What microorganism looks like a fast moving snake about 1mm long and 10 um wide?

I’m thinking nematodes.

That’s it!!!
I wish I could give you more than one GA! Thanks!

Now that I know what it is I think I might do some experiments to see what kills it but lets the tardigrades live. That should be easy. Tardigrades are pretty resistant to heat, cold, ionizing and non-ionizing radiation.

I gave @thorninmud GA for you.
Worms are treated in horses with Ivermectin, nematodes are just another round worm.

I might try a flash of heat that would instantly raise the water temp to boiling and then let it fall back down to room temp naturally. Maybe the tardigrades will be the only survivors. We’ll see.

I have seen pictures of tardigrades. They are real cool looking. What power of magnification are you using?

I’d call it about 150x. The field of view is about 500 um. I can go higher power of course but the critters keep moving.

Thanks. I attended a class on mosses. The instructor had a number of samples and gave out hand lenses for viewing them. I was amazed at what could be seen with just a small amount of magnification. There is a whole world that is just outside of our view.

You can see “big” tardigrades with a magnifying glass. They can be 500 um, 0.5 mm, in length – as long as a 0.5mm pencil lead is wide. The tardigrades I was watching were about 100 um.

What kind of scope do you use? Could you link to a similar one? My husband and I got fascinated by tardigrades and other tiny creatures and we’d like to have our own small microscope.

@keobooks The units I am using are rather expensive, laboratory devices – not reasonable for home use.
There is an inspection scope the guys use that gives a nice view. It is American Optical Spencer binocular microscope. Maybe you can get a used one on ebay.

I’ll get the model for you when I am back in the office.

I was hoping you were a hobbyist! I don’t want anything too expensive, but I’ll appreciate it. I think we may end up getting one with a USB hookup so that our daughter can see things easier. She’s really into the magnifying glass already.