Reef under a microscope

 

Leather coral 100x

 

Leather coral 40x

 

Nannochloropsis 100x

 

Caulerpa racemosa 40x

 

Chaetomorpha 40x

 

Caulerpa prolifera 40x

 

Caulerpa paspaloides

 

crushed zoanthid

 

Mushroom 40x

 

Mushroom 100x

 

Hair algae 100x

 

Pod 40x

Edited by BananaTropics

very cool!

Cool Pix!! Thanks!

Sean- sorry didn't see your post until now.  The smaller the better.  Like a 1/2 to 1 inch frag is best.  Soft corals are actually easier to count zooxanthellae on, but I don't usually do that.

ADAM- can I use your pics in an article, and copywrite them under UtahReefs.com?

Adam

Adam Blundell wrote: ADAM- can I use your pics in an article, and copywrite them under UtahReefs.com?

Yes

Edited by BananaTropics

Sean- well, I wouldn't mind looking into comparing some sps corals.  A little more difficult, but doable.  Like I said you only need half inch frags so it doesn't really cost anything.  Time consuming to do the calculations.  Maybe I'll look into doing this again.

Adam

I believe this first pic is a baby brine shrimp, but not certain. (100x)

 

Pic 2 is a bristle worm. This was actually quite a tricky shot to get since the thing wouldn't stay in one spot on the slide. Magnified 40x i believe.

 

Here is an adult brine shrimp (40x)

 

Here is a close up of the tail (100x). This was actually really neat to look at. Small particles could be seen traveling along the dorsal side and returning toward the body on the ventral side.

 

This next pod is one I see quite a bit in my tank. It looks like a little red bug running all over the place (usually seen on the sand) (40x)

 

Here's a closeup of the "claws". I should mention that its pretty much impossible to get the whole field in focus under a microscope when dealing with larger 3D objects. (100x)

 

A closeup of the tail region (100x)

 

This pod is one of the most common in my tank. (40x)

 

Different one, but on its back (40x)

 

This one was also amazing to look at at 100x. Small particles (possibly microalgae) were seen directionally moving through the body in "vessels".

 

Another 100x shot

Those long cylindrical things in the first two pictures could be diatoms.  the woods polyp pics are very cool.

So what kind of microscope do you have and how are you taking the pictures?

It was absolutely awesome to look at the Woods Polyps. In some areas the Zooxanthellae were moving around, and the polyp did a couple of contractions as I watched it. Definitely "too cool."

Thanks Adam H.

The fibers are all that's left in water that used to be a phyto culture! This is a typical crash. The color is yellow in sunlight and cloudy white under VHO strong actinic lighting. Thanks to Adam for offering to put it under the microscope. I once heard that a fungus starts to grow which may produce toxins that kill the algae I don't know, but would like to

those are really cool