Last month, I collected some pond water samples from my university and decided to make a simple hay infusion setup at home to see what microbes I can successfully culture. To make the hay infusion, I gathered some dried grass and dead leaves near the pond area (which we call “the lagoon”) and boiled them inside a glass jar. I then left the setup to cool down before filling the remaining volume of the jar with some of the pond water I collected. I check on the infusion every week and recorded the different microbes that would grow in it. For thoroughness, I tried as best as I could to identify each microbe and to note where in the setup I collected them (i.e., whether they were extracted from the top, middle, or bottom of the jar).

During the first two weeks, I observed that ciliates dominated my infusion, with some occasional rotifers and nematodes. But just a couple of days later, I noticed that the population of rotifers, especially bdelloids, boomed so much that they were already visible on the water surface. This piqued my interest so I decided to observe them more closely under the foldscope.

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Most of the bdelloid rotifers that thrive in my infusion measure about 0.5 mm (500 μm) and thus are visible to the naked eye even when isolated. However, I also observed smaller bdelloids, and I’m not sure if they are the same species as the bigger ones. My best guess is that the predominant type is Philodina sp., though I would very much appreciate if someone could help me identify them more accurately, as I hope to culture them separately after a month. While at it, I’ll investigate further on why and how their population increased so suddenly and successfully.

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I am also planning to feature the different cultures I have managed to establish from the same pond water samples in my next posts, so stay tuned! Currently, I call them my “micropets”. Foldscoping has really opened a lot of avenues for me to discover my passions, and right now I’m thinking of becoming a micro-breeder!