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5.infusorians

This document provides information about infusorians, a type of protozoan. It describes some common freshwater and marine species, including Paramecium, Stylonichia, Fabrea salina, and Euplotes. It also outlines several culture techniques that can be used to cultivate infusorians, such as lettuce culture, potato culture, and banana peel culture. Specific steps are provided for collecting infusorians from stagnant ponds and culturing them using various plant materials.

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RISHIKA
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148 views

5.infusorians

This document provides information about infusorians, a type of protozoan. It describes some common freshwater and marine species, including Paramecium, Stylonichia, Fabrea salina, and Euplotes. It also outlines several culture techniques that can be used to cultivate infusorians, such as lettuce culture, potato culture, and banana peel culture. Specific steps are provided for collecting infusorians from stagnant ponds and culturing them using various plant materials.

Uploaded by

RISHIKA
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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INFUSORIANS

Introduction

• First described by Antony Van Leeuwenhoek

• Largest of the protozoans (infusoria): are seen by the naked eye

• Most species require a microscope to view

• Green water or cloudiness of aquarium water: indication of an overabundance


• Importance as fry food

• Size: 25 mm to 300

• Freshwater species: Paramecium & Stylonichia

• Marine species : Euplotes


Paramecium

• Unicellular organisms

• Most advanced protozoans

• Presence of many surface cilia (hairs) used for swimming & collecting food

• Hairs clearly seen under an electron microscope


• Distinctive slipper-like appearance

• Size range: 60 µm to 300 µm in length, with most around 150 µm


Stylonichia

• Genus of ciliate

• Included among the stichotrichs

• Common in fresh water and soil

• Found on filamentous algae, surface films, among particles of sediment


• Cilia grouped into membranelles alongside the mouth and cirri over the body

• Distinguished partly by long cirri at the posterior, usually a cluster of three


Fabrea salina

• The heterotrichous ciliate

• Reported from diverse environments such as salt marshes and hypersaline lakes

Culture method

• Done using hay, milk, yeast and banana peels (2-3 peals per 50l of mixture)

• This generates a film of bacteria followed by ciliates

• It can be harvested with filter paper


Euplotes

• Bacteriovorous, hypotrichous ciliate of fresh or salt water


General Culture techniques of Infusorians

• Lettuce culture

• Potato culture

• Banana peel culture


Collecting Infusoria

• Collected at almost any stagnant pond

• where plants and/or algae are growing in excess

• Jars of the decaying vegetable matter can be collected (surface, the middle, and
the bottom of the pond)

• Stand it for a day or so before which can be stored

• Other sources of infusoria are old aquarium filter pads


Culturing Infusoria

• Accomplished by soaking substances in previously boiled water for several weeks

• Hay, banana peels, potato peels, dried beans, lettuce, cabbage, egg yolks, dried
blood, spinach, tree leaves and dried aquarium plants

• Unchlorinated water like distilled, rain, boiled pond water, and spring water works
best for the culture
Lettuce culture

• Place brown, rotting lettuce leaves are placed in a widemouth glass jar

• Put in enough to cover the bottom of the jar

• Add water that is almost boiling to fill the jar about 3/4 of the way full

• Leave this standing, uncovered for 24 hours


• Add 50-100 ml of old aquarium water and cover the jar

• After one week or ten days, the water in the jar should have a heavy growth of
infusoria

• Once in every ten days a piece of scalded lettuce should be added to keep the
culture growing
Potato culture

• Cut a raw white potato into quarter-inch squares

• Wash thoroughly for use as a medium

• Add about sixty of these squares to a gallon of spring water (standovernight)


• Inoculate the mixture with about one ounce of old culture material and let stand
for about ten days

• As the culture water is removed for use it can be replaced with boiled pond or
spring water
Banana peel culture

• Fill a gallon jar with clean, filtered pond water

• Add a dried banana skin

• After 2 days the skin will have sunk to the bottom


• A heavy bacterial scum should cover the water's surface

• At this time a very small quantity of old culture water or old aquarium water is
added

• After two weeks culture water can then be used as a source of food

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