MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Creatures from my local duck pond Many, many more in the jar, I'm sure!

A rotifer:

https://youtu.be/Rhg-kiOVjJM

A half-hiding diatom:

https://youtu.be/SZKe70irA4o

A fast-moving nematode - hard to keep up with and focus on!:

https://youtu.be/qm9fvMBm5vA

https://youtu.be/FGYdRN2FUrU

Monsters of the deep!:

https://youtu.be/um2nq1RYPCE

https://youtu.be/kTyCO95Un6Q

A large protozoan:

https://youtu.be/p3nn28nihms

(Anyone know what the filaments with the moving granules are?)

https://youtu.be/3T6q3WxYw54


Well that was my Sunday afternoon fun!

Louise

Lovely shots!

DonSchaeffer wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 22, 2020 9:49 pm

Lovely shots!

Thanks, Don! Though they're not very good compared to what some other folk on here and elsewhere can produce. Just done with my humble Swift 380T plus its kit achromats for todays offering. I'm working on improving things on the Swift and on my rail system - just waiting for some parts. I'm sure I would like to have some nice Zeiss Planapos and DIC as well - maybe in my next life!

Louise

Your shots are clear and delicate. Keep it up.

DonSchaeffer wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 22, 2020 11:04 pm

Your shots are clear and delicate. Keep it up.

Thanks - though I'm a novice when it comes to recording videos via the microscope.
Louise

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You seem to have found a nice rich sample in your local duck pond!


If you want to get fine detail on some of them with the 40x you will have to put much less on the slide.

I find that grabbing some algae and tapping it lightly on the slide always dislodges an interesting thing or 3,

and one can then make sure that they are pressed up against the bottom of the cover slip which is where the objective is designed to focus.

LouiseScot wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 22, 2020 9:21 pm

https://youtu.be/p3nn28nihms

(Anyone know what the filaments with the moving granules are?)

I have seen similar thin and flexible cyanobacteria but none which appeared to have an 'internal flow', unless that is an optical illusion!

Look forward to having someone ID it!

75RR wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 23, 2020 6:13 am

.
You seem to have found a nice rich sample in your local duck pond!


If you want to get fine detail on some of them with the 40x you will have to put much less on the slide.

I find that grabbing some algae and tapping it lightly on the slide always dislodges an interesting thing or 3,

and one can then make sure that they are pressed up against the bottom of the cover slip which is where the objective is designed to focus.

LouiseScot wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 22, 2020 9:21 pm

https://youtu.be/p3nn28nihms

(Anyone know what the filaments with the moving granules are?)

I have seen similar thin and flexible cyanobacteria but none which appeared to have an 'internal flow', unless that is an optical illusion!

Look forward to having someone ID it!

Thanks! I'll bear all that in mind. I have the impression that many things are closely attached to the algae and you need something to slow them down anyway. I remember when I was little I had this even then old book which had suggestions for narcotising ciliates. I got a blank look in the Chemists when I asked for some 'cocaine hydrochloride' ha ha. I think most of the videos were taken at 10x (I should have made a note - tut!). The diatom, though, was taken at 40x. I took stills also but haven't posted them. The internal transport thing definitely isn't an illusion. I thought maybe it could be fungal? There wasn't any discernible internal compartmentalisation. If I can find some more I'll have to look with a higher power .

Louise

LouiseScot wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 23, 2020 10:26 am

I have the impression that many things are closely attached to the algae and you need something to slow them down anyway.

charlie g's slow'm down recipe: 50/50 (half specimen fluid + half 1.5% concentration methyl cellulose

Link is from a USA provider, but not suggesting you get it there, just showing that there is such a thing.

https://www.homesciencetools.com/produc ... ose-30-ml/

75RR wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 23, 2020 1:53 pm

LouiseScot wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 23, 2020 10:26 am

I have the impression that many things are closely attached to the algae and you need something to slow them down anyway.

charlie g's slow'm down recipe: 50/50 (half specimen fluid + half 1.5% concentration methyl cellulose

Link is from a USA provider, but not suggesting you get it there, just showing that there is such a thing.

https://www.homesciencetools.com/produc ... ose-30-ml/

Ok, thanks - cool! I assume the methyl cellulose is just being used as a thickener. Can get the powdered stuff quite cheaply (enough for a hundred years or more ha ha).

Louise

LouiseScot wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 23, 2020 2:33 pm

...I assume the methyl cellulose is just being used as a thickener...

yes. It increases the viscosity of the liquid but not the osmotic pressure, thus the protists can still be alive and swimming. Methyl cellulose is the "classic" protist medium.

Hobbyst46 wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 23, 2020 3:26 pm

LouiseScot wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 23, 2020 2:33 pm

...I assume the methyl cellulose is just being used as a thickener...

yes. It increases the viscosity of the liquid but not the osmotic pressure, thus the protists can still be alive and swimming. Methyl cellulose is the "classic" protist medium.

So I learnt something today! I've ordered 50g of it plus some salicylic acid as preservative.

Louise

LouiseScot wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 22, 2020 9:21 pm

(Anyone know what the filaments with the moving granules are?)

Possibly fungal?

hans wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 24, 2020 2:22 am

LouiseScot wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 22, 2020 9:21 pm

(Anyone know what the filaments with the moving granules are?)

Possibly fungal?

Thanks, Hans! 'Nuclear Dynamics' - sounds a bit like something from physics... It certainly looks similar I was thinking fungal because there were no compartments If I see it again I'll try and get a higher power recording.

Cheers

Louise

Nice work Louise, keep at it. The filaments with the granules look like Beggiatoa, a filamentous proteobacteria. The granule density varies somewhat and is likely to be sulphur. They use inorganic elements to synthesise carbohydrates, and sulphur is plentiful in semi stagnant ponds. Their rotation can give the impression of granular flow, he's a video of a densely granulated specimen I found in the sediment of my critter tank. HTH.
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Chris Dee wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 27, 2020 3:37 pm

Nice work Louise, keep at it. The filaments with the granules look like Beggiatoa, a filamentous proteobacteria. The granule density varies somewhat and is likely to be sulphur. They use inorganic elements to synthesise carbohydrates, and sulphur is plentiful in semi stagnant ponds. Their rotation can give the impression of granular flow, he's a video of a densely granulated specimen I found in the sediment of my critter tank. HTH.
.

Ok, thanks for that, Chris!

Louise