MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Thanks for this. Ordered the book and received it today. Looks like some good reading and it’s not available on his website, only volumes 1 and 2 there.
Harry

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing.
So you’re getting these high frame rates by sampling only a small portion of the sensor for each frame? I’ll have to go back to your original post to try figure out what’s going on.
Harry

Thanks Don and Michael, must say I was surprised to see how well it turned out.

harry

My wife was cutting down some tulip stems and donated a leaf and stem to check out under the microscope. The stem sections I tried cutting were too thick but I was able to peel away a thing layer of cells from the leaf. The stomata showed up well and inserting a plastic piece to function as a wave p...

Thanks WWWW, that certainly looks like it!
Harry

I've spent quite a bit of time searching the various diatom keys on the internet but haven't been able to come up with an ID for this sigmoid diatom. Any ideas out there? Thanks, Harry https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje_W6Rt89q8reGT7fHK11MAEYS3QhUwo2-9tHaymnVepBQ7MrhjVHDom...

Wow, great footage! It’s not a huge jump to imagine some sort of intelligent behavior at play here. Does anyone know what sort of sensory apparatus would allow this quick identification of dinner?

Thanks guys, nice video and great explanation. Getting those additional facts makes the video even more enjoyable. It’s going to be difficult getting that “wild pig” image out of my mind.
Harry

Found this Coleps relaxing and was able to take 14 photos and stacked them using Picolay. Really liking the new scope and getting more comfortable with it each day. https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGGjqtFUvA8SpRloB3fhyphenhyphen-qWPFrgkOzF3_WdCuOcv7Kn0DfHqyV6weCm3K41uu7YHn...

Thanks so much Bruce, loads of reading to do now. Sorry, no other footage, had one but lost it again. I know what jar it came from so ill keep looking.

Thanks for the tip, I’ll give that a try. Several YouTube videos mentioned using 3 to 4 thousand rpm and most of the microbes seem OK with that but it does feel excessive. I’ve only had the centrifuge for a couple of days but it’s given me way more to look over from the pond jars I set up last fall....

Thanks, zzffnn. I am leaning towards ciliate also, perhaps the genus Spirostomum. Your injury suggestion might be accurate since the little fellow endured a 4000 rpm centrifuge ride. Yes, the video was shot with a Nikon Eclipse 400 adapted for DIC. I’m almost certain it was filmed at 40X, making the...

Does anyone have any idea what this could be. I think it’s a ciliate but can’t even be sure of that. Check out the strange appendage visible behind the head.

https://youtu.be/BkHkcj870js?si=DSXo4EGyg75JFoNp

Cheers, Harry

Thanks for your comments and suggestions Charlie, much to reflect on in your post. I had read about your technique of examining an elongated water sample on a slide with low powers in another thread and have tried it the last few days. Works great and will now become part of my microscopy bag of tri...

Thanks for the comments and suggestions! Looks like I made the right choice and chopping off tips to ease a protist’s journey to the slide will become part of the work flow.

Harry

Thanks, I had read that thread but it didn’t really tell me what size to get, unless I missed it.
Another source told me to order the 200 ul size which I suppose makes sense. Guess I’ll find out when the stuff arrives.

Harry

Hello,

I’m planning on ordering a 20-200 ul micropipette for protists and was wondering which tip size to buy for it, a 10 ul tip or a 200 ul tip? They look very similar in size on the website.

Thanks, Harry

Thanks again Hans, very appreciative of your ID. Makes the hobby so much more enjoyable when you know who you’re looking at! I’ve found a still taken of the dividing pair and taken some measurements off there. Length of the individual lower left is 53 mm while the height is 35mm. https://blogger.goo...

In one of my pond jars an explosion of a Stylonychia (I think) population has resulted in a complete decimation of a group of tiny ciliates they were feeding on. I found a lone Coleps on the slide and watched as many of the larger ciliates, quite likely hungry, approached and then rapidly retreated....

Thanks for the ID Hans, appreciate it. Had another couple making out, this time another species. https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQLVdJ-2QL0g37Nwv1-V_pPHGqo6lIhFtuLouiKbK2Zi-9navN75zQ_Pm-hrBdigkkfnvqOa5whLyc01paa3mP8HRc40lx1GbekmWyZkbNRj-FqryjaDvk4CT5PBJIqTa_qFGx95MRFE363l...

I watched this pair for about 10 minutes and they seemed to move a particle between them. Not sure if that’s an accurate interpretation nor am I sure about what they are. See no cilia, flagella or pseudopodia. That’s an Arcella in the upper left of the image. https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/im...

I believe they’re Cyanobacteria.

Just a guess, hadn’t seen this before. Watched the process for quite a while but nothing changed.

https://youtu.be/ayLEhFxMg-E?feature=shared

Can anyone confirm the field diaphragm port on the Nikon E400 is identical to the one on the E600?

Thanks, Harry

Last fall I collected some bottom sludge, a few plants and about a gallon of water in a round goldfish bowl from a river I live on. I added some dried oak leaves and some waterlogged wood pieces. The tank sits in a SE facing window sill so it get a couple hours of full sun daily. The microbe populat...

Thanks for that, a timely introduction to slide cleaning for me.
In my first attempt yesterday of making a permanent mount slide, I was appalled at the amount of dirt, dust and other debris on “new” slides and coverslips.
Harry

Thanks so much NachoBen! So I guess these are Gemmae and you’ve just opened up a new alleyway I can get lost in.

Does anyone have an idea what type of green algae this is, I can’t seem to find anything like it in the keys I’ve checked out. It came from a moss patch on a tree and there were many of these throughout the moss.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading about this and I guess the key is balance, however that can be attained. The other thing is that these little ecosystems tend to crash periodically so it seems best to keep at least two going. Right now my mud and dead leaf bowl is just exploding with life and I’m ge...

The filter that came with my 3 gal tank does very little, the reviews all complain about how little water goes through it. Perfect!
If I were you I’d try the tank without aeration to see how things develop. Is there a reason that you feel that aeration is required?
Harry