Microscopic Pictures, Need Help Identifying

[ItsAName]

I got a microscope, and I've been taking pictures of some nuisance spots in the tank and some other pictures just for fun. I thought I'd share some of them and request help in identifying others. I'll start with the ones in which I need help identifying. All pictures are at 800x

Unknown Images

1. What are all the dark green dots? I took this from my refugium.



2. What is this hair looking thing with dark green dots on it. I see alot of them when looking at samples. Is the hair thing and the green dots two separate things?



3. What are these random rectangle things? They are generally short and alone, although here 3 are clumped together making an upside down T.



4. This sample came from something growing off my return pump.



5. I see this alot in the water. Some sort of phytoplankton?



6. Took this sample from the water heater. My guess is diatoms, but I'm not sure.



7. What's this ball looking thing with three spikes coming off of it?



8. See these orange dots all over the place on algae



My Guesses At Images

9. Sea Lettuce (Ulva)



10. Tigriopus Californicus



11. Hair Algae



Thanks! If this is the wrong place to post this, let me know.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Very interesting. I'm sure some are algae spores, bacteria and protozoa. I'm just not up to speed on these.

I have looked closely at diatoms under a microscope before. They are fascinating, how they are like snow flakes and different from each other.

Let's see if the #reefsquad knows anything or someone that's versed enough to identify your pictures!

Thank you for posting these. Truly fascinating!

 

[Breadman03]

There’s a thread out there with a bit of ID info by @jason2459, if I remember the numbers correctly.

 

[reeferfoxx]

These two are diatoms.

I believe the green dots are phytoplankton.

This one looks like it have a flagellum which could indicate dinoflagellates.

Maybe @mcarroll or @taricha can help?

 

[JonB]

1. Maybe Isochrysis (phytoplankton) or Chlamydomonas. Were they were wiggling around- they would look like they were vibrating?
2. Is the "hair thing" the large structure taking up the field of view?
3. Probably diatom, as stated by reeferfoxx
4. Some sort of filamentous green algae
5. Are you referring to the filament?
7. Maybe a rotifer but hard to tell from that perspective
8. Dinoflagellate

 

[ItsAName]

1. Maybe Isochrysis (phytoplankton) or Chlamydomonas. Were they were wiggling around- they would look like they were vibrating?
2. Is the "hair thing" the large structure taking up the field of view?
3. Probably diatom, as stated by reeferfoxx
4. Some sort of filamentous green algae
5. Are you referring to the filament?
7. Maybe a rotifer but hard to tell from that perspective
8. Dinoflagellate

1. I don't think they were moving at all, but it's possible I missed it.
2. Yes, the vertical (top left to bottom right) thing going across the field of view.
5. Yes the filament thing
8. Do I need to concern myself with it if I don't generally see them in the tank?

 

[JonB]

1. I don't think they were moving at all, but it's possible I missed it.
2. Yes, the vertical (top left to bottom right) thing going across the field of view.
5. Yes the filament thing
8. Do I need to concern myself with it if I don't generally see them in the tank?

2. Hmm I am not sure. If you have more or took other photos of it, I would love to see it (also, if you have it, less zoomed in)
5. I think you may be right with some sort of phytoplankton
8. Probably a better question for someone else, but I would suggest that if they are not abundant then you should not be concerned as long as your tank is stable. But once again, that is just an opinion.

 

[taricha]

thanks for the tag @reeferfoxx - love this scope detective stuff.
1. Dunno, but there are single-cell cyanobacteria and chlorophytes that have a mucilage coating like you can see around these if you look closely, so yeah either a single-cell "cyano" or a "phyto" would be my guess.
2. what you are seeing is a green algae and the dots are its chloroplasts. looks like that strand is dying - losing chloroplasts. See vaucheria for example
3. agree on diatom
4. yeah I'd call it a green hair algae (but that encompasses hundreds of species in multiple families)
5. Shape is characteristic of some filamentous diatom chains.
6. the triangle spikey things are sponge spicules and the blobby thing in the top left is a foraminiferan
7. no idea, gotta see vid clip for context of movement and shape to have any clue what were looking at there.
8. the groove definitely says dinoflagellate, but that doesn't look too much like a problem variety, so no worries.
9. that's a cool shot
10. sure, some kind of harpacticoid copepod
11. yeah a filamentous algae, although if the color is accurate, I'd guess it falls in the browns or yellow-greens rather than greens.

 

[ItsAName]

Hi @taricha
Thank you so much for responding. I learned alot reading your reply and your links are fantastic. It gives me a lot to research and learn about. Do you have any recommendations on how I can become better at identifying this myself or learning the implications of what I'm looking at?

Thanks!

 

[taricha]

Hi @taricha
Thank you so much for responding. I learned alot reading your reply and your links are fantastic. It gives me a lot to research and learn about. Do you have any recommendations on how I can become better at identifying this myself or learning the implications of what I'm looking at?

Thanks!

Phycokey that I linked to several times is amazing as a start point when hunting things.
The Jason tagged earlier in this thread has the best microscope thread anywhere that I've learned a ton from.

This guy on YouTube has videos with IDs of literally thousands of protists. I don't know Spanish, but the dude is a hero. Francisco Pujante Capilla
https://m.youtube.com/user/fpelectronica

You are doing exactly the right thing to get a handle on what you see. Look at communities from samples in your system in context. See what hangs out together in certain environments.

Oh, and when IDing, chase things down to genus level: species level ID for this stuff is almost impossible, and not usually worth it, even when it can be done.