microscopic observations

A forum to ask questions, post setups, and generally discuss anything having to do with photomacrography and photomicroscopy.

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pccrozat
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Jun 14, 2005 9:25 pm

microscopic observations

Post by pccrozat »

this is my first post so i will introduce myself

my name is pierre. i have been working on a concept called "compost tea" (compost+water+nutriement). the objective is to get a liquid in which there are as many living things as possible (bacteria/protozoa/fungi/nematodes...).

We have recently started looking at the tea we make with a
microscope (x400). We have been able to observe things but we don t
know how to interpret them.

i realize that this is not exactly the object of this forum but if anybody can give me info it will be appreciated

What we want to determine is:
- Is there anything resembling fungi in our brews?
- what may the other organisms be
- …


Our counting method is the Thoma cell method, and we are not very
good at it so things are approximate.

Any thoughts that the following description will trigger are of
interest to us.

Thank you

Pierre

the brew is conducted for 48 hours, samples have been observerved on a regular basis:

T + 5hours

31 million living cells/ml

Description:
- Mostly non moving nuclear round dots (size:10µm), some very small
(3 µm).


T +10hours

41.5 million living cells/ml

Description:
- Approximately same amount of moving or immobile nuclear round dots
- The new element is a massive development of very thin rods (0.02
mm in length). They move like little worms, quite fast sometimes and
sometimes two rods attach to each other by an end. Approximately 8
million rods/ml

T +24hours

60 million living cells/ml

Description
- all the moving rods are gone, except for a few that don't move any
more
- stable amount of moving or immobile nuclear round dots
- the new element is a massive development of "chains" of cells that
are tied together. Could have 2 to 4 nuclear round dot per chain.
Sometimes mobile. 0.01 to 0.02 mm length.
- A few very fast moving, large creature looking like a tadpole

T +36hours

29.6 million living cells/ml

Description
- A base of moving or immobile nuclear dots
- a few rods
- a few chains of cells
- a few "tadpoles"
- a few very fast moving non identifiable elements

T+48hours

50 million living cells/ml

Description
- a base of moving and immobile nuclear dots (mostly immobile)
- heaps of immobile nuclear dots
- some immobile « tadpoles »
- no chains
- no rods

User avatar
twebster
Site Admin
Posts: 1518
Joined: Mon Apr 19, 2004 10:55 pm
Location: Phoenix "Valley of the Sun", Arizona, USA

Post by twebster »

Hello Pierre :D

Welcome aboard :!: :D "Compost Tea" sounds like an organic cold beverage we sell here in the southwest USA :!: :shock: :D Actually, it sounds like an interesting project. I'm not sure how we can help, though. It is extremely tough to identify microorganisms from just a verbal description, especially anything resembling fungi and molds. Can you post any images of what you are seeing? You might want to look through this site, http://protist.i.hosei.ac.jp/Protist_menuE.html, and see if any of the protists there match what you are seeing.

I know of some marine researchers that are doing something similar to what you are doing. They set up a video system using a modified webcam to help with ID and counts. You might consider a system like the one I set up, http://www.oncloserinspection.com/Photo ... graphy.htm. It is easy and inexpensive to set up and you can capture still images, post them here in our galleries, and then we could help you ID what you are seeing.

I hope this helps you out somewhat. Keep us updated on your project. :D

Best regards, :D
Tom Webster
Administrator

Phoenix "The Valley of the Sun", Arizona, USA

Think about this...maybe Murphy is an optimist!!!

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