What is this slime?

[Jbailey]

I found some milky-white slime in my latest hay infusion. At the 400X mag with my microscope I found the slime was composed of the thin strands with many tiny dots pictured below.

They move around a bit slower than diatoms and desmids but are much longer.

Compare their size with the common Paramecia seen with them.

Any ideas as to what they are?

Jim

[gpmatthews]

Cyanobacteria...

[Franz Neidl]

Hello Jim,

the colour ("milky-white slime") and the "tiny dots" are an indication that these are Proteobacteria from the genus Beggiatoa.
The tiny dots are stored sulfur.

Franz

[john sp.]

Franz's identification of these filaments as sulfur utilizing bacteria made me wonder if you can detect a wiff of "rotten eggs" from your culture.

[Mitch640]

Jim, I recognize the cyanobacteria, but never noticed it being associated with white slime. There seems to be a lot of the filaments in Mississippi River water here in La Crosse.

As for the dots, I didn't know they were sulfur, but I just threw out a jar full of dead river water and it had the stink of an open sewer, with a slight odor of sulfur. Amazing what you can learn here.

[Jbailey]

Thanks fellow microscopists.


My wife says the hay infusion smells quite rancid. My own interpretation is that it has no smell at all--Of course, I have no sense of smell remaining. A skunk could sneak up on me

This is a particularly productive hay infusion. I made it from a large hand full of damp, moldy straw plucked from a bale serving as temporary water runoff barrier.

Jim