I’m seeing smudged neutrophil nuclei and fragmented Malassezia when the swab is rolled too hard and slides don’t dry consistently, even with a standard Diff-Quik 10–10–10 dip. Do you heat-fix for about 5 seconds or strictly air-dry before the methanol jar, and have you noticed more blue precipitate if staining is delayed about 20–30 minutes?
And > before the methanol jar, and have you noticed more blue precipitate if staining is — same here if slides sit 20–30 min; I skip heat-fix and strictly air-dry 60–90 s under a fan, then 10–10–12 with a quick dip in fresh methanol and a filtered/replaced Diff-Quik II to cut the blue flecks. Also roll just once and extend the methanol fix to about 15 s, which stopped the smudged neutrophils and the chopped-up Malassezia.