Captains Log, Day 4

After almost a week of no internet, I have finally gotten on to update my blog, and I have recently realized that these posts are weekly, so instead of putting "Day 4," I should be putting "Week 4." But it seems we are past the point of no return, and I must continue on into the heart of darkness.

This week, I began my observations towards the bottom of the aquarium. At first glance I couldnt see any motion, but as I zoomed into the highest magnification, I could see there was again TONS of activity inside of my MicroAquarium. In addition to more of the little  rotifer critters from last week, there were tons of little single celled braj's swimming vigorously along the bottom, all clumped together.

These are little unicellular ciliate protozoa named paramecium. They are very prominent in freshwater sources and in scum, which seems more than appropriate for water pulled out of a river and left sitting for a few weeks. Although it is hard to see, these little guys are heterotrophs. They have a small tongue, and feed on smaller bacteria. (Raven, 2010)