Are these cells!?

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Jehan
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Are these cells!?

#1 Post by Jehan » Mon Mar 29, 2021 2:04 pm

Hi All, as part of my job I need to tell if there are cells inside a water tank that is supposed to be sterile. Having very little experience with microscopes I am not sure what I am seeing here. This is the sample I collected from the tank under 1000X magnification.

Image


Can anyone tell me if these are cells or how I can go about to confirm if it is? Could it be air bubbles, clusters of dirt or something else perhaps? Any help will be appreciated.

I find it very interesting looking at this, only I know so little about it! Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks in advance

DonSchaeffer
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Re: Are these cells!?

#2 Post by DonSchaeffer » Mon Mar 29, 2021 2:10 pm

You do show bacteria, the rods. There is one mass that looks like a amoeba.

Jehan
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Re: Are these cells!?

#3 Post by Jehan » Mon Mar 29, 2021 2:17 pm

Thanks DonScaeffer. If there are bacteria and an amoeba it means their experiment failed which is bad news. Do you think one can be quite certain by looking at this image?

DonSchaeffer
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Re: Are these cells!?

#4 Post by DonSchaeffer » Mon Mar 29, 2021 2:27 pm

No, I can't be certain. I am pretty sure about the bacteria. is anything moving?

Jehan
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Re: Are these cells!?

#5 Post by Jehan » Mon Mar 29, 2021 3:57 pm

I did see some small things quickly moving back and forth, up and down somewhere else in the sample, but on this frame I did not notice anything moving.

DonSchaeffer
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Re: Are these cells!?

#6 Post by DonSchaeffer » Mon Mar 29, 2021 5:58 pm

May I ask what the sample is? Bacteria tend to make jerky movements.

Leitzcycler
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Re: Are these cells!?

#7 Post by Leitzcycler » Mon Mar 29, 2021 6:37 pm

Is this a direct sample of water from a tank supposed to be sterile? Direct microscopy of water (or any solution) is by no means a method testing a sample sterility. You need to make a culture from a representative water sample and if something grows, then go to microscopy, and/or use some rapid biochemical test kit. Sterile means that there is absolutely no living organisms and it is not easy to achieve. Water is sterile only if you autoclave it or use sterile filtration and keep your bottle tightly closed. Or use high radiation to kill all organisms :) . If none of these methods has been used, your water tank is not sterile for sure.

DonSchaeffer
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Re: Are these cells!?

#8 Post by DonSchaeffer » Mon Mar 29, 2021 10:17 pm

I think it's likely there are bacteria at least. Those round things could be related to spores. It doesn't look sterile to me.

Greg Howald
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Re: Are these cells!?

#9 Post by Greg Howald » Tue Mar 30, 2021 2:03 am

I must agree with Don. This sample is by no means sterile.
Greg

Jehan
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Re: Are these cells!?

#10 Post by Jehan » Tue Mar 30, 2021 11:33 am

Thanks for all your inputs.

Let me try to explain a bit better. I was probably using the word sterile wrongly. Strictly speaking the tank does not have to be sterile only free from any organisms that could be visible to the naked eye in large numbers. Things like algae. The tank is made of glass and used for displaying purified water. The water is purified by Reverse Osmosis and UV disinfected so it should not contain viable organisms. The tank is completely sealed except for an air vent which is covered by a 0.1 micron air filter. Initially the tank was disinfected with ozone for a day to kill off organisms inside. Now this is probably not equivalent to sterilization, but we were hoping to destroy all the problematic organisms by this.

For the test we've added some fertilizer (which was also disinfected with ozone inside the tank) to speed up algae growth. Our control tank did not receive ozone disinfection and is open to the environment. The control tank became green after about one week. After more than four weeks the disinfected tank was still clear, except for a very thin white-ish layer of something on the surface of the water. So I took a sample of this layer to view under the microscope, trying to establish if it consists of living organisms or possibly just some of the fertilizer that started floating on the water.

We do not mind bacteria and other organisms in the water as long as they will not form colonies that are visible to the naked eye. Currently our tanks are not disinfected and does occasionally show a little algae growth (even without any fertilizer). We are looking for a solution to this without affecting the taste or health properties of the water. If we can kill all problematic organisms inside the tank and keep them out, we have a solution. But as you have pointed out, we are not there yet.

Greg Howald
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Re: Are these cells!?

#11 Post by Greg Howald » Tue Mar 30, 2021 12:03 pm

I wonder about the possibility of your circulating the water in the tank through a u/v light source. Just a thought but you could look into the effectiveness of such an item. There's tons of literature concerning the use of u/v light to help purify water from a well to make it fit for human consumption.
Greg

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