Our tank's biology up close

[jason2459]

A few weeks ago my microscope broke. It wasn't as old as PaulB's relic (I think he calls it an antique) but it was several decades old. So, I was then overwhelmed and excited with all the new options out there today and got a trinocular microscope with a 5MP camera. 40-2500x. Much stronger then I was using before.

I love looking at this stuff and now I can easily take pictures and videos of it all. Figured I'd share and maybe someone else might enjoy. I'll post stuff up periodically. Since there's no biology section I figure the Chemistry section will have to do... ha!

Cyano and some of the creatures living in it.

Sample was maybe around 1mm

~40x

Can see the blurry swirls of the bigger creature I got images of in the next post.

 

[jason2459]

~100x

The cyano strands are constantly moving weaving in and out of themselves.

Biggest of the critters moving through the cyano and assume eating it

 

[jason2459]

~400x

Two of those right next to each other.

 

[jason2459]

~1000x (at 2500x I could see a ton of micro organisms but the camera is limited to 1000x right now with my setup but a lot more life can be seen)


In the thick of it. Above was on the edges. This looked like snakes intertwining

Few critters here

This would twist like a corkscrew to move

There was a lot of these swimming around

See if you can find it in the next two pictures. This very thin filament shoots across almost like its charged with electricity and corkscrewing at the same time. Very excited critter.

 

[jason2459]

Then also saw a lot single celled organisms and protists with flagellates I don't think the camera was able to pick up as I saw it with the 25x WF lens in at 2500x. Spent many hours exploring that tiny sample of cyano last night. I'll see what I can do for the video taken.

 

[shornik]

Very cool, I've always thought of doing this. Thanks for sharing.

 

[fragit]

Yes thanks for sharing that's really cool.

 

[twilliard]

Did you use any color dye?

 

[jason2459]

Thanks and thanks.

Did you use any color dye?

No I didn't for this sample. I was able to see more then enough life moving around I was so excited to get so up close with and forgot all about it at the end. I totally didn't eat dinner till like 2am. I think I'm going to sample some white bacteria I have plenty of in my sump from carbon dosing next. I'll probably use Methylene blue for that.


Edit: I did manipulate the diaphragm and condenser to improve contrast here and there though.


This is the microscope and kit I got. My kids had fun with the kit and prepared slides.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01BPJJ70I?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Very nice.

 

[jason2459]

Very nice.

Thanks! I love this stuff and hope you don't mind a little biology in your chemistry forum. I did mention I'll be using a chemical stain...

 

[Rybren]

Thanks for sharing. Great pictures. I've been thinking of getting a digital microscope and this sealed the deal for me

 

[jason2459]

Thanks for sharing. Great pictures. I've been thinking of getting a digital microscope and this sealed the deal for me

Thanks. It's great having that digital camera. I can capture and look back now and the kids love it as they can see on my laptop display. Though my son still likes looking in the eye pieces.

 

[brandon429]

excellence
the cyano pics
there are cell walls in that pic and organelle packets and chlorophyll et al?

that's not to say it didn't come from a patch of cyano, but wow that looks like algae and communities of more than one invader in a patch are routine, just musing. I was expecting oil immersion microscopy to be required to see the monera but that could be wrong, all I have is an antique one too at 100x max.

 

[McMullen]

Incredible!! Please keep this up!

 

[jason2459]

excellence
the cyano pics
there are cell walls in that pic and organelle packets and chlorophyll et al?

that's not to say it didn't come from a patch of cyano, but wow that looks like algae and communities of more than one invader in a patch are routine, just musing. I was expecting oil immersion microscopy to be required to see the monera but that could be wrong, all I have is an antique one too at 100x max.

Could be. But also to note those pictures in post 2 and 3 were fairly dried out at that time and cells were breaking apart. Otherwise those larger long creatures were way to fast to get a clear picture like that. Video I still need to edit and compress to upload shows them moving all around in the cyano and possibly, just my guess, eating it.

The 1000x is with oil immersion. The camera setup seems to me very similar to having the 10x WF eye pieces in.

There was definitely a lot of life in that 1 little millimeter.

Edit: in the first picture you can see one of those almost right in the middle. I's a blur that curves around on top. It curves around in and out of it a lot.

Incredible!! Please keep this up!

Thanks! I will be working on the video first and then taking some more samples and will be sure to share them in this thread. I was thinking the white bacteria strands in my sump but also very curious about sampling some skimmate that's very thick in my collection cup as I haven't cleaned it out in many many months as it drains to a 5g bucket and have a neck cleaner which is another "experiment" I'm doing called laziness.

 

[McMullen]

That's my favorite experiment!

 

[jason2459]

Here's the pic highlighting

Now this thing was funny. It would switch directions all the time zipping all around spiraling very fast to move. It seemed stiff but flexible if that makes sense like lightning. It seemed very energetic like it was charged with electricity.

 

[jason2459]

Uploading first video that's really not good at all. I haven't had a chance to look at all the videos yet but this is the only one that got copied over to a drive I can get to to edit the video. This was originally over 5 minutes long and a LOT more movement and blurring. I'll have to keep in mind the 16fps of the video at the higher resolution next time. I was just concentrating at exploring the sample and taking a few pictures. Hopefully the other videos are a bit better and I'll try better next time.

It's not fully uploaded yet but says this is the url for it. So should be live in the next 20 minutes or so.

 

[AlexStinson]

Super cool post! Makes me want a microscope to play with!