Day 33 - November 18, 2013

It has been a few weeks since my last observation on Day 15, and a few interesting things have transpired during that time period. Principly, the cyclops has developed egg sacks and can now be assumed to be a female. Additionally, I observed some interesting phenomena; the anisonema that I saw previously has begun to attack worm castings, and the mosses have continued to deteriorate. Entire lengths of moss have now died and are covered in what appear to be fungal hyphae. This hyphae could not be indentified by Dr. McFarland or myself, but is never-the-less interesting and quite beautiful.

In addition to my observations this week, I added an additional beta food pellet.
On Monday November 18, 2013 "ONE" Beta Food Pellet was inserted into my microaquarium. "Atison's Betta Food" made by Ocean Nutrition, Aqua Pet Americas, 3528 West 500 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84104. Ingredients: Fish meal, wheat flower, soy meal, krill meal, minerals, vitamins and preservatives. Analysis: Crude Protein 36%; Crude fat 4.5%; Crude Fiber 3.5%; Moisture 8% and Ash 15% (McFarland 2013).

It will be interesting to see how the additional food pellet affects both the organisms living in the Microaquarium and the system itself. I suspect the first beta food pellet added to the environment contributed to the decline in quality and clarity of the water, and I wouldn't be surprised if the second causes a similar result.

This week I used the same videomicroscope I've used for my previous observations.

Picture 1. Cyclops sp. An older cyclops that has developed egg sacks and can now be identified as a female. (Pennak, 1953, p. 384 Figure 241).

Picture 2. An unidentified organism growing on a dead length of Fontinalis sp. (McFarland 2013). Assumed to be a species of fungal hyphae.