MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Thank you photomicro and Hobbyst46. That answers my questions.

Having been in a similar boat in the past, I agree with farnsy. I was unsure if a used scope would be okay so went with a new Chinese scope some years ago (wasn't aware of this forum at the time). And although it has been a decent scope (with some upgrades, excellent for general viewing actually), m...

My Optiphot is missing the ND16 filter. I was thinking it might be more useful to use the slot for a green filter since it reportedly gives better phase contrast images. Does anyone use the ND filters or can confirm/refute that a green filter would be worthwhile for PC? Thank you for any input. Heat...

They are scary somehow. That flagellated one you posted video of looked like something out of a microbe horror film. I eventually decided that 'mine' just had some organic matter plus a wayward diatom stuck to its posterior. Maybe it was a Pelomyxa spp? Now I've forgotten. It's interesting to note t...

Another exquisite image!

According to that recently posted microbe paper on climate change, diatoms perform 25-40% of total primary production in the oceans. Impressive.

That's a cool pattern and nice coloring. Thanks for sharing.

I answered my own question - just kept lightly buffing out the oil with Q-tips and Purosol Optical lens cleaner and then a dry Q-tip in between runs.

Incidentally I've found Purosol followed by Sparkle for the final pass is a really nice one-two punch for optics cleaning.

Thank you, 75RR and PeteM. Really good information, especially on lens direction and orientation. The reticle was loose and fell out, probably from the exciting shipping excursion. I managed to get one apart and it's a contained lens canister so fairly easy. The other one has what looks like supergl...

There isn't much info available on disassembling eyepieces for more thorough cleaning. The Nikon Optiphot CWF eyepieces look like they come apart with a spanner wrench. Is disassembly a bad idea with unseen pitfalls or reasonably manageable? The wrench would unscrew a collar that holds the top lens ...

Thanks to MichaelG via an older posting, here is the Nikon repair manual. I thought it might be worth reposting the link here because it was a bit difficult to find a free version.

https://lavinia.as.arizona.edu/~mtuell/ ... 20BODY.pdf

I attendend a meeting of a nature protection organisation, our University and our society yesterday where a desmidicea monitoring program for our region was installed. Our university has one of the biggest live collections of desmidiaceae world wide and know how to handle them properly. Unfortunatl...

Thank you, gastrotrichman.

Thank you Hobbyst46 and KurtM for the links - I'll be viewing them shortly.

And thank you apochronaut and Scarodactyl - I'll keep my eye out for nice additions to this scope. Sorry I missed that lamp house and good to know about the UW head.

Thank you Hobbyst46, Microbob, and PeteM. I'm admittedly excited about this scope and will take your suggestions to heart. Here begins my love affair with Nikon. Everything moves smoothly but due to its nature, the fine focus is a question mark - Microbob's flashlight idea is smart and will let me c...

I bought a phase contrast Optiphot on eBay from a seller who said he didn't know anything about scopes, etc, etc. - probably a mistake I won't make again - if only because when the box arrived it looked like it had been through a war and the scope was not secured. Oh boy. I was prepared to have a fu...

That's a very interesting Amoeba and a nice image.

The Cell Biology book I'm reading states that Amoebas have over 10 to the 11th power of nucleotide pairs per haploid genome. As a comparison, humans have between 10 to the 9th and 10th nucleotide pairs per haploid genome. Interesting.

In looking for information on this crash and the fate of the tardies, I discovered video compilations of astronauts falling on the moon. Rather ironic, in a way, that the disoriented, stumbling and bumbling astronauts look a little like tardigrades themselves.

An interesting article. Symbiosis isn't the norm for fungi, highly intolerant of other colonies. A side effect of their chemical warfare can be very desirable. https://www.ukfungusday.co.uk/blog/fungus-wars The secondary metabolites used in such warfare are being researched actively. Without them w...

It's interesting that microbes routinely cooperate to increase the survival of both species. How much slower might evolution have been if there were only destructive tendencies between individuals and species? Perhaps there wouldn't have been much advancement in evolution at all. Here's a fungus and...

Not too small for the seed ? Forgot to mention - it was almost transparent Surprisingly, no. Using a stage micrometer, the grass seeds measure out to the same dimensions you noted: ~ 0.5 mm long x 0.25 mm wide. They are teeny tiny seeds, but not quite as pointed on the one end as your 'thing' is. I...

These look similar in size, shape, and color to sedge grass seeds (species info unknown) that I collected today alongside the pond. The tiny seeds were contained inside larger black husks, which I initially mistook for the seeds. I did not see hexagonal patterning but didn't look that closely either...

That is one amazing amoeba. Is the flagellum for sensory purposes or to aid in motility somehow?

I'd be scared if I was a nearby microbe that couldn't get out of the way.

That's a nice website. Thanks for linking to it.

I was surprised to find this encapsulated rotifer in a pond sample and wondering what would cause it to go into this state in a presumably sustaining environment. Interestingly it was moving its jaws periodically, as if ruminating. You can just make out the red eyespot, though it looks brown in the ...

Amazon has them: https://www.amazon.com/Penn-Plax-Terrarium-Planting-Waterfall/dp/B01MTKXJ6K/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=aqua+terrarium&qid=1565403602&s=gateway&sr=8-2 I went with the medium. There are some negative reviews but so far it seems like a decent set up. The main mistake people are making is tryi...

Bob, The pond is currently at 67 F (apx 20 C). Maybe the algae is due to the pond being man made and rather small at perhaps 200 - 250 gallons. But the non-motile algae thrive so wildly that they live in communal clumps on the sides of the pond, making it hard to tell one species from another. We've...

My pond is a little out of control, microbe-wise, so I thought it would be fun to start an indoor aquarium. This one is more of an aqua-terrarium that makes pleasing fountain noises. Is anyone else growing an indoor microbe farm? Any tips, thoughts etc.? This one is not established yet - just arrive...

Truly amazing. Thanks for sharing.

Your images look much nicer than the ones online too.

I think that looks really good for a microbe moving around in a cavity slide. The colors are very nice too.

Thanks very much for the response mrsonchus. Sounds like either one will work very well.


Heather