Cloudy LC Jar

Hey all! It's been a while, and I haven't been too active, but I have a question about a LC jar that I set up a few weeks ago. I used a piece of the fruiting body of a mushroom to get it started, and it's become quite cloudy, though it does look like there's plenty of mycelium as well! I wonder if the cloudiness is maybe bacterial contamination, or if it's just something from the fruiting body of the mushroom. Would it be a good idea to try adding some antibiotic to see if it clears up? If so, are there any recommendations as to what works well? Also, thanks for all of the support I've gotten here in the past, this place is rad!

Hey hey! Glad to see you again :-)

Well, cloudy LC is one of the signs of contamination and inoculating it with a piece of mushroom carries a pretty high risk of introducing contam. It doesn't mean it's always contaminated, though. However, it's hard to distinguish contam in liquid media, while it's much easier to see on agar media.

Before we move further, let's figure out a few things:

1. If you shake the jar, do you see kind of foam bubbles or fermentation bubbles? Like here:

2. Are you fimiliar with agar work? Do you know how to use it for testing LC for contams and cleaning up a culture? If not – don't worry, we can discuss it :-)

Using antibiotics in LC isn't efficient for cleaning the culture and you can't isolate bacteria cells in liquid. But it is possible with agar ;-)

Also, it’s better to put a piece of mushroom or biopsy on agar first – this is called cloning. Then you’ll see mycelium growth, check whether it’s clean, or make a few transfers to clean it up. After that, you can use this healthy mycelium to inoculate LC media. This way, you’ll be 100% sure it’s healthy.

3. You can also test your LC by inoculating one or a few grain jars. It’s a less efficient method, but still reliable if you’re not ready for agar yet. And you will know the result within 1-2 weeks