While staining a rack of slides, the water following the rehydrating alcohols turns very cloudy. The most likely correction is to:

• A. Change the alcohols
• B. Increase staining time
• C. Use distilled water
• D. Decrease dehydration time

Answer: (A)

Cloudy water after rehydration points to a problem with the dehydrating/rehydrating reagents themselves rather than the staining step. When slides pass from high-concentration alcohols down to water, any contamination or impurities in those alcohols can leach into the next rinse and cause turbidity. Fresh, high-quality alcohols remove this source of particulates or residue, restoring proper rehydration and preventing cloudy water from forming.

So the best fix is to replace the alcohols with fresh, properly prepared reagents. While using distilled water might help if tap water impurities were the issue, the most direct and reliable correction for cloudiness caused by contaminated alcohols is changing the alcohols. Decreasing dehydration time or simply increasing staining time won’t address the reagent-based turbidity.