microscope 101

[musicmarn1]

ok got a lovely microscope from a kind member here on SD


is there anything i should get or can anyone give me any thing to look for, was going to do a fecal from my discus tanks, been YEARS and years since i used a microscope and i did a degree lol so i think ive forgotten everything

maybe its straight forward but should i use a stain ?
what magnitude would you suggest for fecals?

should i look at drops of tank water or just poop , what will i expect to see, is most of what im looking for encapsulated? moving?

[plecocicho]

Stains in pathogenic research are usually used to determine gram negative or gram positive bacteria (dont colour up, colour up respectivetely), so i dont think you need stains. For flagellats 400x should be enough. Always take the freshest possible sample of feaces (the best sample would be to suck it right from discus vent). If it lands on the floor various non pathogenic flagellats, ciliats and other critters could invade the sample. Fllagelats will be moving in jerking style, cilliats and amoebes will be more crawling. Possible adult nematods, cestods and acanthocephala will all be dead. The typical nematode eggs are barrel shaped with narrowed ends. When you see it you will know it. As far as using emersion liquids, those come more helpfull at 1000x magnitude. That magnitude is used to look inside the cells and for bacteria.

[musicmarn1]

Very helpful thankyou so much

Just wait until I tell my husband to grab discus poop right from the vent! , :gorgeous:

[Mapet]

I always check poop and mud from filter.
I start low magnitude (40x) and go up.
At magnitude 100x do You can see almost everthing (lernaea, nematodes, trematodes, tardigrada, etc.) and how plecocicho wrote, 400 for flagellates will be sufficient.
If something it's moving, check this with higher magnitude.
First I check sample without cover glass.

[musicmarn1]

this is great, is there a really good place to go for fish specific lernaea, nematodes, trematodes, tardigrada, etc identification? would be nice to have a sticky here, ill certainly try and get good photos myself. i will be asking my mobile vet who is here regularly for the dog business, to check my microscope for me !!!