[Histonet] Blood smear

[Xing, Zhiqing]

I am trying to do X-gal staining on mouse blood smears. But the blood
film keeps coming off the slide. I believe the smear is thin enough.
After making the smear, I dried it overnight at RT or 2-3 hours in
vacuum. Then if I fix it with 100% methanol, the slide would be OK, the
blood doesn't come off during the staining, but I don't get any X-gal
stain. I tried fixation with acetone for 20 min, the blood stayed on the
slide when in acetone, but it came off when transfered to staining
solution. I also tried fixation with glutaraldehyde or PFA, the blood
just comes off even in the fixative solutions. In the begining, I was
using Superfrost plus slides. Somebody on the histonet said the blood
smear might not like the plus slides. So I changed to the regular
slides, but the problem remains.
Can anyone give me some suggestions? Thanks.