Like every other week, the first thing I noticed was that most of the water in my aquarium had evaporated. Also, a lot of my organisms from the first week have completely died off. There are forgotten skeletons of rotifers and cyclopses near and throughout the bit of sediment on the baseline of the aquarium. These organisms have now been replaced by diatoms. There are literally diatoms EVERYWHERE!! Today I also was able to identify an Arcella Artocrea. An Arcella is typically enclosed in a chitinous, umbrella-shaped test (or shell) that has a single central aperture through which the pseudopods – which are used for locomotion – extend out. In some species the aperture is surrounded by a ring of pores (Wiki). There were also a few rotifers still active in the open areas of the aquarium.
To the left: A free swimming rotifer
These next three images are all examples of the Arcella Artocrea
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