11/21/13

     The strangest part of my final observation was the disappearance of almost all of the rotifers that once were the second most abundant organism in my aquarium. I looked almost all over for it and could not find any, except for one that was moving very slowly and did not look like it was going to make it very much longer. This is strange because the living conditions are perfect for rotifers because it is still waters and they are also able to live in areas that are moist, so having the dirt at the bottom and the plants inside the microaquarium would be a very good place for them to live (Introduction to the Rotifera, 2012)  I believe the food pellet may have been gone so they started to die out. However, the perimysium were still all there and still seemed to be thriving. This makes my theory about the food pellet being gone seem less likely. Other than that I cannot think of a reason why the rotifer are all dying out.

     I also found more actinophrys randomly throughout my microaquarium which is interesting because I did not see them until later on and they seem to be multiplying every observation that I make. I believe this is because they feed on other organisms and if the food pellet was all eaten, they still had food by consuming some of the other organisms. This also could be why many of the rotifers are gone if other organisms are killing them off.

     From what I could find, the stentors remained almost the same and they were still relatively in the same locations as they were when I first found them. They did not seem like they had changed from earlier observations. But, the limnias that I had found in an earlier observation was nowhere to be found in this past observation. This was very fascinating considering they are very similar to the stentors, but the stentors survived and the limnias was gone (Fresh Water Invertebrates of the United States, 1989).

Bibliography:
Pennak, Robert W. Fresh-water Invertebrates of the United States: Protozoa to Mollusca. New York [etc.: John Wiley, 1989. Print.

Baqai, Aisha, Vivek Guruswanny, Janie Liu, and Gizem Rizki. "Introduction to the Rotifera." Introduction to the Rotifera. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.