Hello, I'm very new to cell culture, so I am trying to determine the best way to culture my cells.

I have been trying to culture salmon head kidney (SHK-1) since March and it is growing incredibly slowly and in "Islands" rather than evenly across the flask. I have only been able to passage it once in that time. There are various methods of how to grow it online, so any advice from someone who has successfully grown it would be appreciated.

Currently the cells are growing in L-15, 5% FBS, 1% Pen/Strep (in our cell culture lab we need to use antibiotics) supplemented with 4mM of glutamine. I have also added conditioned media.

I have seen that in some papers 2-Mercaptoethanol was added, does any one have any advice on how to add this to their media under sterile conditions? Our lab only has cell culture hoods which blow the air out towards you which is not ideal when using such a substance and our fume hoods will not be sterile for cell culture.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, any advice would be appreciated