Supplementation of sheep blood agar with pyridoxal hydrochloride or pyridoxamine dihydrochloride aided recovery of nutritionally variant streptococci; however, it was found to prevent recovery of 6 of 173 (3%) primary isolates of Streptococcus pyogenes and to adversely affect laboratory recognition of other streptococci. Pyridoxal hydrochloride or pyridoxamine dihydrochloride should not be a routine supplement in all sheep blood agar.