Organism ID

  • What to note about water
    • Presence of scums (yellow, green, blue-green, bubbly)
    • Colonies/filaments are easily visible in the water (or against a light background) with the nake eye.
    • Frothy appearence to near shore areas
    • If not scums, an olive color to the water
    • Presence of dead fish or mussels
    • Lack of larger zooplankton in tows

 

       

  • Image contributed by Jennifer Graham, USGS.
    • Image contributed by Ann St. Amand, PhycoTech.

Physical appearance of cells/filaments/colonies

  • Presence and location of heterocysts
  • Presence and location of akinetes
  • Presence of sheath
  • Shape and size of cells
  • Shape of colony (tangled filaments or a straight line)
  • Physiological health of cells, are they healthy or degrading
  • Composition of other taxa in the community
    • Image contributed by Ann St. Amand, PhycoTech.
    • Image contributed by Ann St. Amand, PhycoTech.
  • Odor
    • earthy/musty
    • sulfurous
    • septic
    • grassy (contributed by non-Cyanobacteria)
    • fishy (contributed by non-Cyanobacteria)
    • cucumber-like (contributed by non-Cyanobacteria)
    • geranium (contributed by non-Cyanobacteria)
  • Fish Kills
    • Extent and location
    • Composition of taxa in the kill
    • Lesions
      • Image contributed by Jennifer Graham, USGS.

Field Sampling and Preservation Protocols

 

Toxin Identification

  • Labs that test for toxins 
      • Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene
        Environmental Health Division (EHD)
        2601 Agriculture Drive
        Madison, WI 53718 53718 
 
  • Kits to test for toxins - microcystics/nodularins and cylindrospermopsin (anatoxin-a in development)
  • 54 Steamwhistle Drive
    Warminster PA 18974
    Phone: (215) 357-3911
    FAX: (215) 357-5232
    info@abraxiskits.com

  • One of the main challenges when testing for microcystins is the many
    structural variants of the toxic molecule. The Abraxis
    Microcystins/Nodularins (ADDA) kit is based on recently patented technology
    allowing congener independent determination of microcystins AND nodularins,
    thereby minimizing the risk of false negatives.
     

Kits to test for toxins - microcystics/nodularins only ( cylindrospermopsin & anatoxin-a in development)

500 Riverside Industrial Parkway
Portland, Maine 04103 USA
207-797-0300
toll free (US): 866-408-4597
www.envirologix.com 

 Taste & Odor Identification

      • Labs that test for geosmin & MIB