Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Just thought I would add in some links.
Microscopes are awesome for making correct ID's on nastys which then lets you use the right treatment and rain brimstone down upon your enemys!!

OK just a basic site on pictures
http://www.microscopy-uk.net/index.html ... index.html

Using them with fish
http://article.dphnet.com/cat-02/microscope.shtml

Using microscopes to find parasites on fish
http://www.ntlabs.co.uk/UserFiles/File/ ... 0sheet.pdf

Movies of fish diseases so you will know what to look for
http://www.goldfishworld.com/fishmovies.html

Those microscopes should be standard equipment at any aquaponic institution eh Don?

The point really is that you can use something old or a new one it really does not matter.
There are some serious microscopes you can play with in this world, but a quite basic model can settle questions with pictures... Combined with a journal a microscope is a strong part of finding out who killed your fish if one ever dies. If the internet conection is on, water tests check out, and temp and oxygen is fine... then a microscope is next on list on tools to cross off possibilitys.
You don't really have to take it to the microscope stage. It depends how personally you take something killing your fish lol
You probably know someone who can wing you an old one.
If you want a decent one its worth checking uni's, ebay and papers.
New they can cost as much as a second hand car.
For anything really good you usually hope the company, government or Uni is buying... for you to then get paid to use.
Plenty of places keep fish without microscopes, but this is like miracle tech, and it is affordable. I would reccomend a quick google if only to find a good one to take pictures with. Can be a strange expedition into the underworld, and to be able to take pictures is to be able to identify things later on.
The internet is an insane way to exchange fish data. If you can post the link to pictures... you can get 1000 random opinions for $0 instead of sending off to lab.
I hope that avoided your question suficiently?






I just think microscopes are fun myself.
Those little things down there are more important to us than we are to them. Its a good idea to keep an eye on them.
If we ended war we could use the airforces to cluster bomb cities at christmas with microscopes, bikes, computers, toys and tools.
A payload for every house - full of microscope goodness.
If a biological filter doesn't give you respect for bacteria, and fish don't give you a respect for parasites and algae doesn't give you a respect for even the simplest plants.... then tough you still need a microscope.
Besides its the first step in setting up for commercial spirulina production.
Could be a cash cow there you know. Even more so when the bio-fuel algaes are leaked. Water parameters can be a bit crazy but.....
A microscope could be the tool in the tool box that saves the day or discovers something new. I think they are handy to prevent wipe out situations and if I had a certain $$$ worth of fish I would certainly have one just in case.

I have a 20x biocular microscope that I was given as a kid... Turns out it wasn't cheap, so good thing I made use of it...

Dad would always bring me leaves and cuttings to get me to see what the nasties were. It has come in handy many times.

They're still not cheap TimC..... certainly more than my loose change jar anyway

look out for bargains lol
cheap no
handy yes

I remember seeing toy Digital Microscopes that plug into a PC fairly cheap just before christmas can't remember much more than that.
Might be worth investigating

Yep when you can plug into a PC or plug a camera into you can really start to rock and roll.
Serious I have sent pictures to zebra danio fish scientists and had some epic discussions. Sometimes fish nerds like to talk about fish, and sometimes they like to talk about counting the spines on the heads of digenetic trematodes and from that inferring possible vector species and a containment plan.....