Week 3

This week's aquarium had a lot more and bigger organisms than last week. The reason for that is probably because one beta food pellet was added to it on October 22, 2009. I saw many organisms which included two or three rotifers, a couple of nematodes and several diatoms. The hydra that I saw last week was actually a type a larvae called a midge. Last week it was moving around everywhere, but this week it did not move and looked dead. I also saw a crustacian known as a copepod.

Rainis, Kenneth G., and Bruce J. Russell. "Nematoda." Guide to Microlife. Ed. Watts Franklin. Danbury, CT: A Division of Grolier, 1996. 230-233. Print.

This vorticella was the first time I have seen this creature so far.
Patterson, D.J.. "A Colour Guide." Free-Living Freshwater Protozoa. Ed. Hedley Stuart. Washington, D.C.: Manson, 2003. 25. Print.

Week 2

This week it was a lot easier to find organisms because I found a lot more than the first day. I saw a worm like organism with a big head similar to a bug. I believe it was a hydra because of its tentacles. I noticed several slug like creatures swimming around mostly in the soil that I believe to be flatworms. There were two other organisms that were a red-pink color that looked like leaches. They also just stayed around the soil. The last thing I saw that lived in the soil was I believe to be a stonefly nymph because it had two jointed tails. The only organism that was not in the soil was the hydra. I think the reason for that might be because it eats all other organism so all the other ones stay away from it.

In lab we set up our micro aquarium. We were given a glass tank, a stand holder, and a lid. Then we labeled our tank with colored dots according to where we sit in the classroom and which water sample we took. I took a sample from bowl 8 which was the Tennessee River at the boat ramp across from Knoxville sewer plant. Then with a pipet I gathered some water with a little bit of soil and put it in the tank. While looking at the micro aquarium through the microscope I only saw two organisms. One I caught a short glance at and it looked just like an ordinary bug running around, then it disappeared. I saw another one that was a snakelike or wormlike that was stationary the whole time and only moved one end of its body like an inchworm.