What is this? Something in the water

[Mmathis]

First of all, this is my very first video to upload to YouTube, so I hope I did it correctly and that it will show up.

Secondly, my camera has wi-fi sharing with my iPad, but unfortunately, it only shares stills and not videos. Too lazy to pull the card and go to the PC, so I literally made a video of the video. There may be some quality-loss, but nothing significant.

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Here's the story. A few weeks back I found one of my goldfish (a Watonai) in distress. I took it inside and did a mini-QT in a bucket with an air stone. I did several scrapes, but virtually nothing showed up on the slides.

For the fish, I added salt, did frequent water changes....... It lived for a couple of days, when I finally decided to add clove oil to the water . After it died, I had intended to do a necropsy, but what happened instead was that I forgot about the fish and it stayed in our den, dead, in a bucket -- air stone still going -- for 2 more days ! Before I disposed of the fish, I sampled the bucket-water and looked at it under the microscope. WHOA! These organisms died within a few minutes of when I first looked at them. You could watch them gradually slow down then stop moving. Kinda creepy!

So, my question is this, from a forensic aspect: Are these "bugs" something that naturally happens upon the death of an aquatic animal? Or are they a proliferation of something pathogenic? I doubt the latter as the fish had been dead for 2 days -- but I don't know anything about "aquatic forensics," so.......

 

[Meyer Jordan]

I would venture to say that these are scavenger organisms.

 

[Mmathis]

I would venture to say that these are scavenger organisms.

Thanks! That's the term I have been trying to think of -- SCAVENGER! My thought, as well, but throwing it out there since I'm clueless!

You can imagine my initial reaction at seeing this, when I've never found a parasite on a fish, so nothing to compare it with. Like watching an Alfred Hitchcock film!

But then, the scientific brain starts to kick in.......and you feel better, but still feel the need to KNOW for sure. Not something they tell you about in Pond Life 101 -- The 'After-Death' Experience. Or would that chapter be included in Pond Life 201.....?

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Cool video Maggie, good to see someone here knows how to upload a video

 

[Meyer Jordan]

When pond water is viewed through a microscope, an entirely different world presents itself. The real pond!

 

[Mmathis]

Cool video Maggie, good to see someone here knows how to upload a video

Well, the funny part is that I had to use the iPad to capture the video from my camera LCD screen -- so it's a combination of technologies, LOL! My Nikon CoolPix camera is wi-fi enabled, but darn if it won't share the videos! For that, guess I'll have to use the PC and do it the "old fashioned way," via card transfer [yeah, like I know what I'm talking about....]. And if I want answers and input on my findings, in some cases, the video is going to be worth 100 stills.

I had to initiate my YouTube acct. [do you know how LONG it's been? and I'm surprised that I remembered my password!], open a "category," or "channel," upload it there, then I copied & pasted the link. Easy once I finally took that first step.

 

[Mmathis]

When pond water is viewed through a microscope, an entirely different world presents itself. The real pond!

I'll try to remember to post another couple of little clips I took yesterday. Someone said I should put a microscope slide on the bottom of the pond, leave it for 24 hours, then view it. Nothing. But I had originally put 2 slides down, and forgot about the 2nd one [protected inside a net]. What's it been, almost 2 weeks? Found some interesting stuff!

 

[addy1]

My dad always grew jars of water on our window sill we would then spend hours looking at what we could find under the microscope.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Well, the funny part is that I had to use the iPad to capture the video from my camera LCD screen -- so it's a combination of technologies, LOL! My Nikon CoolPix camera is wi-fi enabled, but darn if it won't share the videos! For that, guess I'll have to use the PC and do it the "old fashioned way," via card transfer [yeah, like I know what I'm talking about....]. And if I want answers and input on my findings, in some cases, the video is going to be worth 100 stills.

I had to initiate my YouTube acct. [do you know how LONG it's been? and I'm surprised that I remembered my password!], open a "category," or "channel," upload it there, then I copied & pasted the link. Easy once I finally took that first step.

