# Bromeliad rotting?



## DragonSpirit1185 (Dec 6, 2010)

Kinda wondering why this is happening 
It has been fine for almost a year(Oct. 15th). 
Now it is getting soggy and is rotting.
The tillandsia that was below it rotted away and is dead now 
Here is some pictures of the bromeliad in question.

















It is pupping so I don't want to lose it...









I have read the posts about this before and I removed some of the tape I had over the vent to reduce humidity. As you can see by the root structure I removed all the sphagnum I could. I am gonna back off on misting and let things dry up a bit. My lighting seems good enough.
Anything else I can do to avoid losing this brom?

Also I have been curious if this algae dust(?) is normal in a viv it seems to be covering things. I know plants use photosynthesis and I'm kinda thinking that this buildup is only blocking the light and maybe I should clean it off or do I need to just leave it be?
Here is a pic









Thanks for your help


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## ICS523 (Mar 10, 2012)

is the base completely rotted or just the stolon (unfortunately if its the whole base its probably a gonner) algae should not be growing on the leaves, i would suggest working on ventilation, it would be best if the broms dry out a bit between watering.


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## DragonSpirit1185 (Dec 6, 2010)

ICS523 said:


> is the base completely rotted or just the stolon (unfortunately if its the whole base its probably a gonner) algae should not be growing on the leaves, i would suggest working on ventilation, it would be best if the broms dry out a bit between watering.


This brom had no stolon when I bought it. It's just a few of the leaves that was rotting away. The whole thing isn't looking that bad.
I have opened my vent all the way now. I took a paper towel and sopped ip all the water out of the center and in the nooks and crannies of the big brom. It seems where there was water there was rot. I knwo they are suppose to hold water but this one has lost so many leaves it doesn't really hold water anymore and I took out the water hoping it might regenerate as it drys up some. 
The other broms(pics below) are doing great though. I wiped all the algae off the leaves.
I have seen some of the senior members and other experienced people not even use ventilation and they also have some algae buildup but mostly on the sides of the glass and even on the door. They say they get enough air exchange just from opening and closing from feedings.










As you can see I have wiped off the algae
















all together:









I do have a fan in there for ventilation btw









thanks for your help


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## ICS523 (Mar 10, 2012)

it looks pretty good. apparently broms sometimes just rot for no reason.
a strategy that you could take is to not mist as frequently. really as long as the humidity is high your viv doesn't need to be misted that often.


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## DragonSpirit1185 (Dec 6, 2010)

ICS523 said:


> it looks pretty good. apparently broms sometimes just rot for no reason.
> a strategy that you could take is to not mist as frequently. really as long as the humidity is high your viv doesn't need to be misted that often.


I've only been misting like every other day. I was misting daily for like 5 seconds.
I covered up the vent cause things were drying out so much and it was losing that damp jungle look lol but I think it was a bad call. 
I know most say things need to dry out before lights out but I have seen many vivs stay damp.

If the brom rots is there any way to save the pup?


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## mordoria (Jan 28, 2011)

I have had broms rot away just bc of age. The pups should be ok. In the cases where the brom rotted and the pup was a good size, the pup survived. Not really sure why it rotted. Not enough light maybe


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## DragonSpirit1185 (Dec 6, 2010)

mordoria said:


> I have had broms rot away just bc of age. The pups should be ok. In the cases where the brom rotted and the pup was a good size, the pup survived. Not really sure why it rotted. Not enough light maybe


Do you know what the average life span of broms are? This one was just a small one when I got it and it has grown 3 times it's size.
As you can see in the pic above this pup has barely emerged and isn't very big so I am concerned is the brom rots the pup won't make it either....or will it?
For lighting I am using 2 23W 6500K CFLs. This is only a 10g vert I have hem on.
I really want to get 2 Jungle Dawn LED bulbs from Todd but I don't have the funds lol.


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## Nismo95 (Jul 30, 2011)

Hey Dragon, I have a 13w and a 9w combo from Todd. I may not be using them here shortly because that viv is going bye bye and I should be needing the fixture/LED's anymore. I can probably work out a deal with you for them soon if you're still in need.


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## DragonSpirit1185 (Dec 6, 2010)

Nismo95 said:


> Hey Dragon, I have a 13w and a 9w combo from Todd. I may not be using them here shortly because that viv is going bye bye and I should be needing the fixture/LED's anymore. I can probably work out a deal with you for them soon if you're still in need.


Shoot me a PM with pics and whatnot. 
I really need to know the dimensions of the bulbs to see if they will fit in my light fixture I made. They seem longer than CFLs


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## Nismo95 (Jul 30, 2011)

ill try to get dimensions for you soon enough. I just did a test run over our 36x36 exo to see how well it lit with the 2 LED and 2 of the exoterra reptiglo bulbs. Looks decent, 4 of the LEDs would probably be good enough to light my big ol exo. We'll figure it out and let you know.


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