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If I'm going to look at some pond water and I want to see all the creepies swimming about, do I or don't I put on a cover slip? I think without the cover slip, I won't be able to focus (or if I get too close, the lens will get pond water on it) but with the cover slip, all the creepies will get stuck/squashed.

How is this generally done?

Thanks,
Adam O.

For good results observing pond water place a drop of water taken from your sample source where there is some debris. If you let the sample container sit quietly much of the debris will settle to the bottom of the container and you can get a dropper full and put it on the slide. Place the cover slip on the drop. If there is water coming out from under the coverslip around the edges you can wick it away with a piece of tissue. The water will suspend the organisms and the coverslip will not crush them. The coverslip will keep the slide from drying for a while and as you said, protect the objective from getting wet.

g2b2

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A pixel is worth a thousand words but it takes a thousand words to explain a pixel. g2b2

Sorry to sort of hi-jack this thread, but..and this is probably going to sound really stupid, does anyone put the little pondlife critters back in the water after viewing them? or do we just chuck-em' and wash the slide in clean water?

Hi Ken,

I just wipe my slide and coverslips with a tissue. An acquaintance used to flush the organisms down the sink after viewing them (couldn't stand stranding them), however he studied diatoms and would treat whole samples with nasty chemicals.

Peter.

In honor of all the microscopic organisms that have sacrificed their short lives so that I may better understand their niche within the ecosystem I have decided to donate my earthly remains (body) to science. After I have been poked, prodded, sliced, diced, and maybe thin sectioned, I hope that I will be carefully preserved in many small glass jars for further reference just as many cladocerans did for me during my university days.

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A pixel is worth a thousand words but it takes a thousand words to explain a pixel. g2b2

Right lol. 'nuff said, except to say I think mine will go down the sink into the drain system where they will have an opportunity to carry on the remainder of their little lives...( at least it will make me feel better) lol

I fear this thread has been diverted from its original intent but, having said that, I'll offer one more reply. If you do wash your protozoans down the drain to continue their lives they may actually thrive for a bit longer. After the bacteria the protozoans and metazoans are important indicators of the health of the activated sludge in the waste water treatment basins... now, let's all go prepare a slide.

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A pixel is worth a thousand words but it takes a thousand words to explain a pixel. g2b2

I put some of my samples back into the aquarium.

As to slide preparation, I bought a box with 100 slots for 1x3" slides. I keep about a dozen depression slides in there, then about a dozen plain smooth slides. The rest, I have sat in front of the TV at night with my slide box and a bottle of clear nail polish. I put 4 dots of nail polish at the 4 corners of where my 22mm square slides will sit. When they dry, they are tall enough to keep the coverslips off the slide below, and from crushing my bugs, from cyclopoida to rotifers, stentors and the like. It also allows for more water and longer viewing times before it starts to dry out. Just put your water sample on the slide in the middle of the dots and lay the coverslips on top.

Many microscope objectives are designed to be used with glass coverslips as part of their design. If the lens says 160/0.17, it means it is for a 160mm tube length and used with a 0.17" glass coverslip.

That's actually what I had in mind previously...'putting them back in the aquarium' to keep specimens available etc.

Good idea re the nail varnish.

My little auarium is all set up now on the kitchen window sill, I took a quick sample while the water was still a bit murky ( I couldn't wait), all i could find were bits of debris, but I don't expect anything alive just yet, I had to break the ice to get some sludge from the bottom, and then topped up the jar with pond water, then a bit of gravel from the pet shop along with a sprig of pond plant, just wait and see now.

When I first set up my jar aquarium, I added the gravel, then water from the sink, [we have well water here, no chlorine], then the plants and the two snails I bought. I let it settle for a few hours, then I emptied two jars of water samples from the river. They had live stuff in them, but were just about to go bad. they hadn't started to stink yet, and had some dead leaves and stuff from the mud of the river in them.

It wasn't long though, the next day, when I had stuff to look at, that big worm thing inside the mosquito larvae was the first subject.

By the third day, I had white clouds of small microbes hanging down like slow moving curtains from the surface of the water. I have one of those desk lamps for light, with a curly florescent photo light in it, rated for 5000K, daylight. The microbes were drawn to that side of the tank. Maybe yours are on the sunlight side?

I find the copapods hang out near the surface, at the edge of the glass and most of the other things, like rotifers and stentors are found attached to the plants, leaves or stalks. I will take a pipette, squeeze out the air and start scratching the surface of the plants, while sucking in a small amount of water. This knocks loose the bugs and sucks them into the pipette. You just have to rely on luck though, cause they are way too small to see.

If you really want some variety, go to the woods and find some moss growing on stumps or fallen logs, or rocks in a creek. Take some baggies and collect several samples and keep them separate. When you get home, put each sample in a small jar or petri dish and add a squirt of water from the aquarium. I use petri dishes with covers, or they will dry up fast when the heat is on.

Wait a few hours and then suck out a few drops in a pipette and put them on a slide. The life you find in these samples is amazing. Doesn't take long either. Keep them wet for a few days, then pour the water into the aquarium and then let them dry out for a few weeks. You can re-wet them anytime you want, for more samples.

I always carry a few baggies in my pockets now when I go out, for samples of stuff that might look interesting.