It has been nearly two weeks since I have visited my aquarium and no more food has been added to the tank, only water. Compared to nearly two weeks ago there are significantly less microrganisms in the tank, it looks like a graveyard. Two weeks ago the majority of the tank was green, now there is little green and mostly yellow-brown colors. Now that's not to say there's none, you just have to look for them!
For example I found two nematodes in the middle of the tank which were very fast moving. There was also two protozoa and tons of cyanobacteria! At the bottom region of the tank near the soil were hundreds of diatoms and were significantly smaller than the diatoms I had seen in previous weeks. Maybe they were not as mature, or a different species?
Image 1.
Image 1 above shows a picture of the cyanobacteria Nodularia. The filamentous blue-green algae is nitrogen fixing and grew in various places throughout the tank, especially towards the middle and the top (Prescott p. 200).
Next week is the final week I observe my microaquarium. I'm hoping to see larger diatoms and maybe an increase in cyanobacteria, because I have noticed it has been growing and increasing in quanity every week I have observed.
Bibliography:
Prescott, G. W. How to Know the Freshwater Algae. Dubuque: WMC Brown, 1994. Print.
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