Microbe Metropolis

Happy Valentines Day!  I hope everyone's feeling the love day :o)

So lets talk Hay.

I've been going back and forth between experiments with relatively good results until I had a microbe explosion, on day 21 of my Hay Infusion lab. Here is an excerpt from my journal:

Day 17:
Not such a good day for microbes.  I  took samples from my pond water as usual. One from the top, middle and two from the bottom as I needed to be sure.  Nothing.  I inspected every inch of the microscope slide, from cover slip end to end but not a single microbe to be found.  Just some hay, a decent size air bubble and some yeast.  I took a second sample of pond water from the bottom of the jar (where I've seen them before) but still nothing.  I added some DI water and a fresh handful and called it an afternoon.

Oh yea...I upgraded to a big jar!

Day 21:
WOW - What a difference.  Looking at my first slide from the bottom of my set-up, a microbe Metropolis has emerged.  Take a look at my sample at 4x magnification.....they're everywhere!  I had to call Josh and Matt over to check it out.

It was really an exciting day, I was losing hope in finding anything cool in the waters of Papago but I was pleasantly surprised.  I can't wait to take my next sample to see what new colony is going to flourish.

Matt gave me a great book...an oldie but a goodie!  Its falling apart but it has an amazingly in depth color chart that makes the identification process a lot easier.  I was able to clearly see that I had an abundance of Diatomes/Desmids (the long thin worm or tube like ones) and plenty of Amoeba. It was amazing to see them in their natural state under magnification.  Some of those suckers can swim!