MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

JimT wrote:Very good detail of the wing. Any idea what the mottle is?

I'm thinking it's alcohol that separated from the water (was drinking whisky and ice) and got trapped on the wings surface. I just checked it again and it's dried up revealing the hairs and wing segments.

Midge is the common name for what I think is Thaumaleidae of the order Diptera. I've been trying to get one on my slide for about a week but they are incredibly fragile. This little guy (5mm) fell into my drink and I was able to pick him up with a glass tubule. Taken at 10x objective and stitched to...

Gfycat 10x objective DF recorded with iPhone several hours after mounting, taken from some aquarium scum I've been brewing for the last week or so. Specimen died shortly after and was too energetic to film this activity any earlier. Pieces of plant matter and diatom fragments are gradually crushed,...

Congratulations on the project. Lovely striking images and a fascinating process.

I've yet to use my 100x objective. Google and Wikipedia drop me straight into the theory of refractive indices and I'm sitting here not knowing what I don't know. What resources do I need to step into oil immersion? Is there anything I can buy domestically? Once I've put the oil down what do I do af...

Just a quick follow up and another question. Firstly, huge thank you to Oliver and especially 75RR for those templates. I got them printed at an office supply shop and after a bit of tweaking with condenser heights and various sizes I'm getting *amazing* results. DF has opened up new and hugely fasc...

Very good ... now go to the grocery or drug store and buy some old fashioned doubled-edged "safety razors", which, believe it or not, are still commonly available (would anybody really shave with those diabolical things in today's world?). Carefully fold one in half lengthwise, and it'll snap in tw...

Great! Thanks a lot guys. I'll get those printed and give it a try.

Can anyone give me some tips about making a simple Darkfield filter. I tried following the instructions from http://www.microbehunter.com/how-to-make-microscope-filters/here and [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taKfysZ-LNY]. I used a large zip lock bag and cut them into circles the size of the b...

There is a bit of a backstory to this one. A while ago I posted asking for help looking for aquarium microbes and thanks to the wonderful advice from the forum I've had hours of fun looking at all kinds of microbes. I trimmed a bunch of plants from my tank and scrapped off all the bio film from the ...

Thanks mate. I had a hunch there were microscopic spikes because it was very rough to the touch in one direction but not the other. Was awesome to see what caused this.

Also known as Oatgrass . The seeds of this tall growing weed has a sticky / prickly texture when pulled off and it's always getting tangled in my cats fur. I soaked them in water for a few hours and carefully pulled apart the seed pods to free up a small section. The subject was stained with methyle...

Terrific images! I really appreciate the light field and dark field comparison as it helps me understand the differences.

All the best with the work / travel.

MicroInspector wrote:Ever want to find a ameba?
I found a breeding ground of microbes outbin the desert in a pond.

Hell yeah! I've got one in a pre-prepared slide but I'd love to catch one live. Was there anything in particular about the pond you noticed? Something I should look out for?

Thanks for the links, at one time I was looking at a telescope but nothing happened. It just dawned on me that I'll be moving from the smoggy poluted subburbs to the crystal clear skies of Sequim, perhaps a telescope? Dale I've owned a decent telescope for the better part of 2 decades and a microsc...

Interesting, how long the water has been standing? The first few were pretty much straight from the tank. The gif of the rotifier was about 30 minutes later and which point I had stained the slide with some Methylene blue (just experimenting). I believe he is dying here because I've observed a few ...

Oh and I nearly overlooked this little guy stuck to some debris. Two big spikes at the back and lots of cilia at the front that directed into it's mouth. A rotifer?

https://gfycat.com/DizzyRegalBrownbear

Wow! Thanks a lot guys. Terrific advice. I took a scraping from some sludge of a leaf in there and it was teaming with interesting stuff. Loads of different shaped algae and hundreds of those little dinoflagellate little The difference was night and day. https://i.imgur.com/uGO8vl4.png https://i.img...

I'm terribly new at this and just graduating from pre-prepared slides so please bare with me. I took a drop of water from my aquarium and put it under a cover slip. I guess all I want to know is am I actually looking at anything or have I been chasing air bubbles and scratches for the last few hours...

Arrived today - a Carson MS-160. https://i.imgur.com/mrA7j3w.png Construction is solid and I'm delighted with the image quality. Managed to take a few usable snaps of some pre prepared slides by holding my potato iPhone up to the lens. https://i.imgur.com/2e7kUYA.png https://i.imgur.com/pTXkY9d.png

Wow thanks a lot everyone. Did you order a model with a triocular body so you could attach a camera (conveniently) ? No just a binocular. I plan on making a mount for my iPhone at some point. You should also get yourself a simple stereo microscope (my humble opinion). They are not too expensive and ...

G'day. I'm a 31 year old software developer from Australia that has been looking for a new hobby. Microscopy is totally alien to me but the more I read the more I find to sink my teeth into. A few months ago I took my nephew to one of those kids science fairs and there was a display with seaweed und...