Wet Mount Microscope Exam
A basic 100x-400x filament check that narrows the diagnosis in minutes.
Rate filament abundance (none, few, common, excessive) and note whether filaments extend outside the floc or stay contained within it.
Dense, compact floc with almost no filaments suggests a non-filamentous cause, like deflocculation, rather than classic bulking.
Gram stain reaction and branching pattern help narrow filament type further if trained staff or a lab contract is available.
A ten-minute microscope check before changing any process variable prevents days of guessing based on DO and F/M trends alone.
A simple filament scoring scale (0 = none, 1 = few, 2 = common, 3 = very common, 4 = excessive, 5 = filamentous bulking) used consistently shift to shift builds a trend line that catches a developing bulking event well before SVI confirms it.
Phase contrast microscopy, if available, makes filament sheaths and internal structures (like Thiothrix's sulfur granules) far easier to distinguish than a standard brightfield scope at the same magnification.
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