Thanks for the info Maggie, I will figure it out one of these days when I have more time to play around with it.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

My dad always grew jars of water on our window sill we would then spend hours looking at what we could find under the microscope.

I ordered some pre-made slides from Amazon so that I could get comfortable using the scope. I haven't had time to view them though.....Seems I just never have enough time to do everything I want and or need to do........

 

[Dave 54]

I ordered some pre-made slides from Amazon so that I could get comfortable using the scope. I haven't had time to view them though.....Seems I just never have enough time to do everything I want and or need to do........

Same here Maria its seems like there are never enough hours in the day, hoever why dont you do what Maggie is doing taking slides from the pond itself so that you can get real hands on experiance with the scope , it would be intersting to see what you find .
Make time to do a scrape or two as I do ever so often to check for prasites that way its total hans on experiance .
You have my Microscpe article to work from plus Maggies photos

Dave

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Good advice Dave

I just got a table set up and plan to put the scope on it and leave it up so it's more convenient to use when I want/need to.

 

[Mmathis]

Good advice Dave

I just got a table set up and plan to put the scope on it and leave it up so it's more convenient to use when I want/need to.

LOL, my scope is on the dining table (we never eat on the table anyway). One of our cats (Casper) also likes to sleep on the table, so I have to be careful that he doesn't push the scope off!

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I did a filter cleaning today (pulled the box filters for the spitters) and noticed some kind of critters -- they looked like teeny, tiny little bubbles, smaller than a pin-head -- in the waste water. Ah, ha! Something else to look at! Very interesting! No idea what I was looking at under the scope, and I think I'll research it before I post pics. But it was NOT a bacteria, algae, worm, or nematode this time. It was a living, breathing, heart-beating animal -- and whatever it was, I felt so guilty that I was studying it and it was dying...... I felt like a mad scientist from an old horror film....Dr. Frankenstein! I mean, it's little heart was beating......

 

[Dave 54]

Great idea , I have ours ready to go just behind me in a stack of cases that hold varios bits and pieces of our first aid kit partially made up from houshold items partially in the case of the scalples professional.
Theres also a case of medications, its better to use small bottles each used bottle is replaced after its usemost of the bellow are in the chemicals case:-

https://www.gardenpondforum.com/articles/medications-for-use-in-ponds.8/

Have you thought about putting something like that together .
You know how to aethatize because you've done it you can perform simple surgery such as removing a section of damaged tail
Cleaning up and removing dead tissue etc and it will be left on standby like your microscope ready to go in case its ever needed :-
https://www.gardenpondforum.com/articles/make-a-complete-first-aid-kit-for-koi-and-goldfish.13/

Our moto try to do your upmost best for your fish and they will respond in kind , its not that often we have to use the first aid kit but its a peice of mind knowing you are ready and dont have to run about in a panic trying to find everything .

Dave

 

[Mmathis]

In reference to post # 13, above.....

I haven't done the videos yet, but these are the still's I took. @Meyer Jordan I looked and looked, but the closest I could come to an ID, was a relative of the daphnia (some type of crustacean, anyway....). And it might be that, but the pics & video I took just don't look like what I've seen on the internet. And I apologize if I get the taxonomic info [genus, family, phylum, etc.] all screwed up, LOL, but I never could keep those categories straight. On the videos, you could see the heart beating as well as the peristaltic movement of the "gut." @bettasngoldfish @Dave 54

For reference.....

What they [there were 2 of them] looked like on the slide.......

An overview....... I tried to imagine this as a 2D version of the animal, flattened by the cover slip -- which would explain why the "antenna parts" look like they are internal organs instead of external appendages.

Close up of "gut" and and something that looks like an orifice [that I was never able to find this on an anatomical drawing or picture that resembled what I saw here].......

And last but not least, a close up of the "exoskeleton" [carapace, as it was called]. When I viewed this under the scope, I was reminded of the shell of a crawfish -- except that a crawfish isn't transparent. At first, I thought the tiny "dots" were bubbles, but the "dots" were too regular, as were the purple "dots" -- that's when I ID'd it as the outer covering of the animal.