Dwarf Ciliates of Algae Island

[Don Schaeffer]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMNr2MUHxLU
Living around the algae and cyanobacteria floating on the top of the mudpuddle are the tiny ciliates, less than one-quarter the usual size. There seem to be no other kind. Does that mean this is what is the real nature of the mudpuddle and the real nature of the natural world or is my microscope slide a tragically temporary world of its own?