The Salt Plates

There are tons of fuzzies and the salt seems to dramatically inhibit slime mold growth.

The Cayenne Plates

These plates are still the winner for most fuzzies and the slime mold seems to be growing better than the salt. In the second plate the slime mold grew directly over the cayenne barriers to find the second food source!

The Triple Antibiotic

At this point it was no surprise that the plates with the triple antibiotic would do the best. It was able to grow around the ointment and directly over the ointment. The slime in these plates are growing so well that it is trying to leave the petri dishes...it's time throw these away before they take over my apartment!

Conclusion

I wanted to know more about the fuzziness that was getting in the way of the slime mold so I sent an email along with some photographs to Steve Binkley at Carolina Biological Supply Company. He looked at the photos and quickly identified the hair-like strands as mycelial growth of a fungus. This means that there is a fungus growing in addition of the slime mold protozoa! Additionally, he speculated on why the plates with the triple antibiotic had little to no fungus growth: "It probably has to do with the nutritional requirements of the fungus. It is also possible that the antibiotics inhibit the fungal growth."

There you have it! We now know that slime mold cannot grow in salty environments and it will grow over and around pretty much any obstacle in it's way!