The Secret Life of Bugs:

Swimming Ciliates

Pop goes the ciliate
by Natalie Walton, Aquafix Microscopist

Swimming ciliates tend to appear in a wastewater plant when free bacteria levels are starting to decrease. While they do favor a slightly young but healthy microbial sludge age, they don’t accurately indicate a sludge’s age. Swimming ciliates are also very diverse and come in many different shapes and sizes. These characteristics typically do not rapidly change in the span of minutes…. until now.

Would you, dear reader, believe me when I tell you these photos depict the same organism? Photos that were taken only ten minutes apart? Considering the drastic differences between the two I wouldn’t be surprised if there are any skeptics in the crowd. Luckily, I have video evidence to support my claim!

I will admit that some video editing was done on my part, but that was only to speed things up a little. Otherwise, everything you just watched is legitimate. Hopefully, now that you’re more inclined to believe me now, let’s talk about what the heck just happened to that ciliate.

As I initially watched this unfold in real time, I had no idea what I was witnessing; just that it was fascinating and something new to me. After doing a little digging around and consulting with an expert (thanks, Steve), this is what we came up with. It is very likely that as this ciliate continued to consume food and water after having a coverslip placed over it the pressure within it became too much and the poor little guy popped. Repeatedly. At least in the end, it didn’t die alone; It was in the company of other swimming ciliates as well as a few stalked ciliates. This brave little swimming ciliate will be remembered for all that it did for the wastewater plant it once called home.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the next edition of Secret Life of Bugs.

Have something under the microscope you don’t quite understand? Try our Microanalysis and Filament Origins Test Kit to get a comprehensive view of what is happening in your plant.

About the Author

Natalie Walton joined Aquafix in 2019 and focuses on performing microscopic analysis for customer samples, as well as conducting experiments on innovation in grease removal. She was also a key contributor to creating our Microorganisms Database supplying identification tips and research.