Fifth Observation 11/12/13

I saw a lot of activity this observation. The small movement that had gone away last time was definitely back. Everywhere I looked there was movement. I also saw a lot of large organisms. I saw two adult cyclops and got a picture of one (Lee Fig. 1 p. 411)

They were both near where the food pellet was. They. were also very fast moving. As one can see, they were brown with rounded bodies, two antennae, and had a tail that split at the end. I also saw three Entosiphon sulcatoms (Pennak fig. 30 p. 530).

It has a rounded body that comes to a point at the anterior and posterior. It also has two flagella. One is in the front and the other drags behind. They were all near the flowering plant. They moved at a slow to medium pace. In this picture, one can see an inside structure that is a tube with a flap like opening. Its the white space in between the green areas.
I did not see the annelid or rotifer this time. I did not see their corpses though. I saw what I think may be a different type of annelid. It was a lot shorter than the other one. It was also very clear, however, it was by the mud like the other one was.

Fourth Observation 11/6/13

This week, I saw a huge reduction in the tiny microorganisms and an increase in larger organisms. This is because the larger organisms are consuming the smaller organisms and the plants. The flowering plant had a total of three leaves left, but the moss plant looks like it is doing very well. The dead plant cells have an oval, rectangular shape and are clear. I saw the Euchlanis rotifer again. Instead of eating near the mud, it was swimming about this time. I also saw a large organism that had encased itself in a spore stage. It was in an oval shape and was colored white with pink speckles. It was moving very slowly, which drew me eye to the organism initially. I saw the annelid again. This time it was not hiding behind the moss plant, but it was near the mud eating a leaf so I was able to capture an image ( Pennik Fig. 9 p 299). it turned out to be an Aelosome annelid. It was long, brown, and looked like a small worm.
 

Observation 3 10/28/13

 There were very many small organisms that I could not make out using the highest magnification of the microscope. They were incredibly hyper and I believe that is due to the added food pellet. There were quite a few dead organisms at the top of the mud. There was a dead insect larva. It was long and cylinder-shaped with spindle legs. It was also brown. I saw a dead adult cyclops, too. Its body was completely see through. There was annelid in the moss plant. It had a very long body and moved in ripples. The flowering plant had less foliage. I saw two Euchlanis rotifers (Pennak p 171 Fig 2). It has a rounded body with a tail and they were both eating moss.  I also saw a Euplote (Pennak p 124 Fig. 261). It has a mechanism for taking in food that looks like continuous bubbles. It was near the mud. It is a freshwater living protozoa.