Currently, I am culturing fungus in petri dishes. Frequently, condensation of water occurred on the inner top of the petri dish. Although the water droplets didn't fall down it still blocks the view. Does anyone know why and how to prevent this?
Of course you can avoid condensation in petri dishes. When you pour your medium, assure that the temperature is not higher than 40°C and once you have finished to pour the medium leave your petri dishes for at least a couple of hours inside the hotte on so that the air flow could dry the vapor deposited on the upper part of the petri dishes.
Dear Nizzal,
apart from avoiding to cast my agar medium too hot and from letting the medium to air dry while setting, like Jay suggests, I am also incubating my fungal cultures upside down, without sealing them with Parafilm. It prevents water condensation to form under the lid and to block the view.
With best regards,
Pierre-Henri
If your fungus has some salt tolerance, adding a low level of sodium chloride or potassium chloride to the medium can reduce condensation. KCl medium is used with some Fusarium for this purpose (Leslie and Summerell 2006, Fusarium Laboratory Manual) and can work for some other fungi as well. A low level of sodium chloride has been shown to work for some other fungal genera (e.g. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00443842). The salts can affect growth in some organisms but reduce condensation even in humid environments.
First place the petri dishes in the fridge so they are cold when half empty. It also helps a lot to put a layer of paper and apply alcohol with an atomizer. This prevents condensation. The average temperature must be below 40 ° C.
your culture temperature must be between (40-45°) C not more when you pour it in petri dishes .
Best wishes
There is a type of parafilm (breathable type) that can prevent condensation occured on the inner part of petri dish during the incubation process. Our algae group use this types of parafilm.
Nizzal syafiq, you can do as recommended by other researchers above. For additional tip, in case your petri dishes have developed water droplets you can open the upper cap and swing through a lit bunsen burner to get it dry. Close it back and repeat with other petri dishes. Do this in laminar flow chamber. Hope that help. Thanks
First place the petri dishes in the fridge so they are cold when half empty. It also helps a lot to put a layer of paper and apply alcohol with an atomizer. This prevents condensation. The average temperature must be below 40 ° C.
Dear Nizzal Syafiq,
Previously we dealt with bacteria culture. If you mean during incubation, a simple method that i would suggest is that, first seal your petri dish of the streaked fungi with parafilm.
Then, incubate it with inverted position, which means, the agar is on the top and the petri dish closure is at the bottom. It works for us.
Good luck!
-H.Kamilah-
While pouring hot agar medium, stack petri plates in size of 10 or even more. It will prevent condensation in all plates except the top one.
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