This week instead of seeing a large Nematode, I saw a large Midge which was very exciting. I took a few pictures of it too. He was just hiding around in the soil at the bottom, he was hard to see and even harder to get a picture of.  I was able to identify a Gastrotricha with the help of Dr. McFarland and the book Pennak, Robert W. Fresh-water Invertebrates of the United States. New York: Wiley, 1978. I also saw a few Snails again this week. Dr. McFarland said that he had not seen very many Gastrotricha this year and was very excited to see all the ones that were in my micro aquarium. I was unable to get a good picture of them because they were constantly moving around. 

I really enjoyed this term project and thought it was very interesting, and I am very happy I was able to participate. 

Week Three

Well again this week when I went to look at my micro aquarium and I didn't see nearly as many organisms. I do not understand why my numbers are down because the week before Dr. McFarland put in one pellet of Beta food:  "Atison's Betta Food" made by Ocean Nutrition, Aqua Pet Americas, 3528 West 500 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84104. Ingredients: Fish meal, wheat flower, soy meal, krill meal, minerals, vitamins and preservatives. Analysis: Crude Protein 36%; Crude fat 4.5%; Crude Fiber 3.5%; Moisture 8% and Ash 15%. With this added I though this would continue to provide the organisms in my aquarium with the nutrients they needed to survive. This week was a few smaller Nematodes, none of the larger ones. I also saw some Colops sp. and a few Snails and they were all very large, I could actually see they without the micro scope. 
This coming week I will take more pictures, I am hoping to take one of a large Nematode.

Week Two

This week I was able to take photos of a few of the organisms in my tank. This week it seem that the numbers of larger organisms that seemed to be taking over last week are down. I could not find the Midge that was there last week and I could only find one of the large Nematodes. I was a little upset that my numbers were down, but I am hoping next week that I will see more larger organisms.

Week One

This week we came in to look at our aquariums to see how things had change since last week. I could not believe how things had change in such a short period of time. I saw many different organisms that I was able to identify with the help of Dr. Mcfarland. I saw a Midge crawling around down in the soil at the bottom of the aquarium, he would sometimes come out a little to chew on the plant foliage. I also saw a large Snail and a small Snail crawling around on the glass. I also had two different Nematodes, last week I only spotted one and the two I saw this week were very large. I also saw a Flatworm and an Annelid, that were both very active. I also saw a Cyclops, he was moving very fast and was very hard to keep up with.

I hope to get pictures to post of all these and more very soon.

Set Up

The other day in my Botany lab i set up a micro aquarium. The aquarium is two small pieces of glass glued together with just enough room for a little water. I then added water from water source number 8, which is from the Tennessee River at boat ramp across from Knoxville sewer plant. Neyland Dr. Knox Co. Knoxville TN. Full sun exposure. French Broad and Holston Rivers water Sheds N35 56.722 W83 55.587 813 ft. McFarland,Dr. K. 2010. Botany Blog. <http://botany1112010.blogspot.com/>. Accessed 15              Oct.2010


Along with this water source I added two plants to the aquarium. I saw many different organisms swimming about in my micro aquarium when I observed it under a microscope. The one that I focused on the most was one that look almost snake like, but whipped back and forth and was transparent, I believe this was a Nematode.