# Mold, moss, waterfalls, ponds, and dart frogs.



## Guest (Jan 23, 2006)

This is my first post asking for assitance so please don't string me up and stone me if I ask any slightly dumb questions 

First question:

I have a waterfall in my setup that splashes down rocks and wood before it hits the pond. When it actually hits the pond it barely disturbs the water. I heard that PDFs do not like flowing water at all... will I be in trouble with the imitators that I will be getting in a few months? I can also turn the pump off but I do like circulating the water a bit. The pump is pretty powerful only because I had to get enough head pressure to push water up a 24" line that rises about 8" in the air (behind the background). It's really not that strong.

Second question:

I see mold (or maybe moss) growing across alot of my wood, foam, and dirt). It's white, seedling looking stuff that is not green, black, or any other color besides white and gray. Should I worry about this... not for the sake of the tank, but for my personal health. I know that in the industry (profession) that I am in, mold is bad... so far I have not had any problems, but I did recently get sick so this is one of the first things that came to my mind.

Third question:

My plants look extremely healthy except for a few places on my brom and one leaf of a "houseplant" that is in there. Everything else looks great. The problem is there seems to be small holes in the leaves... they look sort of like bite marks. Has anyone gotten an infestation of plant eating insects before? 

Thanks.


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## Auhsoj27 (Jun 3, 2005)

The biggest danger in having a water fall is if the flow is so strong that it would trap a frog under the water. As for dart frogs not liking moving water, I'd say thats bad information. From my own experience, how very small it may be, I can tell you that in my tank, one frog in particular is always hanging out right next to the waterfall feature, and all three frogs will routinely congregate on it. So as long as it is not too strong, don't worry about it. The second concern with a water feature would be how deep the pool is. If it is deep enough that a frog could be held under water by another frog's aggressive behavior, that could pose a potential problem. But if you avoid putting too many territorial species frogs in there, nothing to worry about.

The white fuzzy mold you see is normal. It will cover most if the dead organic material in your tank in the first couple weeks and then seemingly overnight it will disappear. It is not harmful to your frogs.

As for the marks on your plants... If it looks like a bite mark, it probably is. Whether it's a big deal or not is another story. One of the plants in my viv had tiny little pinhole marks on the leaves when I put it in, but the problem seemed to go away on its own. If you're really worried about it, you'd be well advised to rip out the plants that are under attack and replace them. Maybe try a different plant type. I had a plant in my viv that seemed to be over run with insects, but all the other plants were fine. So I took out that plant, and no more problem.


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## Guest (Jan 23, 2006)

ive had 2 pdfs, and have had frogs for almost 10 years, and the moving water isnt a problem. As for the mold, its a mold common in almost all vivs when a new tank is started, it usually goes away in a week or so. And as for the plants, gnats and other flies are common aswell, i doubt the holes are from them ( though possible) if theyre larger than 1 inch or so, so dont fret. Good luck!


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

Lots of water flow can be a problem, but from your description it just sounds like a small flow which shouldn't be too much of an issue (having a picture to judge from would help tho). If the frogs don't like it they will probibly keep away from it.

Mold is normal in tank and will probibly take over most organic non-living surfaces in the tank (wood, leaf litter, etc) and this is a normal process during the tanks' initial set up. It will go away in a few weeks (until then enjoy the color show! They can be really funky).

The wholes sound like you might have slugs? (Again hard to say without pics). If you get pics of the holes in the leaves, post them up in the plants second for a better opinion.

The only dumb question for you is the one you don't ask or find the answer to.


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## Guest (Jan 24, 2006)

*Thanks!!!*

Thanks for the info everyone.

Kerokero, you are right. I just noticed a slug and a snail sliding around inside my cage. I'm going to remove the big ones (if I see them again) and hopefully the frogs will take care of the smaller ones if they appear.

My orchid has a ton of white mold on the underside of the leaf because it was positioned very close to my driftwood / foam background. I'm going to have to prop it away so the leaf doesn't become overwhelmed.

Thanks again.


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

Yeah, mold and fungus on anything living is a very bad thing, esepcially orchids. This means the plant is not getting enough airflow and this will eventually lead to the demise of the plant. It can be verry hard to get this right in our terrariums as most of them are so small and don't have complex ventelation systems.


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