MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Hi all,

I'm thinking of making some of those slides that use petroleum jelly to seal the edge so they don't dry out so fast.

Thing is, I've also noticed that I need to leave the lid off the pond water sample if I don't want it to go anaerobic. Currently there's quite a nice little ecosystem pottering along there.

So putting those two facts together, I'm wondering if, over time, the thin film of water under the coverslip will suffer from deoxygenation, thus killing the very life I'm trying to observe. I have an LED illuminator, so there's no heat to speak of.

Best,

Markus

Hi Markus. I can't give you a specific answer. No doubt there will be a loss of oxygen but it should last longer than the 15 or so minutes with out the petroleum seal. It may be possible to penetrate the petroleum seal with a small hypodermic and force a few air bubbles into the sample. Micscape has a few articles on making mini aquariums from slides you might find useful. I'm sure some one here has a more reasonable suggestion and hopefully this may help keep the thread active.

jim