All 4 of them ranged from 8-26 to 9-7, so they shouldn't have been exhausted yet. They weren't the vials, they were from a local pet store that does their own cultures. I've never had a problem with them before. All 4 of my earlier ones are still doing fine. I think I will just have to let the pet store know that I had major issues with them the last 2 rounds and see if they've had other complaints.