Microscopes.

[eon aquatics]

Does anyone on MFK use a microscope to view fish/aquatic plant cells?

 

[Dee eng]

Not I but if you have some kewl pics I/we would love to see some.

 

[Fallen_Leaves16]

I bought a cheap Amscope microscope off of Amazon that I use occasionally for the sake of looking for parasites. Don't know much, if anything, about parasite ID; but I can at least tell the difference between protozoa and worms and whatnot. Gets the job done, I suppose. Hardly ever find much use for it otherwise, in all honesty; the novelty wears off quite quickly.

 

[Deadeye]

I have a small microscope I’ve used for some marine IDs, but haven’t used it in any of my fresh tanks.

 

[eon aquatics]

Should I buy one?

 

[duanes]

I was spoiled when I worked in a water quality lab, because the microscope I had access to back then, cost more than my truck.
After that all others became too wimpy.

 

[Deadeye]

If you want one, go for it. It’s not something you need, but cool to have.

 

[Milingu]

Yes, I do have a very simple and old one. And I used other people's microscopes to look at organs of sick fish. Mostly because they came with the knowledge at what to look for.
Where I live it's very difficult or simply illegal to get proper medication for sick fish. The only way to get them legally is to have a vet prescribe the meds. Vets specialised in fish are rare. Thought I know one only 1.5 hours away it's way easier to send them a picture of the parasites, bacteria etc and get prescription remotely. That's why I'm upgrading to a microscope with a proper camera next month. It's a used one but in good condition and very affordable.

 

[eon aquatics]

Perhaps comparing microscope pictures of different kinds of algae would be interesting.

 

[jjohnwm]

I had a binocular dissecting microscope for many years, somehow vanished during a move. For my casual purposes, it was more useful to me than a higher-powered model. I'd grab one again in a heartbeat if I ever find a good deal; its actual utility to me is limited so I can't justify a new one.

And like duanes said, good optics are amazing. Bad optics are...just bad. A cheap optic does not produce a clear sharp image; taking a fuzzy out-of-focus image and magnifying it isn't really helpful.