Week 1 Observation - October 23

Under the microscope, and with Dr. McFarland's assistance, I observed and identified several organisms, which includes the vorticella seen in this picture.  The vorticella appeared to be attached to the side, middle of the aquarium and was not moving.  I saw a few stationary spirogyra, which were green in color.  I saw numerous rotifers moving randomly at a medium speed.  I saw two planaria that were bending their bodies around, but not actually travelling anywhere.  I saw three whiplike nematodes that were moving slowly and aimlessly.  I saw several tachyosoma moving quickly; one stopped and I thought it was dying.  I asked Dr. McFarland who told me it slowed down to divide, but I did not see this happen.  I referenced the book Free-Living Freshwater Protozoa p. 125 with this observation.  I also used the "pond 1" poster for reference to identify several of the above mentioned organisms.  The most common organisms were the circular organisms I referred to as "bubbles" last week.  They remain unidentified, but hopefully with another week's growth, they will be identifiable.
Most of the organisms were single-celled and non-green.  The nematodes and the rotifers were in the soil as well as in the middle of the aquarium where the other organisms were located.  Overall, the microaquarium appears far more alive with organisms than when I observed it following setup last week.

My Micro Acquarium was set up as directed on Oct. 16.  I chose water source 3 that was collected from Carter Mill Park, at the spring source, on Carter Mill Road, Knox Co. TN.  There was partial shade exposure, coordinates of N36 01.161 W83 42.832, and an elevation of 940ft.  From the water source, I filled the lower 1/3 of the tank with mud from the bottom of the water source, the middle 1/3 was filled with water from above the muddy layer, and the top 1/3 was filled with water from the top of the source.  To the aquarium, I also added two plants: Amblestegium sp., a moss which came from the same location/coordinates as the water source, and Utricularia gibba L, a flowering, carnivorous plant source with original material from the south shore of Spain Lake (N 35o55 12.35" W088o20' 47.00), Camp Bella Air Rd. East of Sparta Tn. in White Co. and grown in water tanks outside of greenhouse at Hesler Biology Building at the University of Tennessee. Knox Co. Knoxville TN.
As I observed the aquarium under the microscope, I saw what looked to be multiple, different sized "bubbles" moving purposefully about in the water in a line from plant to plant; they were moving at different speeds.  I was unable to identify any organism in particular.