A week after setting up my micro aquarium I returned to do another observation on 10-20-09. Lots of things have changed just from looking at it with the naked eye. First the two largest organisms thought to be seed shrimp are dead, both are floating at the top of the micro aquarium. Second there seems to be a lot more activity, numerous small organisms can be seen swimming all over.

With the microscope I observed a cyclops, numerous ostracods that seemed to be feeding or going through the soil at the bottom of the micro aquarium. I observed one of the ostracods eating a smaller organism, or at least that is what I thought was happening. I was also able to observe an amoeba and get a couple of pictures under different magnifications, which are the pictures you see above.

With the help of a reference book Free Living Freshwater Protozoa A Colorful Guide by D.J. Patterson, published in 1992 and the website Tree of Life Web Project I was able to identify it as Difflugia Corona. Here is a link if you would like to check it out at http://tolweb.org/difflugia/124487