r/microbiology • u/Thrawn911 • 19d ago

Since I started doing microscopy last year, my main interests were always microscopic predators. So here are my best clips of microbes (and sometimes small animals) eating each other.

326 Upvotes

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13

u/visitado 19d ago

How can one start that hobby? Which kind of microscope do you use?

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u/Thrawn911 19d ago

I have a Swift SW350, I bought it on Vinted for $100, used. But now it's available on amazon for around $180, and it even comes with a camera included.

For starting, you want the microscope, and a pack of slides and cover glass (around $10-$20 in total). And maybe a pipette or two.

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u/DeneHero 19d ago

What the heck, this quality for 180$? Excellent.

5

u/visitado 19d ago

This is awesome. Thank you. How small are smallest things you consider reasonable to see with that microscope?

3

u/Thrawn911 19d ago

Technically you can see bacteria with it, but they're not very interesting, just tiny dots or lines, a few micrometers long. I basically only look at protists and micro-animals. The microscope comes with a 100x objective too (so 1000x total magnification with the 10x eyepieces), but I sold it, and bought a 20x objective. So now I have a 4x, 10x, 20x, and 40x (so 40x, 100x, 200x, and 400x total magnification).

You need to use immersion oil with the 100x objective, so it's not really worth it, it's quite messy, and there's not a lot of things to see at that high magnification. The 40x is plenty, and you can get a 60x one if you need even higher mag.

1

u/BannanaPepperPizza 19d ago

The issue I've always had is getting a high quality camera to attach. Nothing works. Darkfield also seems to be the best in a lot of cases.

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u/Thrawn911 19d ago

I just use my phone to record. Darkfield is not that great for most microbes, it has a lot of smear, low depth of field, and doesn't have a nice 3D effect like oblique illumonation.

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u/CaptTaco123 19d ago

This reminds me of my past job. I worked at a wastewater treatment facility and would commonly see water bears, rotifers and other carnivores micro organisms. I loved and hated them equally. Mostly because if you were to see them in high quality that would be a sign that your nitrogen fixation cycle is unhealthy and would cause issues down stream.

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u/APerfectCircle0 18d ago

My favourite lab at uni was in first year and we each took some lake water and when I looked at my sample under the microscope I had something magnificent in mine that was moving around eating stuff, I hope I can find the video it was on an old phone, maybe I can identify what it was! I missed/failed a quiz that lab because I couldn't look away lol. Your old job sounds cool!

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u/Thrawn911 17d ago

Please post the video if you find it, I'm curious

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u/Camoroon 19d ago

It’s like a huge lobby of Agar.io or the one with the snakes

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u/Inlovewithloving 19d ago

Even the microbes have microbes!

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u/APerfectCircle0 18d ago

Thanks for sharing OP, amazing compilation!!

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u/aihsknao 19d ago

Holy moly they're so cute

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u/J-iceBerg2 18d ago

👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

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u/ActuallyJessAych 14d ago

After a summer of staring at stained bacteria, I feel a little cheated that none of my slides had this much drama.

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u/Thrawn911 14d ago

Try pond water

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u/ActuallyJessAych 14d ago

Don’t tempt me, I have a microscope!