MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Hi everyone!

Weird title, I know, but I'm 100% serious.

I wanna know if anyone gets weirdly attatched to the microbes on their slide, cause that's turning out to be quite a problem for me.

As I'm typing this, I'm crying my eyes out because a slide full of Coleps, Vorticella and rotifers just dried and killed everyone there. I feel HORRIBLE letting this kind of thing happen but it would kill me inside to rinse my slides in tap water or rubbing alcohol.

I really don't know what to do. How do you guys deal with this sort of thing? Is this a problem for anyone else?

Thanks,
~ Tenshi

I harden my heart.
Sometimes I try to squeeze them back into the jar I got them from.
Do you feel that the microbes are aware or have a sense of life? I think we vastly underestimate them.
I know how you feel. It's an impossible problem unless we can figure out a way of going to them rather then bringing them to us. Fee Fie Foe Fum!
.
I spend most of time looking at pieces of plants.

tabkiel wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 18, 2020 4:37 pm

I really don't know what to do

Put the slide in a humidity chamber. Not only you save your beloved microbes but they can actually develop on the slide providing you with more insight on your next observation.

A humidity chamber!! That's perfect, thank you so much Wes! My little friends are going to be so happy!!

Is there a way to DIY one or do you have to buy it?

Thank you!
~ Tenshi

Thanks for the reply Don!

I'm very emotional by nature and get attached to the weirdest things, so it's quite hard to just tell myself "they won't feel, care or know".

As for your question, I know that, scientifically, they really won't feel, care or know if they live or die but I do believe, spiritually, there's something greater than all of us driving these little guys forward, much like it drives us forward.

Sorry for the sudden spiritualness, I just feel it correlates to my love for microbes!

~ Tenshi

Its basically a container, like a petri dish, with some wet tissue (e.g. moist napkin). When the humidity reaches 100% it means the air can't hold more water vapour because its saturated and therefore the water in your sample cannot evaporate. Now if you don't want to observe your microbes later but just keep them alive you can rinse the slides with some water and collect the wash in a jar.

tabkiel wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 18, 2020 5:41 pm

Thanks for the reply Don!

I'm very emotional by nature and get attached to the weirdest things, so it's quite hard to just tell myself "they won't feel, care or know".

As for your question, I know that, scientifically, they really won't feel, care or know if they live or die but I do believe, spiritually, there's something greater than all of us driving these little guys forward, much like it drives us forward.

Sorry for the sudden spiritualness, I just feel it correlates to my love for microbes!

~ Tenshi

When I was a small boy, I became friends with a small piece of paper. I cried like mad when my parents wanted to throw it away.

Rescuing a slide's denizens can be problematic if one has used oil objectives,

if however one has only used dry objectives then dipping the cover slip and the slide (separate them first),

in the sample jar will return most of them to their new home.

I also thought it was hard at first but then realized that every time I go out and walk in a pool of water or walk on moss, or wash my hands in a lake, the list can be made long. In other words, you probably kill millions of these wonderful microbes wherever you are or whatever you do ... //KD

If they had their choice they would eat you.

tabkiel wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 18, 2020 4:37 pm

Hi everyone!

Weird title, I know, but I'm 100% serious.

I wanna know if anyone gets weirdly attatched to the microbes on their slide, cause that's turning out to be quite a problem for me.

[…]

~ Tenshi

I think you might find this previous discussion of interest, Tenshi

viewtopic.php?f=25&t=7795&p=68612&hilit=buddhist#p68612

MichaelG.

just play that song from 'Dope" in the background.

Science is now coming to believe that even plants think.
One thing is certain. When a predator is after a microbe the microbe tries to run away or strains to get free.
That means that the itty bitty bug expresses fear and may experience pain.
That is an emotional reaction to the encounter with a physical being or object. People are arguing about whether or not that reaction is the result of thought.
The jury is out and has been for years, but even these tiny critters fight for life.

You are attempting not only to enjoy this experience but also to learn. Decisions can be hard to make.
Greg

What a strange thought. Maybe we should let those pesky microbes have their freedom to do as they (want? will !!!) and let Covid, Dengi, Sars etc, have the freedom to do as they see fit.
Wolves will lick your hand, bears will eat your food (and probably you) and bacteria will dissolve your flesh.
Life is hard and doesn't care what you think or feel, emotionally or physically.
Personally I don't look at animal life under the microscope or at the videos here on this website that show animal life (it gives me the 'creeps').
Feel free to let them go, if that's what turns you on or salves your conscience, but please leave the soul searching to your personal biosphere...

Hi greg, hmm - I really don't agree at all with your logic there I'm afraid. Reactions to environmental/external factors aren't able to be simply attributed to emotional or intellectual responses....

Many non-sequiters I think.

Greg. If it bothers you stick to studying inert materials. Better yet, lock yourself away in in a sterile enclosure away from any microbes you may harm from leading a normal life. Remember not to bathe lest you destroy millions of helpless microbes daily. Don't worry, in a few days when you die (you'll not be eating and meat/plants, and no water, especially the murderous media - chlorinated tap water), and can rest peacefully as you become a human compost heap for microbes to thrive on. If the chosen container happens to be coffin shaped, this would cut down on handling thus keeping further microbe destruction to a minimum after your demise.

