air. This would be too dry (and they also need organic material as a source of food).
2. Paramecia and amoeba require oxygen. As a matter of fact, they may even collect at the top of the water surface, where there is more oxygen. If you put a lid on the jar, then bacteria will proliferate, becasue some bacteria (anaerobic bacteria) do not require oxygen. Protozoa (paramecia, amoeba etc.) will generally eat bacteria, but if there is not enough oxygen present, then you give the bacteria a head start and the bacteria will consume the little oxygen which is still left, killing off the protozoa. Anaerobic bacteria will then take over.
3. The bacteria and microorganisms can come from several sources: from the hay (many), the water used (not many, becasue it's tap water) and from the air (also not many). Depending on the conditions (light, temperature, oxygen present, food etc), you favor different microorganisms and make them reproduce. You may not see microorganisms in the original sample, due to the low concentration. Do not forget that by putting the jar into sunlight, you increase the temperature, thereby driving out the oxygen from the water (unless there are algae in the sample, which produce oxygen).
4. For enriching paramecia, do the following: Take hay and stagnant tap water (allow the chlorine to evaporate for a few days). Then boil the tap water with the hay. This kills off microorganisms and changes the color of the water. Cool down and add a small sample of pond water, which contains protozoa (some rotting plant material etc.). Store in a shallow dish to allow oxygen to reach the water. Replace evaporating water with new hay infusion water. Then wait for a few days and check every day for growth. In a second dish add 1 rice or wheat grain and some rotting plant material from a pond. The rice grain will serve as food for the bacteria and these will again serve as food for the protozoa. The type and number of protozoa forming will depend on the protozoa present in the added pond water (rotting plant material) sample.
5. >> I have checked the water with my microscope at the time of adding the hay and saw no presents of microbes.
>> they have to have a origin?
Concentration probably too low. Even free pond water samples do not have a very high microorganism density – you need to centrifuge it in order to see them. Read the article on centrifuging microorganisms in the Feb.2011 issue of MicrobeHunter magazine on more information about centrifuging. Origin of microorganisms is the hay, the added water, air. Even if initial concentration is too low to see, they will exponentially reproduce.
Oliver.
Hi drasbell,
No one on this forum can tell you the origin of the protozoa in your infusions, however using standard aseptic methods you should have no difficulty in discovering this.
Oliver is right in that protozoa are aquatic organisms and would not be expected to be transported in any other way, however as many of them encyst in adverse conditions to re-emerge in more favourable ones it is possible that they have arrived by another rout.
The four ways I can see they have arrived in your infusion are 1. the tap water. 2. the hay. 3. air bourn. 4. contaminated equipment.
To test for the source of these organisms use only sterilised equipment. I would first sterilise some tap water (pressure cooker at 15 lb. for 15 minutes), this will remove the dissolved oxygen which will have to be replaced by bubbling sterile oxygen through the infusion. Make two infusions using the sterile water, cover one with a sterile cloth and leave the other exposed to the air. If the organisms occur in both cultures then they came on the hay, if they are in the uncovered culture only then they may be air bourn, if none appear then they may be in the tap water. To test this put a large quantity of unsterilized tap water in the covered culture, this should then produce the organisms in question.
There are things which may go wrong, for example no culture may produce these organisms such is what happens when trying to capture from the wild.
Others may have other ideas and suggestions.
Good luck.
Peter.
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