Marine micro-life

A forum for those starting out in microscopy. Post images and ask questions relating to the microscope and get answers from our more advanced users on the subject.

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Dembowski
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Marine micro-life

Post by Dembowski »

Ken ... First of all, thanks for taking on the task of moderating this forum.

I don’t know if this is appropriate or not … I am hoping that your intended subject matter includes not only the mechanics of operating a microscope, but the finding and preparation of subjects as well (a bit of a problem for beginners).

I live in western Pennsylvania but would like to get a good live look at some marine micro-critters. Do you know of anybody who has done that sort of thing with a homebound saltwater aquarium? A search of the Internet turned up several places that sell coral, “live-rock”, “live sand”, and marine plants. Sounds to me like prime hunting grounds, especially since they do not sterilize the sand, etc. prior to shipment.

Good or bad idea?
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Post by Ken Ramos »

I don't know of anyone right off hand Bill, with the exception of Piotr (www.pirx.com). :-k Like you I am on the western end of the state too and about 6hrs. from the ocean. :(

However I do not see why you could not farm marine micro-critters in a saltwater aquarium. Many of us farm our own pond critters in freshwater one. So it sounds as though it would be worth a try. If you are successful, it would give us all something to try out. :D

You wrote:
I am hoping that your intended subject matter includes not only the mechanics of operating a microscope, but the finding and preparation of subjects as well (a bit of a problem for beginners).
I am going to try and cover all of that Bill. :D Some slide preparation though can be come quite technical if you want plant and animal tissue samples and that would have to be covered by our more advanced members in the subject and that would include staining as well. However I think most dwell on the freshwater micro life.

Here is an article you might be interested in Bill. I found this in Micscape.

http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/art ... romia.html

Hey thanks for your post Bill :D , I may not know it all but I will try to answer as many of your questions as I can and if not I will try and find out for you. I hope that this new forum will be a success and that all of our members, current and new, will like it and benifit from it. :D
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Post by Dembowski »

Ken … Thanks for your reponse and the link to the Micscape article. I printed it off and will give it a good read tomorrow. I am at that “awkward age” for a microscopist with between 1 & 2 years under my belt so I’ve got questions that go all over the place. I’ll try my best to keep them in the right forum.

Meanwhile, as I ponder which direction to go with the salty aquarium, I have a question that is definitely on the beginner’s end of the scale. I have an oil immersion objective which I have yet to use. My question is: how tricky is it to clean the oil from the lens once I am done, and what are the consequences if I am not thorough enough? I bought a small bottle of immersion oil cleaner from Ward’s to help in the process but my slightly arthritic hands are not what they once were. I wouldn’t want to leave a potentially nasty residue on a lens that I might not use again for a couple of months.
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Post by Ken Ramos »

To clean up the oil should not be to tricky there Bill. I have used oil only several times but found it to be quite messy, in my opinion, but that is not to say that I would never use it again. A soft lens tissue (Bausch and Lomb) is good to use for the initial wipe of the objective surface to remove the oil and then a very small amount of the solvent Xylol on a lens tissue can be used for a final wipe of the objective surface. Be careful not to soak the objective with the cleaner. It is quite possible for the cleaner to seep in behind the front lens seals of the objective and thus ruining the image seen when used again. :shock: Most manufacturers of oil immersion objectives test their objectives seals prior to selling them to make sure this does not happen but as the say, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." :D

Immersion oil can also seep behind a poorly made or sealed objective also so be mindful of this also. Check on the label of your cleaner to see what it contains or if it contains Xylol. Xylol is a time honored and tested cleaner and from what I have read, is recommended. If it does not contain Xylol, I would ask Wards about it prior to use.

Leaving the oil on the objective and allowing it to dry can result in poor image quality when used again at a later time, some synthetics are designed not to dry but they will of course capture dust and particulates from the air and also may present that problem with seepage behind the front lens of the objective.

This was probably a little more than you asked for Bill but as a beginner in microscopy you should be made aware of the seepage problem that could occur with these type objectives. If by chance it does occur, I would contact the microscope manufacturer about getting a replacement or look around for a better made oil immersion objective. The better known manufactures of microscopes and objectives take a lot of precautions to make sure this does not happen i.e. Nikon, Zeiss, Olympus, etc... :wink:

Searching "oil immersion objectives" on your search engine (Google and others) will also yeild a number of good articles and sites dealing with the use of these objectives. Though some are extremely technical, they offer some good advice and instruction in layman terms also. :D

I hope that I my answer is adequate Bill, if not I'll dig a little deeper to pin point what you need to know. Thanks again Bill for your questions and use of our new forum. :D
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Post by Charles Krebs »

Bill... Ken answered your question well.
A few additional thoughts. In the "past" it was more important to clean completely after using oil, since the older immersion oils (like red cedar oil) could "dry" and leave a hard residue on the objective. I don't think this is a problem with any modern immersion oil. If I will be using oil within about a week or so, I generally wipe the bulk of the oil off with soft lens cleaning paper (changing to fresh paper two or three times). If you look carefully at the objective with a magnifier there will still be a slight oil "film". Before using the objective again, a quick wipe with clean tissue removes any dust that may have settled on the objective. If I do not think I will be using the objective for a long time, then I will do a more thorough cleaning. Frankly, if I use it fairly regularly, I tend to think there is a greater danger of damaging or scratching the objective if you try to scrupulously remove every last trace of oil each time you use it. And this approach will also make you hesitant to use it because you will want to avoid the thorough cleaning process.
Use a good quality lens tissue and don't be frugal with it. Also, it's not a good idea to "scrub" any optic with dry tissue or cloth (either "fog" it with your breath or use a small amount of lens cleaning fluid).

