To Whom It May Concern,
First, I'd like to offer thanks to those who have made this place possible - it's content-rich, nicely designed, and both user-friendly and reasonably organized (N.B.: No, not trying to kiss any ass -- my personal arrogance forbids it, sorry  but having designed/developed/maintained enough sites professionally in my life, I know the sort of work which can go into such things, and simply wanted to express an honest note of appreciation.
Oh, and lest there be any doubt: none of the text cited below has anything to do with me; it all actually pertains to Someone Who Isn't Me (or, shall we say, 'SWIM', for short??
So here's my contam question. I really hope someone can give me a positive answer, as I cannot find ANY definite answers or identifying images, and that includes scouring your FAQs, your site, doing loads of W3 searching, as well as scouring archives of appropriate areas of the alt.* hierarchy.
Short version: I know it is possible to have contams after-birthing of a cake; that granted, are there any which A) only show up on the inside of the stipe, and show up nowhere else, and B) do not appear to inhibit fruiting of said cake?
Long version: (more info).
I know it is possible (if less likely) for a fully mycelium colonized cake to succumb/be infected by either competing/antagonistic fungii or bacilli, via any number of vectors; however, what I cannot seem to understand (or find any identifying pictures of, or information regarding) is something which has occurred in one cake (further details about prep below).
While a mycological neophyte, I'm reasonably adept with inorganic & organic chem, as well as proper lab procedures, and the like.
I'm torn between trying to keep this very brief, as it is my first post, and my desire to give as much detailed info as possible, in the hopes of someone being able to positively ID/diagnose/help out with this. I suppose those who are uninterested (or if the Mods decide to eliminate this post as being too OT), then so be it, and I'll err on the side of the latter in the hopes that someone with some crucial bit of knowledge will read it.
Suffice to say, SWIM managed to do the following to near-textbook-perfection:
- substrate prep w/proper ratios et al;
- substrate/utensil/workspace sterilization (done _WAY_ to the point of overkill - while I don't have a $10,00,000 clean room a la IBM's lithography labs, I possess both the skills and the resources to make what amounts to the best possible clean room one could possibly make in a non-corporate setting);
- proper substrate inoculation procedure without (AFAIK) introduction of any contams whatsoever;
?To cut to the chase, SWIM found himself with the happily achieved end-result of being in possession of 12 successfully colonized half-pint jars (tapered as appropriate, natch), and with the judicious use of some thermolyne heat tape, a rheostat, and a couple of lab-grade thermometers, watched as all but two of the twelve successfully colonized in record time at ~83 deg. F. (Of the two which never fully colonized, I did a post-mortem, and it was presumably due to poor moisture ratio - the substrate was too dry, so that part needs work, obviously
The other ten became white as driven snow within an appropriate amount of time, and, with no uncolonized spots left for contams to take root in, and with primordia appearing, were incrementally birthed not long ago. FYI, these were inoculated/colonized with B+.
Anyhoo, SWIM having some experience designing digitally controlled, high-precision controlled-climate environments before, SWIM designed his own fruiting setup, keeping the rH between 95% and 99%, along with mist shielding/direct air-flow-baffling, etc., with cleaned, prehumidified 02 being gently & periodically forced in, the CO2 having its own exit near the bottom along with an excess water drain.
In any case, it appears that SWIM's setup is at least ideal enough to have initiated plentiful fruiting, all going well in that regard, but for that one mentioned before?..
While *NO* contams were witnessed during colonization, and every precaution was taken (both before/during/after all stages, and even just doing maint. work on the terrarium setup occasions SOP sterilization procedures - doing it by the book & all that -- after the initial flush & timely removal of same, SWIM found his puzzler:
Inside of the stipes of a set of fruits (all from the same cake) was a bright green filling, and it appears the entire stem is filled with it. SWIM's initial thought was "Uh?.Bruising should have been more blueish, and on the OUTSIDE, not the inside, so this *must* be a contam?"
SWIM having read horror stories (one in particular from A.D.P. comes to mind) of someone who ate blackened, obviously rotten fruits with the inevitable result of violent illness, SWIM will naturally stick by the "if in doubt" methodology.
While isolation of the offensive party has already occurred, and SWIM is fine just throwing it out, SWIM is really curious about this brilliant green found *ONLY* inside of the stems, and the mycelium where SWIM cut it (with a scalpel, after harvesting). The cake has not yet been dissected, on the offchance someone might reply that this is normal for B+, which SWIM has had no prior experience with.
Further info for those interested: upon exposure to oxygen, the light green quickly faded to dull green. Again, having re-read your FAQ on contams, SWIM can honestly say that this doesn't appear to be Trichoderma spp. Or the like, nor was anything like that witnessed during colonization (which went flawlessly). While all other contams that remotely fit this description are all notably surface-dwellers/infectors first, I'm currently doing further research on Pseudomonas aeruginosa, though I think I may be grasping at straws here (or, being such a neophyte, missing something incredibly obvious to everyone else
I welcome any replies to this, and SWIM would naturally be eternally grateful to anyone helping to solve this mystery, and offers advance thanks to those who have read this far.
Please either reply here and/or email me ( ysj -= at-symbol =- indesp.com )
Regards,
~YSJ~
--
post scriptum: I'll shortly break out the Digital Cam & take some pix, in the vain hopes that might help identification.
--------------------
"There are no angels unless they are Angels of Death...And I would never again doubt my place among them or lose my resolve to serve in their wild ranks."
-T. Ligotti
Edited by YSJ (01/31/03 08:56 AM)
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