Can anyone identify the structures in my cultures? - (Feb/01/2014 )

Please help:

I've asked a few scientists with backgrounds in cell culture and they have never seen this.

The structures start as small black dots, then they form a cross or X in the center, then they appear to grow like crystals.  They are not in the same plane as the cells, I raise the stage away from the objectives to focus on them.  I have cleaned the outside of the flasks so it is definitely inside.  The structures are in all of my cultures, do not immediately seem to affect cell growth and have been present for about a week now.  My cultures include different mesenchymal cell lines and use various media, the common factors are the hood, incubator and me.  

Any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated.  

They are crystals - raising the stage indicates to me that despite your cleaning efforts, they are indeed on the outside of the flasks.

Thank you, that's fantastic!

A few questions:

Am I doing something to cause this?

Should I check my incubator for anything?

Are KimWipes and IPA sufficient for removing this?

The crystals are probably a phosphate based crystal or maybe a saline crystal, but it is hard to be certain without very high magnification.  IPA will only remove them if they are soluble in IPA - try 70% ethanol - the water will dissolve most water soluble crystals.