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.