Our tank's biology up close

OP
OP
jason2459

jason2459

Not a paid scientist
View Badges
Joined
Jul 28, 2015
Messages
4,668
Reaction score
3,197
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I have what looks like a dusty dark dirt like area on my substrate where my last bit of cyano was during my Vibrant testing and I wanted to see what all was there.

df909157adb89f8b8eac4dafd51f0719.jpg


66de080a9d3d64c8ceb9f239d9cb8314.jpg


ef02ac2afa2758231f98894acd61cc72.jpg


Pics and vids uploading. I will give a little spoiler because I was very excited to find them. I finally found a couple ostracods with eggs. Very cool looking.
 
OP
OP
jason2459

jason2459

Not a paid scientist
View Badges
Joined
Jul 28, 2015
Messages
4,668
Reaction score
3,197
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
So, it mostly looked like well... dirt. It was a lot of detritus with some cyano, diatoms, sponge spicules, lots of bacteria of different types etc. Normal detritus stuff I see.

But I did find some cool stuff.

I followed this little ciliate for quite some time. It was very excited spinning very fast.
Dirt_on_Sand-0013 by Jason, on Flickr


Some cyano but not a lot
Dirt_on_Sand-0015 by Jason, on Flickr

A few Diatoms
Dirt_on_Sand-0017 by Jason, on Flickr

Dirt_on_Sand-0035 by Jason, on Flickr


Some walking ciliates
Dirt_on_Sand-0019 by Jason, on Flickr

Dirt_on_Sand-0005 by Jason, on Flickr

Dirt_on_Sand-0041 by Jason, on Flickr

Dirt_on_Sand-0042 by Jason, on Flickr

Sponge Spicules and here's a tight ball of them
Dirt_on_Sand-0034 by Jason, on Flickr
 
Last edited:
OP
OP
jason2459

jason2459

Not a paid scientist
View Badges
Joined
Jul 28, 2015
Messages
4,668
Reaction score
3,197
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
OP
OP
jason2459

jason2459

Not a paid scientist
View Badges
Joined
Jul 28, 2015
Messages
4,668
Reaction score
3,197
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I found the 4 they show on the label and then some. A nice bacteria count as well.

Ocean_Magik_Phytoplankton-0001 by Jason, on Flickr

Ocean_Magik_Phytoplankton-0002 by Jason, on Flickr

Ocean_Magik_Phytoplankton-0003 by Jason, on Flickr

Ocean_Magik_Phytoplankton-0004 by Jason, on Flickr

Ocean_Magik_Phytoplankton-0005 by Jason, on Flickr

Ocean_Magik_Phytoplankton-0006 by Jason, on Flickr

Ocean_Magik_Phytoplankton-0008 by Jason, on Flickr

Ocean_Magik_Phytoplankton-0014 by Jason, on Flickr

Ocean_Magik_Phytoplankton-0016 by Jason, on Flickr
 
OP
OP
jason2459

jason2459

Not a paid scientist
View Badges
Joined
Jul 28, 2015
Messages
4,668
Reaction score
3,197
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Been to long...

What's left of some hair algae after playing around with that Vibrant product. Noticed a few bubbles on the HA and figured I might find some dinoflagellets
89120887615ef8bdd5409c9b06df09fb.jpg
 
OP
OP
jason2459

jason2459

Not a paid scientist
View Badges
Joined
Jul 28, 2015
Messages
4,668
Reaction score
3,197
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
A walking ciliate
Hair_Algae_Above_Pump2-0012 by Jason, on Flickr
With something on it
Hair_Algae_Above_Pump2-0013 by Jason, on Flickr

An Amoeba Consuming the ciliate!
Hair_Algae_Above_Pump2-0013 by Jason, on Flickr
Hair_Algae_Above_Pump2-0016 by Jason, on Flickr
Hair_Algae_Above_Pump2-0017 by Jason, on Flickr
Hair_Algae_Above_Pump2-0018 by Jason, on Flickr
Hair_Algae_Above_Pump2-0019 by Jason, on Flickr
Hair_Algae_Above_Pump2-0020 by Jason, on Flickr
Hair_Algae_Above_Pump2-0021 by Jason, on Flickr
Hair_Algae_Above_Pump2-0022 by Jason, on Flickr
 
OP
OP
jason2459

jason2459

Not a paid scientist
View Badges
Joined
Jul 28, 2015
Messages
4,668
Reaction score
3,197
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
OP
OP
jason2459

jason2459

Not a paid scientist
View Badges
Joined
Jul 28, 2015
Messages
4,668
Reaction score
3,197
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
OP
OP
jason2459

jason2459

Not a paid scientist
View Badges
Joined
Jul 28, 2015
Messages
4,668
Reaction score
3,197
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
A walking ciliate being consumed by an amoeba. I didn't realize what was happening right away then by the end of this video I did and started another one.





Not much happened after as it seems the amoeba had a mouthful and didn't move from that spot for a couple hours I would assume digesting. Slide dried out by then
 

Second Shot

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 31, 2014
Messages
403
Reaction score
298
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Those pictures with dinos scare me lol. I have been hesitant to take any slides from my tank because I know I will see them even though I'm not seeing signs of them in the tank.
 

mcarroll

10K Club member
View Badges
Joined
Jan 8, 2012
Messages
13,802
Reaction score
7,989
Location
Virginia
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Those pictures with dinos scare me lol. I have been hesitant to take any slides from my tank because I know I will see them even though I'm not seeing signs of them in the tank.

It's all natural...a balanced system has all these things all the time. Maybe visible, maybe not. Plague-level blooms are the problem...but that's something we instigate, they just do what they do. :)
 
Back
Top