MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Thanks ImperatorRex !

Thanks Michael. Happy New Year !

That is cool looking ! Reminds me of the rabbit costume in the movie Donnie Darko

I gotta say Wes, these images are beautiful and very interesting. I'm pretty sure fluorescence isn't for me but I really enjoy looking at what you've done !

I haven't posted or been on the forum in a while because I sold my BHS/BH2 and procured a Nikon TMD DIC inverted and have been learning the ins and outs of this new scope. Anyways I found this super fast, kind of creepy amoeboid in a sample from my pond aquarium. It is the fastest amoeboid I have se...

Very nice! I wonder how the individual images (stack components) look like. The 63X has a very shallow depth of focus; on the other hand the diatom is flat and optimally mounted (probably), so... Beautiful and amazing as usual 75 ! I would be very interested to also see one of the stack components,...

This will be my first winter observing microbes in the pond, so it will be interesting to see how the organisms adapt to the cold. Today was supposed to be my day to play with the microscope, but instead someone decided to dump two kittens in front of my house. They promptly lodged themselves insid...

lperepol wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 04, 2019 1:47 pm

Similar discussion:
viewtopic.php?t=3482

A very educational discussion ^^ .

Very nice video 75 ! The superb resolution nicely illustrates the kineties. I love that Frontonia are so colorful.

I'm going to try and let a greater amount of sample water warm up in the hopes that this will be a gradual warm up as opposed to a drop on a slide. I've noticed something similar lately and am interested in your findings on this warming method. It also seems like there's less protist diversity in p...

timurkhaz wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 31, 2019 6:54 pm

It's my first amoeba, I've never seen such creatures before

I think you will find that your fascination with amoebas will continue to grow

Terrific video. :) I'm not great with amoebae, but it seems to be a dactylopodid ( Mayorella , Korotnevella , etc.) Broad cell with conical pseudopods, nucleus has a strong nucleolus. Very nice ! Those two ciliates were trying to steal the show ! Both are heterotrophic flagellates. :D The narrower ...

Thanks Kurt-- For some odd reason I just noticed your post. I just sent you a PM.

charlie g wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 03, 2019 7:11 pm

Thanks, mintakax, for a great encounter..is the illumination method a type of phase-contrast? Please speak a bit on this illumination method you used. thanls, Charlie guevara

Thank you Charlie-- This is straight DIC. I adjust the prism to get the best contrast between subject and background.

Methyl cellulose (MC) and similar chemicals (CMC) are known and well established. However, there is another (commercial) possibility: A relatively benign powder named Polyox WSR301. It has been studied in an article from 1977 by Dr. DM Spoon, and was shown to excel in slowing the motion of protozoa...

Nice Chris, thanks ! I like these critters, they look like they are smiling !

Very nice ! Those two ciliates were trying to steal the show !

Man o man ... these are beautiful !! Thanks 75'

I didn't notice any increase in mortality over the base sample water mintakax. There were only a few exhibiting this behaviour over 4 examined slides, all the others were going about their business happily at reduced speed. Purchased from eBay, it was advertised as 'Refined Methylcellulose' from an...

Chris-- Was this a commercial preparation ? The reason I ask is I have purchased MC from two different companies and both have killed most of the protists within minutes. This video shows what happened, second half of vid shows rupture in cell membrane: https://vimeo.com/368305002 I contacted the se...

Thanks so much mrsonchus and einman !

MicroBob wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 29, 2019 7:47 am

As far as I know ciliates live in a certain cycle over the year. Is it possible, that his is just what happens with them when put under a cover slip in fall time?
Maybe you caught them on the wrong foot in their winter preparation.

Interesting consideration Bob, thanks.

Usually the contraction frequency of the contractile vacuole speeds up , prior to such events. Did this happen? There is in fact no cell wall , just a fragile cell membrane , with everything held together by a critical control of the internal osmotic pressure. As difficulty in regulating the osmoti...

Chris Dee wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 29, 2019 3:38 pm

And always when your finger is on the shutter release. Great vid, thanks for sharing.

Thanks Chris !

PeteM wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 29, 2019 8:40 pm

Makes me think the "transformers" kids play with aren't entirely science fiction . . .

I love the transformer analogy !

Some ciliates can jump so quickly that it looks like they're teleporting! :D I cant believe how far away this creature jumped, it was seriously 2/3 the length of the slide. Makes me wonder how much "relative" vertical space there is under that slip cover. There was a fair bit of sand in that sample...

MicroBob wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 29, 2019 6:23 pm

Great Find!
I have never seen this before. It looks completely different from the side.
Also very quick are these vorticella: https://vimeo.com/263421396

Bob

Thanks Bob-- Wow 1200fps ! Thats serious high speed. Sometimes I try and record at 60 fps, but then cant do 4K.

Fun! This is the ciliate Mesodinium . What you were seeing as pseudopods are the long cirri around its "waist," and a set of specialized stiff cirri called "jumping bristles." As you can see, they work pretty well. :D I think the cirri are a bit frayed, which is why they look like they are "branchi...

That was surprising! Great catch and great video. Any idea of its size? Thanks 75RR-- There is a few seconds of a size metric at the beginning, but I would say the top view of the spherical shell is about 20um, the total size including pseudopods is ~60um. When walking, the length of the test is ~2...

This has to be one of the coolest, weirdest and most unexpected things I've seen since I bought my microscope. I was watching what I thought was a nuclearia (branched, not stiff pseudopods with no extrusions) when the pseudopods started to pulse... then the organism just disappeared (first clip in v...