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Post by Ken Ramos »

Some excellent advice and comment there Charlie. I do not use mine very much but seeing the results that you get with yours is making me think of employing it again. An excellent point there on "dry cleaning" a lens. You can seriously damage one by doing that. Another thing I found out and I am glad it was on a cheap and inexpensive eyepiece, is that Windex for cleaning optical surfaces is a real mistake! :shock: The Windex partially removed the coating on the optical surface and completely ruined the image seen through it. As I said, lucky for me it was an eyepiece of lesser value and came off of a student type microscope. Had it been one on my Axiostar I would have :cry: and been out of $114.00! :shock:

Thanks once more Charlie for stopping by and putting in your two cents. Comments like these are much welcomed. :D
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Post by Dembowski »

Thanks for the responses to my oil immersion question, and don’t worry about giving too much info. I can always ignore (or save) what I don’t need. Incidentally, the Ward cleaner appears to contain mostly Isopropyl Alcohol and makes no mention of Xylol,

Also, Ken, thanks for the link to Piotr’s super website. That’s pretty much what I had in mind and it gives me a good idea of just how complicated this can get. But it’s still semi-tempting!
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Post by Ken Ramos »

I did a little more looking around Bill in relation to your second question and what I found on the web in relation to cleaning microscope lenses was appauling! One site suggested turpentine, toulene or acetone to clean oil immersion lenses and not only those but the eyepieces as well! :shock: I don't know if you have ever used any of these, well probably acetone since it is a most commonly used solvent but this stuff will desolve hard expoxy paint off of aircraft surfaces! So much for a massive amount of helpful info on the net huh :?:

However one site had a little common sense and reminded me of something I used with great success a long time ago. As a matter of fact I had forgotten about it. They are lens cleaning tissues made by Bausch and Lomb and they are moistened with a lens cleaner. These worked extremely well for the cleaning of eyepieces and objectives. However you had to let some of the cleaner evaoporate a bit before using, because the paper was soaked with it. I forgot what they were called but I picked them up at a Wal Mart in the pharmacy section. You may want to give them a try. :)

Charlie gave some excellent advice also, it may not be necessary to scrupulously clean the objective everytime. From seeing the images that Charlie takes through his, I think they pretty much speak for themselves as to the perfomance of his oil immersion objective. :D
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Post by piotr »

Bill,

Thank you for your kind comments. A little marine aquarium is not that complicated! Let me share some of my experiences (I’m not an expert by no means).

I used to have a very simple, 2.5 gallon tank (and, later, a little bigger one, 10 gallon).

The only necessary things are: container (glass or acrylic tank), heater (small 25w heater with a thermostat will work), small water circulation pump (a “powerhead”), source of light, such as a fluorescent lamp (20w for 2.5g tank should be enough), “live rock”, “live sand”, and marine water.

“Live rock” is usually composed with coral skeletons and it is very porous (the more porous the better). It is imported from “live rock farms” in Florida or from some tropical islands. “Live sand” is crushed coral with many microorganisms living in it. Rock and sand can be ordered online or you can find it in a marine fish store (rock is $5-7 per pound, sand is $2-3 per pound). Sea water can be prepared by solving a marine salt mixture in distilled water. Petco stores sell “Real Ocean water” (imported from Pacific) for $10 per 5 gallon container. It is very convenient for a small aquarium.

After setting up the tank, you fill it up with the water, add 1-2 pounds per gallon of the living sand, and a few pounds of living rock. Now, the most amazing part begins. Initially, the rock looks not very interesting, even dead. Then, in 3-4 weeks, more and more animals and plants appear: flatworms, polychaetes, snails, copepods, brittle stars, hydrozoans, bryozoans, sponges, even little corals. The aquarium constantly evolves. You can observe rapid growths of diatoms, cyanobacteria, or algae. Eventually, some of the organisms die and the environment become more stable. A good sign is purple “coralline algae” growing on the rock and on aquarium walls.

As for marine “micro-life” I observed several species of dinoflagellates, cyanobacteria, diatoms, nematodes, gastrotrichs, and protozoa. Some of these protozoa are quite unique and you can’t find them in fresh water.

I don’t use any particular filtering technique. The “live rock” and “live sand” work very well as a “live filter”. I only replaced 20-25% of water volume every week to prevent accumulation of toxic waste (nitrates and ammonia). Also, I add a pinch of marine fish flakes every day or two. Evaporated water should be topped up with distilled water.

Such 2.5g tank can easily fit into $50-100 budget, plus $10 monthly maintenance.

