Term Project Week 4

This week I have made some new discoveries. Even though the main organism of my aquarium is the astrocod, I found a new organism that I had not noticed before, the Copepod. At first, it seemed like a stationary organism but every so often it moves a couple of inches and stops again. Throughout my observations, most of my organisms prefer the mossy part of the aquarium. Also, for the first time I noticed little hairs on the backs of the Astrocod by using a deeper microscope. I also observed twice as many astrocod as the last time and they are small. They seem to be bunched together on one stem of the seeweed plant. I also observed a nematode who seems to be stuck in the mossy part of the aquarium.

Week 3 of term project

This week I noticed something strange about my aquarium. It seems as though some organisms have been brushing the bottom of the aquarium and the plant has scattered everywhere, making the aquarium cloudy with little pieces of the plant. I am noticing alot more movement this week compared to the previous week. There seem to be more astrocod moving around and they are alot smaller. Also, the food particle that was placed in the aquarium last week is now gone and the epistyllis surrounding it have moved to a different habitat. Still, movement by rotafurs, which seem to be much larger that last week.

Week 2 of term project

Epistylis Astracod

So far not much movement has been made by any organsims except for tiny worm-like organisms moving in a jerk-like motion. Seems as though the organisms I saw las week are hiding or are stationed to one spot while feeding off the the plant. The only movement so far are these tiny organisms called rotafurs, moving around in their habitat like mice. Ive spotted a few atracods who seem to be getting larger than the previous week. When adding food, I saw alot of movement, especially that of a group of epistylis(vorticella). They have these long strings attached to them and they can move any way they please.

Week 1 of term project

In week one, on tuesday October 21, 2008, of observation, I filled my microaquarium with water and plants A and B. When first looking under the microscope I immediately noticed an organism called a Nematode moving around its habitat in a snake-like motion. It did not seem to have a habitat preference as it moved around the flowering plant. Also, I noticed many stationary organisms such as a leech, who seemed to be making a jerking motion as if it were stuck, like what most leeches do, to one of the stems of the plant. Numerous Cladocerain and Astracod appeared in all habitats of the microaquarium. Smaller organisms seemed as thought they were feeding off of the stationary organisms. I also noticed tiny organisms inside, I guess, the astracod, however im not sure about that observation.