Microscopy Thread

[Koty]

Thanks for the swift reply. For full disclosure, I have been using confocal microscopes for the last 30 years so I know a little bit of optics.. worst case scenario, I will take a sample to work and use one of my tissue culture, microscope, or the actual confocal microscope . I just thought that it’s enough to get one of those $50 things that hook up to your cell phone.

 

[EnterName]

Thanks for the swift reply. For full disclosure, I have been using confocal microscopes for the last 30 years so I know a little bit of optics.. worst case scenario, I will take a sample to work and use one of my tissue culture, microscope, or the actual confocal microscope . I just thought that it’s enough to get one of those $50 things that hook up to your cell phone.

I have only used compound microscopes so far. While confocal microscopy would require a completely different scope, Fluorescence is something I might take a look at in the future. Unfortunately this will require another kidney to be sold after I just opted for PL APO optics rather than fluotar optics.

Check for used/refurbished scopes. That's where you will get most out of your money.

 

[EnterName]

Unidentified Specimen
(Parenchymella larvae?)

Note: This post might not be displayed correctly in the app, use a browser instead!​

Collected some plankton with my 11μm plankton sieve and found this guy resembling the Parenchymella larvae from page 1, post #6 and/or the unidentified specimen from page 2, post #39. I'm not too sure if it's truly a parenchymella larva of a sponge, but it does have some similarities. I'll do a bit of research later, and if I find anything out, I'll update this post accordingly.

(Dark-field at 200x magnification, N PLAN objective... I really need to upgrade the lower magnification objectives soon)

(Bright-field, 400x magnification, PL APO objective)​

You can also see some cf. Tetraselmis (see page 10, post #190) cells that still seem to linger in my tank after two weeks of no dosing.

(DIC, 400x magnification, PL APO objective)

(DIC, 1000x magnification, PL APO objective)​

 

[EnterName]

Unidentified Specimen
(?)​

Another unidentified one. I will have to keep searching a bit before I can identify it.

I have seen this one before. It appears to prefer swimming at the water surface whenever there is a biofilm. Since I'm experimenting with nutrient levels in my tank again at the moment, it's not too uncommon to see some larger die offs or blooms that cause a slight biofilm on the edges where the flow doesn't move the water surface too much. By filtering the surface with my 11μm plankton sieve, I was able to finally catch one again.

(200× N PLAN Objective. I really need to upgrade these to PL APOs or Fluotars)

(400× PL APO Objective)​

I wonder if the rusty dots are food or maybe even symbionts. Since the organism appears to like the surface so much, it's possible it has symbionts to profit from photosynthesis. The "bubbles" could be food vacuoles, but I'm not sure. Once I know what it is, I can look it up and adjust the post accordingly.

Common Name	?
Classification	?
Verdict	? (I can only assume it's harmless for now, but they might indicate an issue with the tank as it seems to like the biofilm on top of the water which has grown dense while I have been experimenting with nutrient levels)
Size	≤ 200μm (for this specimen)
Found	Hyponeuston (in water, but at the water surface)
Rarity	Probably live in most tanks, but "rare" occurrence as they might depend on specific biofilms forming on the surface