5/8/13

Assessing Water Quality

To asses the water quality of a body of water, there are some steps you would need to take.  First, you would observe the water and judge if it looked polluted or if it had an algae bloom for example.  Next take a sample of the water and see if it has any algae.  The different kinds of algae you find may show if it is healthy or unhealthy water.  Thirdly, test the temperature, ammonia levels, dissolved oxygen, nitrate levels, and pH.  After that if you wanted you could run different types of chemical tests on the water also.  It is important to do all these steps in order because I'm assuming to run all of these tests would cost you a lot of money!  If you observed that the water was unhealthy first and was dirty with pollution you were probably right!  Or algae blooms are easy to spot too!  If that's not good enough you can take a water sample and observe it underneath a microscope you can find different types of algae. Some are more resistant to pollution such as Anabaena, which would mean it would be poor quality water.  If you found Stigeoclonium (which helps clean the water) it's more likely to be a healthier quality body of water.
  

5/7/13

Dissolved Oxygen and Carbon Cycle.

Two sources of dissolved oxygen would be the oxygen from the plants in the water and the oxygen and its contact with the atmosphere.  During the day the oxygen levels rise (because photosynthesis occurs with sunlight) and the carbon dioxide levels decrease as the plants absorb it.  During the night carbon dioxide increases while oxygen decreases.  This is because their is no sunlight to create photosynthesis, and therefore oxygen. However, the plants instead of producing oxygen, absorb it and produce carbon dioxide.

5/6/13

Dissolved Oxygen

The term "dissolved oxygen" means the amount of oxygen dissolve in a body of water as an indication of the degree of health of the water and its ability to support a balanced ecosystem. The oxygen comes from plants in the water and also contact with the atmosphere as well.
Steps to do a dissolved oxygen test:
1.) Put water filled to 25 mL into a container.
2.) Get tube with a sort of yellow water and place it in the sample.
3.) Then break off the tip of it.
4.) Let it sit in the water for a few seconds.
5.) After you removed it place your finger on the removed tip and turn it upside down over and over.
6.) After mixing it up let it sit for about 2 minutes.
7.) Compare results with the chart.

Our results showed about 9 mL which is good because if the oxygen was less than 3 mg/l it would not support the fish. In a small pond it would probably hold more oxygen than in an aquarium because there would be more plants.  A large river would have probably the most dissolved oxygen because a fast current allows more oxygen than a lotic system such as a pond.  A pond would also probably be warmer which warm water holds less oxygen.

5/3/13

Aquacheck!

The Aquacheck has five components which are free chlorine, total chlorine, total alkalitnity, total hardness and pH.  Free chlorine refers to the ions that are free in the water, total chlorine is the combination of free and combined chlorine, the buffering capacity of water is total alkalinity (or resistance to pH), total hardness is dissolved minerals in the water, and pH is how basic or acidic the water is.  It can range from 0-14, zero being most acidic, 14 as basic, or 7 as neutral.  These checks are important to know the quality of an aquatic environment.
Our aquacheck turned out pretty well! Our free chlorine was zero as well as total chlorine.  The total hardness was 425, the total alkalinity was 240 and the pH was 8.4.  The pH levels are great because a pH of 3 kills the fish and ours was way high than that. The pH should range from 6-8. Our free chlorine and total chlorine is great that it's zero because chlorine can kill the fish. The hardness is good because they need hard water to survive.  The alkalinity relates to the pH and is okay for the fish but is not the best the best would be maybe around 350 (I think Mrs. Wood said but it's hard to remember). However our tank seems to be a pretty healthy environment so far!



]

5/2/13

Our fish are a variety of different species.  Mine are the Neon Tetra and the Red Wag platy  Catie has the Mickie Mouse fish and Bailey has the three Glow Fish and a snail.

My fish info.

The Neon Tetra is a pelagic freshwater fish native to trapical parts of South America and orginates from Brazil, South America, and eastern Peru and can also be found in the River Amazon, Tiger, and Napo and Yarapa. It has a spindle shaped body and a blunt nose and a neon blue line that runs on either side of the body with a red line doing the same only placed on the middle of the body down to it's fin.  If the neon blue stripe dulls or looks dim in the light, that may mean your it is ill or stressed. Over 1.5 million Tetras are imported into the U.S. alone, each month!

1. Soft acidic water is the best condition for this fish.

2. The neon tetra is not easy to keep alive because it can develop an incurable Pleistophora disease. 

3. These are omnivores and can eat algae and can eat things such as freeze-dried blood worms too.

4. Our Neon Tetra is normally more comfortable in a group of its own kind but the other ones we had died.

5. It has no eye on one side of it's head and we believe it got into a fight.

6. Can grow up to 1.5 inches.

7. Preferred temperatures from 73 to 79 degrees F.

8. I observed that he stays very close to the front glass.

9. He doesn't play with the other fish or chase anyone.

10. A light over the tank is required so they can see their food clearly.

The Red Wag Platy is a solid red with black tipped fins and black lips.  At first when born the Platy does not have black tipped fins, it's more of a yellow, but when they get older the black fills in. He originates from Eastern Mexico, Guatemala and Northern Honduras.

Requirements/Behavior

1. Platies should have plenty of plants in their environment.

2. A good filtration system is needed for these fish.

3. These fish are omnivores and need algae to feed on.

4. You should change the water 20 to 25% every week.

5. They can live with any other peaceful community fish (like the ones we already have)

6. The male we have can reach up to 1.5 inches.

7. I observed that it swims very slowly and not as fast as the others.

8. I also observed that it gets along with the Mickie Mouse Platy more than any other fish.

9. He goes a lot.

10. He moves very fast when food is in the picture and has a big appetite.

5/1/13

Aquatic Science Field Trip!

My field trip experience was awesome!  I was really glad that my friend Victoria was able to come too because she really wanted too but her teacher wouldn't let her go on the bus when the announcement was made.  But she got a ride there and it turned out well! It was a lot of fun and we got to see many different animals and fish.  The most interesting thing that I saw was the Sea Manatee.  It was a ton bigger than I thought it would be and it was really cool to see one as it swam by.  I learned that the tree kangaroo that we saw was endangered, the burrowing owl really has three different calls and doesn't hoot, the Giant River Otter has adapted webbed feet and a narrow body for swimming against currents, the yellow-banded poison dart frog resides in Venezuela, Guyana, and South America, lastly the Manatee is endangered and need air but can stay underwater for up to twenty minutes. I would have liked to have stayed longer because I missed the Moon Jellyfish and the other animals in the dark room.

   

4/29/13

                                                                  Pollution Index Chart

The purpose of the Pollution Index Chart helps to tell how clean and healthy the environment is due to the amount of algae. If you do the math which is the number of algae you find divided by five, then only using the a whole number it can divide into multiplied by the number on the pollution index chart, you can figure how polluted the water is. The benefits is you can tell how clean and healthy the environment is, a negative would be is that you're only sampling a portion of the area so the results might not be very accurate.  If the numbers that you get from the math are lower than 14 than the pollution is low. If the numbers are 15-19 than the pollution is probable. Lastly, if the number you get is greater than 20 than the pollution is high.  If the diversity of algae is low but the population of a certain algae is high the water is polluted. If the diversity of algae is is high but the population is low than the environment is healthier and clean.