Re: Can't find microbes in lake water

From: Repeating Rifle (salmonegg_at_sbcglobal.net)
Date: 08/06/04 

Date: Fri, 06 Aug 2004 00:22:52 GMT

in article 3b2eb022.0408051459.4b69f24@posting.google.com, Bob Alexander at
realexander@akron.usa.com wrote on 8/5/04 3:59 PM:

>> What brand and type of microscope are you using? How much experience
>> have you had using this instrument? .What eyepieces and objectives are
>> you using? How are you preparing your slides?
>
> The microscope is Edmund Scientific's "Beginner Microscope Kit" with a
> fixed 10x eyepiece and 4x, 10x, and 40x objectives. I have not had
> much experience (it is, after all, a beginner's scope). Slide
> preparation is just getting a drop of water in an eyedropper, putting
> it on the slide, and putting a cover slip on. I know enough to avoid
> air bubbles. I'm not using any stains or filters.
>
> Thanks,
> Bob
I have not fiddled with mikcroscopes in a serious way for a long time. I do
not think that the (toy?) microscope is the problem. As a kid, I spent many
hours with one looking at things.

Try using a hanging drop. An easy way would be to take somed petroleum jell
and smear a small coat onto both sides of a washer such as used on garden
hoses. Put the washer on a slide. Put a small drop of your pond water on a
cover slip, invert the slip, place the slip onto the washer so that the drop
hangs in the space inside the washer.

It would also help if you collected from a smelly oozy place rather than a
nice clean lake.

Bill

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