I am trying to look at the population of methanogens in my sample of food waste and biosolids. I fix my sample(0.1ml) with 9.9ml Foramide. Then I take 0.1ml of that stain with acridine orange and filter through polycarbonate filters. However when I look through the microscope, the methanogens are in colony and also there is large amount of biomass. So I do not think my results would be acurate. I want to know is there any method by which I can separate the biomass and the microbes at the same time.