MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Hey,
I need some help identifying this thing I found. What i did was i took my tongue scraper and scraped my tongue with it, put the sample on a slide, stained it, and out it under 10x magnification lens. After a bit of searching around on it I came across a few of these long strand looking things. After observing them for a few minutes i noticed time to time they seemed to budge and move without me disturbing them. Would really appreciate anybody's help!

that is a small piece of fiber ; cotton or other. did you take the sample with a swab?

apochronaut wrote:that is a small piece of fiber ; cotton or other. did you take the sample with a swab?

I was thinking that at first too but i took the sample with a plastic tongue scraper and it did not come into contact with anything fibrous. Also, after letting it sit for around 20 minutes, it is still moving even though there is nothing disturbing the sample or microscope.

Looks like a piece of fiber. It can move due to movement in the fluid as it dries out. Does not look like anything (alive) I have seen.

If you are in doubt, why not recored a video clip of it? you will probably see that it is not self-propelled.