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

 

[Mas0n]

@EnterName Thanks for the ID on this!

Neat video of a Ciliate eating a Dino. This was at 100x.

 

[EnterName]

@EnterName Thanks for the ID on this!

Neat video of a Ciliate eating a Dino. This was at 100x.

Thank you very much for sharing this here. I'm very interested in dinoflagellates and am currently digging very deep into the literature on them. If I stumble upon the potential ciliate you have found, I will let you know what it is exactly

Ciliates are very abundant and I'm not very good at identifying them yet, so I can't promise anything, but I'm sure there is a large variety that eats dinoflagellates. Unfortunately I don't think we can just culture them to help out with dino outbreaks

 

[Mas0n]

Thank you very much for sharing this here. I'm very interested in dinoflagellates and am currently digging very deep into the literature on them. If I stumble upon the potential ciliate you have found, I will let you know what it is exactly

Ciliates are very abundant and I'm not very good at identifying them yet, so I can't promise anything, but I'm sure there is a large variety that eats dinoflagellates. Unfortunately I don't think we can just culture them to help out with dino outbreaks

Absolutely, what a cool thread!

I also saw this, amphipod?

This is a new world to me, and getting a positive ID is so tricky with all the variety.

 

[EnterName]

Absolutely, what a cool thread!

I also saw this, amphipod?

This is a new world to me, and getting a positive ID is so tricky with all the variety.

You found a tardigrade (also "water bear" or "moss piglet"). I love them
Some of them survive basically everything (drying out, extreme heat, extreme cold, etc.) and can be quite fun to watch.
Another member compared them to their dog
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/microscopy-thread.1138845/post-14504184

Edit: Ah, Robert just posted below!

 

[RobertK]

Absolutely, what a cool thread!

I also saw this, amphipod?

This is a new world to me, and getting a positive ID is so tricky with all the variety.

That looks like a tardigrade. I've seen a few of them recently too:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/microscopy-thread.1138845/page-10#post-14504184
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/microscopy-thread.1138845/page-11#post-14522683
Really cool little critters. Nice video!

Edit: Haha you beat me to it EnterName!

 

[Mas0n]

Absolutely, what a cool thread!

I also saw this, amphipod?

This is a new world to me, and getting a positive ID is so tricky with all the variety.

You found a tardigrade (also "water bear" or "moss piglet"). I love them
Some of them survive basically everything (drying out, extreme heat, extreme cold, etc.) and can be quite fun to watch.
Another member compared them to their dog
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/microscopy-thread.1138845/post-14504184

Edit: Ah, Robert just posted below!

No way! That’s too cool.

I’ve seen them before and recognize the name from reading about electron microscopes in the past. Didn’t make the connection here since it was translucent. But I totally see it now.

 

[EnterName]

Absolutely, what a cool thread!

I also saw this, amphipod?

This is a new world to me, and getting a positive ID is so tricky with all the variety.

You found a tardigrade (also "water bear" or "moss piglet"). I love them
Some of them survive basically everything (drying out, extreme heat, extreme cold, etc.) and can be quite fun to watch.
Another member compared them to their dog
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/microscopy-thread.1138845/post-14504184

Edit: Ah, Robert just posted below!

No way! That’s too cool.

I’ve seen them before and recognize the name from reading about electron microscopes in the past. Didn’t make the connection here since it was translucent. But I totally see it now.

You will find many interesting things under the microscope. Identifying them can be quite tricky from time to time (there are quite a few specimen here in this thread I haven't managed to properly identify myself), but it's a fun activity and you can learn a lot
Feel free to post other interesting findings and we can try to figure out what you have found

 

[mcarroll]

Impressing thread. Can you recommend a microscope for home use to be connected somehow to a cell phone that can be purchased online and not require to sell a kidney.

Good advice here already, but figured I'd link my thread here since it's on-point of scope selection...you can see what some other folks have added to the conversation too.

Selecting a microscope​

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/selecting-a-microscope.308826/