Microscope Availability

[timeconsumer]

Just putting some feelers out there. Would anyone be interested if I made some basic microscope services available to the reef club? I'm thinking for people trying to ID if they have dinos or not they can just mail me a sample or drop off at my house (Acworth) and I can provide some images of the algae in question under the scope.

 

[jcook54]

Man that would be awesome. We've considered buying a microscope for the club to just this thing. I'd be thrilled to send you a sample of something I've got growing right now. My problem is twofold. 1) I don't have a microscope and 2) I don't know how to use one! If you could help in either of those areas, I'd certainly appreciate it.

 

[timeconsumer]

Yeah I'd be happy to take a look for you after the holidays. If you want to show me a picture of the substance in question I'll ponder on it and what kind of sample to send.

 

[Eric_n_Ga]

I have a microscope as well but I find it almost easier to zoom in with my phone for most things nowdays.

 

[timeconsumer]

I have a microscope as well but I find it almost easier to zoom in with my phone for most things nowdays.

I use my phone for a lot of stuff like looking at misc worms or nudibranchs I find, or when I did an autopsy on my dead 1 inch N. curacaoensis mantis. But the microscope would be more about trying to look at algaes on a cellular level, for example to determine if you're dealing with calothrix or dinoflagellates. I don't expect people will need the service very often but I figure an extra tool in the toolbox is always useful.

 

[Eric_n_Ga]

Oh I totally agree

 

[Shawn]

I use my phone for a lot of stuff like looking at misc worms or nudibranchs I find, or when I did an autopsy on my dead 1 inch N. curacaoensis mantis. But the microscope would be more about trying to look at algaes on a cellular level, for example to determine if you're dealing with calothrix or dinoflagellates. I don't expect people will need the service very often but I figure an extra tool in the toolbox is always useful.

Let me ask you this. Would you be interested/have the ability to do a club presentation on some of the algae’s and Dinos and whatnot in our reef tanks? I’d find that to be fascinating.

 

[timeconsumer]

Let me ask you this. Would you be interested/have the ability to do a club presentation on some of the algae’s and Dinos and whatnot in our reef tanks? I’d find that to be fascinating.

I'm open to just about anything however I'm not sure what qualifications you're looking for as I've only dealt with some of these micro and macro nuisances first hand (dinos, cyano, hydroids, neomeris, GHA, valonia, dictyota ....okay maybe I've dealt with a lot) and I'm no marine biologist. Using the dinos as an example back then in 2012 when I'm pretty sure I had ostreopsis I didn't have the microscope so I can't be 100% certain that what I was dealing with at the time was dinos (let's call it a strong hunch though). However I can probably assemble a good amount of photos from the web as well as my own tanks of what different nuisance types look like both in the tank and under a microscope.

 

[timeconsumer]

Do I haver cyano? Do I have dinos?

Nah I got both!

What do you have? Let's find out!

 

[SaltwaterGardening]

I have something that looks like this. It can clearly see spirulina and dino sized cell structure. I also used it to identify something that didn’t look like a bristleworm, Shawn helped with that post.

Amazon.com: Jiusion 30X Zoom Bright LED Stereo Microscope Magnifier Clip-On Cell Phone Mobile Phone Camera Lens Compatible with Apple iPhone Samsung iPad: Camera & Photo

Amazon.com: Jiusion 30X Zoom Bright LED Stereo Microscope Magnifier Clip-On Cell Phone Mobile Phone Camera Lens Compatible with Apple iPhone Samsung iPad: Camera & Photo

smile.amazon.com

 

[timeconsumer]

Very cool device for 30x, you definitely don't need much magnification to determine if something is cyano or if it's dinos and that should handle it. These two pictures were taken under 100x and 400x. The stronger magnifications should be very helpful for determining more nuanced things like what specific type of dino or chrysophyte you might have.

 

[Whatskillz]

I'm battling what I think is dino. I'd be interested in getting you a sample.

 

[timeconsumer]

I'm battling what I think is dino. I'd be interested in getting you a sample.

PM sent

 

[timeconsumer]

We found some cool stuff today. Ostreopsis dinos and lots of misc microalgaes.

 

[John Bowers]

I am checking with a microscope too, one of the surprising things to me was that a significant portion (20-30% of solid things) of my sludge from the skimmer was apparently live free floating single cell algae. I wonder if this is typical.

 

[timeconsumer]

That's really interesting. I've never looked at skimmate to check that before. It makes sense though, and that is still a method of nutrient export. Those algaes uptake N and P to grow and reproduce and they get removed from the system and take their N and P with them.

 

[ActiveAngel]

Yeah; I imagine a lot of it can be fish gut bacteria as well. After all, some of that sludge is fish waste.