Magnapinna
Active Member
Tonight I looked at a microscope sample of my water (1 month old, first fish added ~24hrs ago). Wow, so much bacterial diversity! I'm impressed considering I started with only Caribsea Liferock + Ocean Direct.
What surprised me though is how motile these bacteria were compared to those I'm used to observing in freshwater. The spirochetes looked similar but I've never seen rods move like these ones! And they moved in different patterns. Some remained in one place and twirled in circles, others zipped all around like little missiles. Some formed chains that trained along as a unit, others appeared to be feeding on bits of debris or carrying things around. Freshwater bacteria, from my observations, do an awful lot of sitting still in comparison.
I placed a tiny food particle on the slide to see how the bacteria would respond and they got straight to work. I wish I could share some photos/videos but unfortunately they don't show up too well on camera lol.
I already knew the tank was cycled but to see the process in action is certainly pretty cool.
What surprised me though is how motile these bacteria were compared to those I'm used to observing in freshwater. The spirochetes looked similar but I've never seen rods move like these ones! And they moved in different patterns. Some remained in one place and twirled in circles, others zipped all around like little missiles. Some formed chains that trained along as a unit, others appeared to be feeding on bits of debris or carrying things around. Freshwater bacteria, from my observations, do an awful lot of sitting still in comparison.
I placed a tiny food particle on the slide to see how the bacteria would respond and they got straight to work. I wish I could share some photos/videos but unfortunately they don't show up too well on camera lol.
I already knew the tank was cycled but to see the process in action is certainly pretty cool.