It doesn't bother me at all. Right now I have 50 slides curing.
I think microbes were the beginning of life on earth and will be the end of it.

With respect to the original question - you might feel a bit less empathy if you actual watch how some of these single-celled critters are ravaging one another. And, as others have said, some will have their way with us given a chance.

It has likely taken nature zillions of "experiments" for nature to create every living thing. Each a marvelous adaptation in its own way. So, there's some sense in preserving at least a few of species - let their protein sequences live on. Well, maybe secured only in a lab if it's the smallpox or polio virus. But, chances are if you find one protist in a scoop of pond water, there are a million more where that came from.

It's a cell-eat-cell jungle under a cover slip. Even some man-eaters possibly.

I don't expect anyone can talk you out of your concerns, but personally the human-on-human jungle of today's world is an orders of magnitude greater concern for me. Part of that concern should surely extend to our environment - but not likely down to every last cell. Dying cell under a cover slip? Every shower, each of us forcefully separates and then drowns some untold number of our own skin cells, bacteria in our biome, etc.

In the proper order of things, they're replaced soon enough.

Human learning and creativity is a rare and valuable commodity in the universe. You are blessed with intelligence. No moral force on earth is there to prohibit that.

Hi all!

I hadn't been keeping up with the thread, I thought it'd died. Anyway, thank you PeteM and DonSchaeffer for the kind responses, as well as everyone who suggested ways I could squeeze my friends back in the culture.

Unfortunately, I've recently had to destroy most of my cultures as they were all smelling pretty bad, so I've learned to harden my heart, though I try not to think about the little lives I dumped in the toilet.

I have found it useful to use an insulin needle to suck the water out of the slide and put it back in the culture, hope this advice helps anyone else struggling.

To those saying that "we kill thousands of microbes everyday when we shower or eat or wash our hands", you're right, I won't deny that. But please understand that the relationship I have with my microbes is very personal to me. You could say I think of them as pets of a sort. It sounds stupid to say but I really have an emotional bond with them (though it's one-sided) and I understand them as a part of me too. They fought to stay alive without ever knowing - or asking - why, and now I get to be here thanks to them and I get to ask these questions and I get to take care of them and make sure they're safe and healthy. So I want to save as many lives as I can.

I know I still have to shower and wash my hands and clean my food but that's for my survival. When it comes to my cultures, I really don't believe in killing them unnecessarily just because you have an intellect they don't.

tabkiel wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 18, 2020 8:25 pm

...But please understand that the relationship I have with my microbes is very personal to me. You could say I think of them as pets of a sort. It sounds stupid to say but I really have an emotional bond with them (though it's one-sided) and I understand them as a part of me too. They fought to stay alive without ever knowing - or asking - why, and now I get to be here thanks to them..... So I want to save as many lives as I can. have an intellect they don't.

I perfectly understand how you arrived at this point of view, once you started seeing them full size. By the way, some Stentors seem to show sort of primitive intelligence, memory, but this is not important here.
The important rationals that, I suggest, would relieve your concern are:

1. Only when there is a huge mass of them do they significantly affect nature. Our microscopy studies do not even start to scratch these numbers.
2. Your (or our) feelings towards them are extremely unilateral, they are indifferent to our existence.
and
3.

PeteM wrote:In the proper order of things, they're replaced soon enough.

That's it ! they multiply by division ! on a time scale of the order of minutes to hours, new ones are exponentially created, and they are practically identical to their predecessors.

BTW - were the bacteria destroyed (possibly!) by pouring into the toilet because they are just uninteresting creatures, relative to the cheerful lively paramecia ? is foul smell a good reason to get rid off it ? just a thought, certainly not being offensive.

I have to say they do seem kindof cute sometimes - especially rotifers, amongst others, which can seem quite purposeful. Having said that, one has to put things into perspective... Just think of all the diatoms that have lived and died and made all the huge deposits of diatomite! When I was doing post-graduate research I was unhappy about all the mice I had to (humanely) despatch, but I could cope with it by 'the end justifies the means' philosophy. However, mice are sentient beings which experienced fear and pain - probably in a similar way to us. They also can bite back - I can attest to that! But microbes are mostly single cells, though some like the rotifers are a step up the ladder. We have a microbiome that is a more or less permanent resident inside of us - millions of them must live and die in us every day. Not to mention those that dwell in rumens: no microbes - no cows!
Anyway, I think we can not let our sleep be disturbed by the microbes we sample and put on slides. It's of no consequence in the whole scheme of things!

Louise

When the slide dries out many microbes will encyst and be fine, I think. I let my microbes go when
I am done looking at them, back in the soil they came from. If something comes up, like when the tick nymph got loose and was infected with something, I will not hesitate to kill the entire slide. I grew up on a farm though, I always treat living creatures with respect, but will kill efficiently when needed. (Picking carrots, shooting steer, chopping heads off of chickens). Its not fun, but real life is not grocery stores and coffee shops, its a lot like the slide actually.

DonSchaeffer wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 18, 2020 11:43 pm

If they had their choice they would eat you.

Superb!