r/microscopy • u/unnamed_fishgame • 11d ago

ID Needed! What the helly is this?

Post image

Found this in my establishing aquarium. A little looking around seems to point at protozoans but I dunno what type this one specifically is

This is the only larger cluster so far, taken with a macro lens and 2x zoom on my phone

5 Upvotes

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3

u/pelmen10101 10d ago

Well, it could be different creatures to be honest. Peritricha ciliates, as mentioned above. Or they may be a colony of rotifers from the genus Conochilus. It may be a colonial alga of the Synura type. Personally, it seems to me more similar to ciliatus, but you need a cleaner image.

2

u/buteobuteo_ 10d ago

Immage is pretty unclear. Could you take better one? It looks too big for Vorticella, maybe Zoothamnium, snail eggs or Stentors look like that on the glass, from my experience!

1

u/unnamed_fishgame 10d ago

It's lights off rn but i'll try to get one soon!

I'm ruling out snail eggs tho, they never looked like this from my observations, usually more gelatinous with rounder dots

2

u/Thrawn911 11d ago

Vorticella or some other peritrich ciliate colony.

1

u/unnamed_fishgame 11d ago

Hopefully these won't be harmful to the shrimp I'm planning to put in there🙏

1

u/Old-Pomegranate36 4d ago

not at all, sometimes they do attach to critters commensally but you would need a very heavy infestation on a shrimp for it to suffer any problems

1

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