Slime Mould escaping !

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sarahslime
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Jun 18, 2021 12:52 am
Occupation: Student

Slime Mould escaping !

Post by sarahslime »

Hi!
I am currently completely a year 11 experiment for biology, investigating the effect of essential oils as natural enzyme inhibitors on a sample of Physarum polycephalum (slime mould). I have finished the actual experiment now, but have still been growing the slime mould and the plan was to freeze it for long term storage and use it again in year 12.

However, yesterday the slime was starting to escape the petri dish and so I just left it and didn't feed it any more oats for a day to try and slow the growth, and I came back today to find that it had completely changed colour - it used to be a bright yellow and is now a dark green, leaving behind a dark slimly residue and smells strongly of mould. Not sure what has happened to it, is there any way to bring it back to life or dispose of it correctly??

Thanks so much for all the help :)
koneill18
Expert
Posts: 188
Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2020 8:22 am
Occupation: Other Adult

Re: Slime Mould escaping !

Post by koneill18 »

Hello!

It's hard to tell for sure without seeing the plate, but it sounds like your dish could be contaminated. If there are any yellow parts left, you can try transferring them to a new petri dish. But if the whole thing looks moldy, it would probably be best to dispose of the plate and start a fresh culture next year. You can dispose of the plate by soaking it in a 10% bleach solution and then throwing it away in the normal trash.

I hope this helps!
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