On October 25, I observed an explosion in the number and diversity of microscopic organisms in my aquarium. This rapid growth was probably fueled by the beta food pellet. Like the previous week, I saw Euchlanis sp., a couple Cyclops sp., and Amphora sp., but I also saw many new organisms as well.
I found Vorticella sp., which has a ciliated mouth that sucks up any small organisms or debris, much like a vacuum cleaner (Corliss 1979, p.289 Plate 29). Vorticella liked to tether itself (yes it has a tether) to my plants, but I occasionally saw it free-floating, too.
I saw a small, oval ciliate that was approximately one-tenth the size of Euchlanis. It could be found throughout the aquarium. This ciliate was very difficult to identify because it moved fairly fast, it was small, and it had few distinguishing features. Nevertheless, I am reasonably confident that it was Chlamydodon sp. (Patterson 1996, p. 135 figs. 293 & 294)
Small euglenoids, which I identified as Peranema sp., could be found throughout the aquarium as well (Patterson 1996, p.51 figs. 70-72). Peranema's distinguishing feature (a cool one, too!) is it's thick, highly visible anterior flagellum. This flagellum is of particular interest because about three-fourths of it is completely rigid; only the tip moves. Like a propeller, the flagellum pulls Peranema along at a relatively leisurely pace.
Near the soil, I saw a lone Phacus triqueter (Forest 1954, p.296 fig. 419). It was green and round, with a short curved tail and a red eyespot. Somewhat like a green piglet. It did not move while I was watching it.
Finally, I saw thousands of tiny protists, which I was unable to identify because they were too small (about one-fourth the size of Chlamydodon). Even on high power (40x) no distinguishing features could be seen. I believe they were flagellates, because their motion was somewhat jerky. I suspect that their abundance was due to the food pellet.
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