Ciliates?

[suzy]

Ok, so I go into the basement this morning, usual routine, coo at the seahorses, check the reef. Then I go into my fish room (my hubby calls it the "Secret La bor a tory"). I got the coolest surprise! One of my green phyto cultures is brown!
For those who don't grow microalgae, green is the least nutritious, category wise, brown is second, red is best. I am thinking my green was contaminated by a brown diatom. This is a joy of joys. The ultimate freebie! I know newbies reefers hate diatoms, and they think they are bad, but IME, they grow the best zooplankton on the planet. So, I get out my microscope and check it out.
They are moving! I know a few algae spp are motile. But, I can see little hairs on 'em. Cilia!
I call my husband down and "Check it out!".
"You have Diatoms" in a rather so-what-big-deal tone is the reply.
"No, look in the scope"
"What?"
"They're moving!"
"Cool", again in the tone of I-don't-want-that-in-MY-pond.
So, I had to share with you guys. Current and future breeders who know how hard it is to even buy some cool tiny stuff, let alone get it to bloom!
Now, I need some goby fry! Or H reidi, or whatever fry.

 

[zeke92]

i have no idea what that is, but congrats! i always wanted to try doing my own plankton. even tho i don't really use much plankton besides the occasional treat for my tiny tubeworms.

 

[bang guy]

I've found that the antifreeze agent used for many of the algae cryopastes encourages Ciliate growth. It' a bummer when you're trying to grow Rotifers but if you want Ciliates then there's no better way.

 

[suzy]

I am not a rotifer fan at the moment. I hate it when one gets in my tiggerpods!
So, you are familiar with ciliates?
Can they outcompete copepods ( Tigriopus californiicus,) if one contaminates my culture?
The movement appears to be just enough to look alive and elict a feeding response, but slow enough for a fry to catch. How would you compare the size to rots or BBS?
I realize all things depend on species, and I have no idea what my species is...

 

[bang guy]

Originally Posted by Suzy
http:///forum/post/2520307
I am not a rotifer fan at the moment. I hate it when one gets in my tiggerpods!
So, you are familiar with ciliates?
Can they outcompete copepods ( Tigriopus californiicus,) if one contaminates my culture?
The movement appears to be just enough to look alive and elict a feeding response, but slow enough for a fry to catch. How would you compare the size to rots or BBS?
I realize all things depend on species, and I have no idea what my species is...
They cannot outcompete Rotifers if fed a pure strain of Nano, they will quickly outcome Rotifers when fed one of those cryopastes. Beyond that I don't know much else.
The Ciliates I grew to feed Mandarin fry were about 1/4 the size of my Rotifers. The ones that contaminate my Rotifer cultures are about 1/2 the size of the Rotifers.
I think a problem with the Ciliates that show up from the cryopaste might be nutrition. They are feeding on some glucose based antifreeze. I can't imagine they would be as nutritious as Ciliates that feed on Algae.

 

[suzy]

Thanks!

 

[rykna]

Neato!!! Can you post some pics of these micro sized ciliates?

 

[rykna]

Are these the little ciliates?

Originally Posted by by Wim van Egmond
What are Ciliates?
Ciliates are unicellular protists that can be recognised by their hairlike 'cilia'. They use them for locomotion and for feeding.
Some ciliates are very small, not much larger than the largest bacteria. Others like the 'trumpet animalcule' Stentor can reach a size of two millimetres so it can be seen with the

[hr]
eye. Paramecium does not become much larger than 0.3 mm.