Unidentified contamination

[van der Leest]

Hi All,

I have a question about contamination occurred in my petri dish. 

1st, after a few days a white fluffy one appeared.

2nd, black little spots appeared

3rd, A pinky spot appeared

Does somebody of you know what these kind of moulds are? See pic below :)

Thanks!

PS: the white stuff is toothpaste ;)

image1.JPG

[Heather Barnett]

Black is fruiting bodies (i.e. not enough nutrients or moisture), white is probably some other fungal spore in the environment and pink looks bacterial, but not sure. Whichever way you look at it, the slime mould wasn't happy and didn't have enough food. Or it really doesn't like your toothpaste. ;)

[ian]

I bet that smells!

The pink stuff's probably Serratia - a common soil borne bacterium. It's the stuff that forms a think slimy pink film around things like wet plant trays

[Ryan Teh Han Rong]

To me, these look all like various infections of your plate and are not actually slime mould. Did you remember to use proper aseptic technique to ensure lower chances of infection? I think that the pinkish bacteria is probably Serratia marcescens. And the others are probably common fungus or mould but not the slime mould. Hope this helps. :)

Serratia marcescens

[van der Leest]

Hi all,

Thanks for the comments. I had an exhibition and afterwards I found this petri dish left in a box after 2,5 week. 
During the exhibition, people lifted the lid to see the slime mould from close by. That's why infection occured.

I was just curious what it could be.

Thanks! Cheers!