Later you can add more animals, such as brittle star, hermit crab, cleaner shrimp, or photosynthetic corals, such as “mushroom anemones” or “green star polyps”. Larger scavenging animals can be fed frozen shrimp. The brittle star loves frozen shrimp and I often fed him by hand. I never tried to keep any fish in such small tank. Impressive “hard corals” require much stronger lighting, more consistent water quality and more attention.

This artificial environment is very poor comparing to a real marine habitat. It is very difficult to successfully grow plankton-eating animals (so called “filter-feeders”), such as “feather duster” polychaete worms, bryozoans, clams, gorgonian corals and many others. Each of them expects plankton of different size and kind, and in artificial conditions they starve and, eventually, die.

These days I'm very lucky to live close to the ocean, so sometimes I bring a small sample of water from a beach. I only have a little water pump and a small lamp to keep the sample live for a few days.

Let me recommend a few good web resources:

Reefkeeping Magazine (in particularl - excellent “Spineless Column” series by Dr. Ron Shimek)

WetWebMedia - Marine Aquarium Articles and FAQ's

Reef Central webpage

NanoReef forum

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Piotr
Last edited by piotr on Thu Apr 13, 2006 11:40 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by Ken Ramos »

Boy Howdy! :D If that isn't a good bit of helpful information on how to set up a marine aquarium for raising marine micro critters and marine critters in general, I don't know what is...eh Bill? :D

Thanks a bunch for your input there Piotr and some excellent examples in photographs. A bit long on the pixel width but we have let them stand in the past. So if no one minds...... :roll: Hey thanks once more for your input. It is greatly appreciated. :D
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Post by Dembowski »

Oh my … oh my … oh my. I might be hooked; I know I’m excited. I have always considered inverts to be much more interesting than boney creatures and I’ve already got an idle 10-gallon tank (just the tank). How can I possibly resist?

I’m curious, Piotr, what do you do about filtration? I wouldn’t want to get rid of too many of the smaller inhabitants but it seems like a pretty good way of concentrating them into an easily accessible area.

After this, maybe I had better take these questions off-group. I don’t want to clutter up the forum with a subject that may not have a very wide appeal and might even be off-topic for this group.
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Post by piotr »

Thank you, Ken! I re-organized the little pictures. Should be ok now.

Bill, I haven't used any filtration method for the 10g tank, except for biological filtration (the live rock) and water changes (10-15% a week). It's not perfect. I monitored level of nitrates and it always was higher than 0. To get better results, you should probably use so called "protein skimmer" (foam fractionator). It is a device that makes a stream of fine air bubbles, thus removing dissolved organic compounds before they decompose and pollute the water. It is expensive ($100 or more). And I guess most microorganisms will be gone.

Standard filters (sponge or filtering cartridges) don't work well for marine aquaria. But you're right - I think it may be a good way to concetrate the microorganisms! Especially if you use a dense filter. Or you can just temporarily put some kind of barrier on an outlet of a water pump.

Yet another way, which I never tried, is to setup a second tank with plants only, so called "refugium". The refugium is illuminated 24/7, and it makes a closed water circuit with the main tank. The plants remove most of the pollutants and the only thing to do is to prune some of the algae from time to time. I suspect such "refugium" tank can have very interesting micro- flora and fauna (rotifers, little crustaceans, single-cell algae).

On the other hand, a little water polution is not a problem if you don't have fragile animals. Unfortunately, corals are pretty sensitive to water quality. Also, I had some problems with water temperature stability, especially in summer. These animals only tolerate very small variations of the temperature (78F +/- 2).

One more thing. Several times I observed tardigrades (water bears) in the marine aquarium. I was surprised, I could never find them before. They used to feed on cyanobacteria.

I hope I'm not too chaotic, it was a long day,
Piotr

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Post by gslaten »

Hey guys,

Don't take this off line, it is super interesting and inspiring. I am heading home in a bit from Newport Beach....maybe I have time to run down to the surf and grab a bottle of water :D

Gary

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Post by Dembowski »

Gary,

Sounds like fun. Maybe you could pick up two bottles and FAX a pint or so to me.
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Post by Red Seven »

Ken,
I drifted away for awhile and popped back to have a look around and was thrilled to see the new Beginners Forum! Thanks for all the effort!
I definitely fit into the Beginner dept but have the priviledge of living around lots of bodies of water including the Pacific Ocean so after gathering a tiny bit of know how I began what I call my "Jam Jar Aquariums". I have about 5 of them each from a different body of water. At this point 4 of them are freshwater and the 1 saltwater sample is not the best but I have observed a few interesting things in there too. Later I'll head out to a spot with some better tide pools for marine samples. The freshwater has been absolutely amazing. Rotifers, amoebas,Ciliates, flagellates, gastrotriches, copepods, nematodes, Vorticella...tons of stuff and I think some of my colonies are expanding. Sorting out what's what, how they're related, how they all reproduce, etc. will keep me very entertained for a long, long time. The only thing I'm finding is that my jars are slowly evaporating. Would I be correct to boil some water, let it cool and just add a little on a regular basis? I imagine tap water would kill everything pretty quickly. Or could I use bottled water? :-k

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