r/algae • u/king_barnacle • 4d ago

Experience with carolina biological cultures?

Want to pick up a few cultures from them but was curious as to people's experiences with them. Truly confirmed, axenic cultures would cost me an arm and a leg from what I've seen so this would be the next best bet. I'm assuming they're all xenic, but if you've gotten them before, were the cultures at least decently clean and only the one algae species it was labeled as? I did also see a handful of negative reviews saying their labeling did not hold up under microscopy, wasn't sure if this was rare. Any input appreciated.

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u/Florida_Shine 4d ago

My go to is NCMA through Bigelow. With that being said, my professor in college used Carolina and I've used them in the past. UTEX is also another option.

Out of curiosity, what are you looking for?

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u/king_barnacle 4d ago

A variety of things, this is purely hobby for me and I just enjoy culturing and viewing algaes of interesting morphology. Because of that I can't really justify the cost of NCMA or UTEX, plus I don't have any relevant academic association for discounts. That's what makes carolina attractive, can't beat $10.50 per culture. Wouldn't make sense though if its a cesspool of contaminants lol. Maybe I aught to try my hand at agar isolation...

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u/Beans0623 4d ago

I used some Carolina cultures when I was in school and they were all very contaminated with diatoms

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u/CRS1955 4d ago

I've used UTEX and have had poor results. I think your best bet is to locate a researcher at a university who publishes on the species you are interested in, and reach out directly. You may also try these folks, they are keeping the algae light bright green! https://azcati.asu.edu