Where To Find Cyanobacteria

[MicroscopyLearning]

Hello. Does anyone have a recommendations on where to find cyanobacteria. What are some common signs that might indicate their presence?

[dtsh]

Hello. Does anyone have a recommendations on where to find cyanobacteria. What are some common signs that might indicate their presence?

I believe anywhere there is light and the oxygen levels are lower, you will be likely to find some, so slow moving warmer water or anything poorly aerated. Easiest would probably to put a jar of water with a lid in a windowsill for a couple of weeks, should see it as blue-green patches. Many small ponds will have blooms in the heat of late summer.

[MicroscopyLearning]

Hello. Does anyone have a recommendations on where to find cyanobacteria. What are some common signs that might indicate their presence?

I believe anywhere there is light and the oxygen levels are lower, you will be likely to find some, so slow moving warmer water or anything poorly aerated. Easiest would probably to put a jar of water with a lid in a windowsill for a couple of weeks, should see it as blue-green patches. Many small ponds will have blooms in the heat of late summer.

Are there enough of the cyanobacteria in the air for them to start developing in the jar? And put the lid on and not off, correct? Also, should I add any kind of nutrients to the water?

[dtsh]

Hello. Does anyone have a recommendations on where to find cyanobacteria. What are some common signs that might indicate their presence?

I believe anywhere there is light and the oxygen levels are lower, you will be likely to find some, so slow moving warmer water or anything poorly aerated. Easiest would probably to put a jar of water with a lid in a windowsill for a couple of weeks, should see it as blue-green patches. Many small ponds will have blooms in the heat of late summer.

Are there enough of the cyanobacteria in the air for them to start developing in the jar? And put the lid on and not off, correct? Also, should I add any kind of nutrients to the water?

My experience has been just about every container of non-sterilized water which isn't aerated and left in the sunlight has eventually grown them. They needn't be tightly sealed as I've grown them in an open jar which has sat mostly undisturbed in a windowsill, but I *believe* sealing a jar of non-treated water will help deplete the available oxygen, which should be a boon to them. I'm sure others have better methods, mine are merely the result of accidentally growning cyanobacteria and dealing with them as an indicator of poor water quality.

[Alexander]

Hello. Does anyone have a recommendations on where to find cyanobacteria. What are some common signs that might indicate their presence?

Have a careful look into your bathroom. Are there any red or blue patches in the shower?

[MicroscopyLearning]

Hello. Does anyone have a recommendations on where to find cyanobacteria. What are some common signs that might indicate their presence?

Have a careful look into your bathroom. Are there any red or blue patches in the shower?

Yes. I think I know what you are talking about. Currently I do not see any, but I will look elsewhere.

[Wes]

Put some soil in a jar with a bit of rain water. Add liquid plant fertilizer (may not be required depending on how nutritious the soil is). Close the jar and leave it somewhere warm with enough indirect sunlight.

[actinophrys]

Like others have said, it's not difficult to grow some cyanobacteria. If it ever helps, though, you can also find places where they've grown into visible mats and films. I have had luck finding them at the edges of marshes and lakes, where they are generally darker than green algae, and whenever I have seen a puddle with greenish growth or bubbles at the bottom, it has turned out to be a sheet of cyanobacteria.



Depending on where you are, you might have to wait until spring for those...but then the perk is not only do you get cyanobacteria, you also end up with other things like nassulids that live with them.

[MicroscopyLearning]

I believe anywhere there is light and the oxygen levels are lower, you will be likely to find some, so slow moving warmer water or anything poorly aerated. Easiest would probably to put a jar of water with a lid in a windowsill for a couple of weeks, should see it as blue-green patches. Many small ponds will have blooms in the heat of late summer.

Are there enough of the cyanobacteria in the air for them to start developing in the jar? And put the lid on and not off, correct? Also, should I add any kind of nutrients to the water?

My experience has been just about every container of non-sterilized water which isn't aerated and left in the sunlight has eventually grown them. They needn't be tightly sealed as I've grown them in an open jar which has sat mostly undisturbed in a windowsill, but I *believe* sealing a jar of non-treated water will help deplete the available oxygen, which should be a boon to them. I'm sure others have better methods, mine are merely the result of accidentally growning cyanobacteria and dealing with them as an indicator of poor water quality.

Can this be done with water from the tap and with a small amount of dirt added?

[MicroscopyLearning]

Like others have said, it's not difficult to grow some cyanobacteria. If it ever helps, though, you can also find places where they've grown into visible mats and films. I have had luck finding them at the edges of marshes and lakes, where they are generally darker than green algae, and whenever I have seen a puddle with greenish growth or bubbles at the bottom, it has turned out to be a sheet of cyanobacteria.



Depending on where you are, you might have to wait until spring for those...but then the perk is not only do you get cyanobacteria, you also end up with other things like nassulids that live with them. :)

Thank you for the suggestion, I have never heard of nassulids before this. Very interesting.

[josmann]

Do you live near the ocean? I find tons of oscillatoria and other cyanobacteria in the stinky, mucky shores of the SF bay.

[MicroscopyLearning]

Do you live near the ocean? I find tons of oscillatoria and other cyanobacteria in the stinky, mucky shores of the SF bay.

Where I live I cannot really access the ocean very well, but there are some streams that I could go to. Do you think that there is any substantial amount of cyanobacteria in these streams?

[josmann]

Yeah there’s cyanobacteria in all sorts of water, I’ve just noticed I get a lot of it in scummy ocean environments. It’ll manifest as green scum on hard surfaces if there’s a lot of it, but so does a lot of other algae so it’s not easy to tell until you get it under a scope. You might have the best luck in a smellier, scummier zone of more stagnant water. If you go sample collecting, bring a few jars and sample different areas - I’ve found that biodiversity can vary greatly over the span of just a few meters!

[DonSchaeffer]

Check the water where plants are setting to root.