4th Out of Class Observation

• Friday I did what would be my last observation, and i would have to say I have grown quite attached to the organisms in my micro-aquarium and Im sad its all over. 
• My clear worm, whom i originally could not identify but i now know is Aelosoma, population reached a pretty stable number i believe when viewing them for the last time. I last reported them at somewhere between 10-15 and i now feel that number has only slightly varied, if at all since last weeks observation.
• Much like my Aelosoma population, my Ostracod Crustae population i feel has not grown or fallen by a noticeable amount since last week, when i reported that they numbered around 30-40. They still are thriving none the less, and zip around the aquarium, as if knowing they are the most abundant of the organisms living in their tiny world.
• I regret to report that I was still unable to identify my Cladoceran. I am now convinced that i did not misidentify this organism because i was so intrigued by its uniqueness when I first observed it. Its possible that it just was out competed for resources or possible it was just close to death when i first observed, or hopefully still survives and i was just unable to find him amongst all the dirt, debris, and water fleas. In any case, Im still going to report my Cladoceran in my Lab Report when i began to do that this weekend.

3rd out of class Observation

• With only one observation left, my micro-aquarium and the organisms within it seem to be thriving in their new environment.
• My Aelosoma population continues to boom. I now estimate their are somewhere between 10-15 of this "bristle worms" living amongst the debris in the bottom of the aquarium. It is hard to predict the exact number of these organisms when one considers that they usually stay hidden in the sludge. I was able, while doing some research to find a helpful site called https://kb.osu.edu/dspace/bitstream/1811/1478/1/V06N03_435.pdf.
• My Ostracod Crustae population is still expanding as well, but it is harder to estimate the number since these organism are prevalent throughout the aquarium, but in any case i estimates somewhere around 30-40 organisms. 
• I am still quite displeased that in my 3rd observation i still cannot find my Cladoceran, that i previously viewed in the aquarium, it is possible that it, or they, have died off, or that i just cannot find it considering it rapid movements and tendency to not stay in one particular area. It is also possible that I mearly misclassified this organism, but i think that is highly unlikely considering its unique appearance and the fact that Steve Furches assisted me in my classification of the organism on our first day of creating the micro-aquariums. I am now dedicating my final observation to finding this organism and seeing, or ruling out its present existence.

2nd Out of Class Observation

• In my second out of class observation things in the micro-aquarium have changed alot.
• The biggest change I noticed was in my Aelosoma population, it has begun to rapidly grow from just 2 or 3 organisms, to now what appears to be somewhere between 5 and 10 oraganism. I have noticed that these worms tend to stay near the bottom of the aquarium where all the debris lies.
• Likewise, my ostracod population is booming. These tiny water fleas are reproducing quickly, reaching numbers now somewhere between 20 and 30. They continue to thrive covering almost every corner of the aquarium.
• The most disappointing observation this week was that I never found my Cladocerans, as previously observed. It is possible that they were in the debris hiding or maybe just got out competed for resources and died off. In any case, I will be on the look out for them next week when I do my 3rd out of class observation.

1st out of class Observation

• Things in my micro-aquarium had changed alot since my last observation the week before.
• The ostracod crustea's population had nearly doubled to somewhere between 20-25. They are now scattered across the whole tank, where as before they were concentrated into a small community. 
• The Cladoceran have increased as well, im not a hundred percent sure but i think that i saw 4-6 of these small creatures zipping around the aquarium.
• The observation that I am most pleased with is my unidentified worm, pictured above, from my previous observation. I identified the translucent worm as a Aelosoma, in the book Fresh Water Biology. This book  was very helpful and im sure that I will be referencing it in my project report.
• A food pellet will be added to my aquarium this week, so I must keep this in my when making my next observation so I can see how it effects the organisms in my micro-aquarium.

Nate's MicroAquarium

• I drew water from tank #8, I also included plants A & B in my micro-aquarium.
  
• On wednesday October 15 I did my first observation. In my micro-aquarium i viewed a number of organisms. The most prevalent by far of these organisms were the Crustacea Ostracod. I estimated about 10-12 of these organisms were in my aquarium. These tiny bean shaped organisms were moving quite rapidly and seemed to stay for the most part near the bottom where all the debris laid.
• The organism I found most interesting in my aquarium was the Cladoceran. This clear organism was much bigger than the Crustacea Ostracod, but it appeared that there was only one of these organisms present. It seemed to have no preference for where it liked to chill, it was constantly moving all over the aquarium. Ones of these organisms is pictured to the left.
• The last organism I observed I have still not identified. This was a kind of worm. It was rather large compared to the Crustacea Ostracod, and like the Cladoceran it was also translucent. It moved slowly which led me to believe it was not a nematode. It also seemed to prefer staying near the bottom of the aquarium. 
•