New water sample, wow!

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Jimbo
Posts: 86
Joined: Wed Mar 10, 2021 12:04 am
Location: N. Central Illinois

New water sample, wow!

#1 Post by Jimbo » Wed May 12, 2021 5:16 pm

My wife drove me to the local pond 2 days ago for a new water sample. I love my koi pond in the back yard, but I wanted to see some new species. I wasn’t disappointed.
I have seen many Euglena in my old samples, but I saw a trophy sized one in the new water. I’m talking “mount it and hang it on the wall” big! It must be a different species. Then a Gastrotrich, which was quite hard to follow. They are smaller than I imagined.
The star of the show is Dileptus(?) . I don’t think it was Lachrymaria olor because the “trunk” wasn’t very active. It also had an indentation where the “mouth” would be at the base of the trunk. Dark field really showed the cilia well. I saw my first Arcella yesterday. I watched it for quite a while to make sure. It had the doughnut look...dark brown ring around a lighter brown center. Eventually the pseudopods were visible as I tweaked the light intensity and the iris. Also there were lots of Rotifers , but a different species I think. They don’t have much of trunk and they don’t have the usual 2 big Coronas, Basically a short trunk, pointy tail and a little cilia out of the top,
Also saw just over half of a Closterium. It had the bad fortune to get caught on the edge of the cover slip. It was cool to see those little beads in the end. I think they are Boron? It’s cool to see something and know it’s only 2 microns wide!
Can’t wait to get back to this water sample later today. This hobby is full of surprises!
Out... Jim.

DonSchaeffer
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Joined: Sun Mar 22, 2020 10:06 am
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Re: New water sample, wow!

#2 Post by DonSchaeffer » Wed May 12, 2021 5:20 pm

Wow! I have no wife and no pond. Best wishes.

Jimbo
Posts: 86
Joined: Wed Mar 10, 2021 12:04 am
Location: N. Central Illinois

Re: New water sample, wow!

#3 Post by Jimbo » Wed May 12, 2021 6:32 pm

Sorry, Don. I know that I’m very blessed in some ways surely. My burdens are just different. Isn’t there a pond that you can get to locally ?

DonSchaeffer
Posts: 3252
Joined: Sun Mar 22, 2020 10:06 am
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Re: New water sample, wow!

#4 Post by DonSchaeffer » Wed May 12, 2021 6:46 pm

Yes. I can get a ride to a park with a number of ponds. I'm 81 and twice a widower. I'm fine.

Jimbo
Posts: 86
Joined: Wed Mar 10, 2021 12:04 am
Location: N. Central Illinois

Re: New water sample, wow!

#5 Post by Jimbo » Wed May 12, 2021 10:00 pm

Good to know you’re ok, Don. BTW, really enjoyed today’s video. So much activity in the “mud puddle “!

DonSchaeffer
Posts: 3252
Joined: Sun Mar 22, 2020 10:06 am
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Re: New water sample, wow!

#6 Post by DonSchaeffer » Thu May 13, 2021 1:06 pm

thanks!

farnsy
Posts: 209
Joined: Mon Jun 17, 2019 9:03 pm
Location: Fort Worth, Texas

Re: New water sample, wow!

#7 Post by farnsy » Mon May 17, 2021 12:29 am

Cool stuff. I wonder if it would make sense to seed your pond with some water from this other source to get more variety at home. Or do they just kind of spread in the wind?

I'm going to start up a little fish tank with a few plants, trying to get a decent source of protazoa I can easily get to. I'm going to throw water from various sources into it to make sure there is at least some variety. It's always a pain when I take a look at water and can't find anything but little oval ciliates and stringy bacteria.

Jimbo
Posts: 86
Joined: Wed Mar 10, 2021 12:04 am
Location: N. Central Illinois

Re: New water sample, wow!

#8 Post by Jimbo » Mon May 17, 2021 12:34 pm

farnsy,
Seeding my koi pond is something that I have considered, however I’m unsure as to the consequences. For example, if I have a pond with a lot of Paramecium and I introduced Didinium ,the Paramecium would be all eaten. I think I will start a new thread about critter care. I would like to have different species in different jars, if possible.
Jim.

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Rossf
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Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2020 12:39 am
Location: Victoria Australia

Re: New water sample, wow!

#9 Post by Rossf » Fri May 28, 2021 8:10 am

Hey Jimbo I’ve had a similar experience recently-found a nice billabong in the bush and took samples from different areas, some of the clay botttom and algae-finally got to see a volvox-they are cool-also the amoebas adamantly refused to settle on the slide and just continued free forming in mid water like ballerinas-only downside to this new source of critters is that when I got back to my car I realise my legs were just covered in leaches!-my apologies to Don for that last sentence! I’m setting up a very ad hoc plankton aquarium where I’m just gonna seed it with anything new I find and see what happens-
Regards ross

Jimbo
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Joined: Wed Mar 10, 2021 12:04 am
Location: N. Central Illinois

Re: New water sample, wow!

#10 Post by Jimbo » Sat May 29, 2021 3:48 pm

Ross, sorry for your leech experience, Yikes!
Thanks for making me google billabong, just learned something today! Maybe you could buy some waders?
I like the idea of getting a small 1-2 gallon aquarium and putting all jars into one vessel and not introducing my samples to the outside environment. I have put slides with lots of protists into jars that lack species , but the jars never leave my house.
I think I saw Volvox once, but it was a brief glimpse. Mine was much smaller than I thought they would be.
I like amoebas when they are free swimming, and it does remind me of ballerinas!
Jim.

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