Week 2

Algae:

• It appears that the algae has grown a bit in quantity from the first observation. It is less concentrated around the plants and is now spreading even to the open water areas, which seems to be attracting the protozoa.

Nematodes:

• The number of nematodes seems to have drastically increased even from the last observation. Some even appear to have grown in size from last week, though I don't have an accurate method of proving that. I could not find the giant nematode that I witnessed last time, so I assume it either died or was hiding in the dirt. I also witnessed a nematode eating a very small mite or crustacean, indicating the cause for the decrease in mites that I found.

Mites:

• This week I only found one very small mite, which as I stated previously, was eaten by a fairly large nematode. I assume either the mites have gone into hiding in the dirt or they have begun to be eaten off by the nematodes.

Protozoa:

• I witnessed an increase in the number of protozoa this week. I counted five which I believe to be separate. All but one of them were swimming around the algae, specifically around the Fontinalis moss. The other was swimming in clear water in the middle of the tank.