Those are moulds, ubiquitous airborne spores are found everywhereSome penicillium, aspergillus and others are visible.Citric acid is used in some cultur media for this things since it inhibits other bacteria and allows the moulds to be more competitive. Sorbate can be quite effective against these but is better to put a lid on the tray first (or saran wrap) to prevent further contamination. --- On Thu, 10/14/10, Peter Badcock <peter.badcock@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: From: Peter Badcock <peter.badcock@xxxxxxxxx> Subject: [pure-silver] Re: Citric Acid as stop bath To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Date: Thursday, October 14, 2010, 5:51 AM I took some pretty pics of the life forms growing in my citric acid stop bath ! http://tinyurl.com/29cd39p rgds Peter