# HELP: This fungus is killing my plants



## sumer (Dec 14, 2012)

Hello,

This fungus appeared in my tank a few days ago! It is a wgite fudge/cotton like looking thing. It starts growing on the plants. It fiorst makes them look pink and then the plant melts.

It has eaten down a few of my Bucephalandra, a Sinningia and now my Cryptocoryne striolata.

I have 4x 28 cfm fans running in the tank. So there is plenty of air flow. Is air exchange teh issue?
I mist every 2 hours for 10 seconds; mainly because Crypts and Buces like it more humid. Is that the issue? 

has any one seen this before?
Here are some photos-

1. See how the plant looks very pink!









2. See on the upper right corner the cotton like growth on Sinningia-









3. This is my Crypt striolata which was doing GREAT until this nasty thing attacked it. It turned pink and ow I know it will melt. 









Thanks for reading!


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## Broseph (Dec 5, 2011)

I'm interested to see what others have to say about this, because I've battled a similar fungus. I've had it pop up in established vivs (usually wetter ones) and it can really wipe out sensitive plants and fresh cuttings. 

For me, outbreaks always happen after adding new leaf litter. I use purchased live oak and magnolia; dried but not boiled. Maybe I should start boiling first.

Do you notice your fungus outbreak correlating with any other variables?


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## sumer (Dec 14, 2012)

Broseph said:


> I'm interested to see what others have to say about this, because I've battled a similar fungus. I've had it pop up in established vivs (usually wetter ones) and it can really wipe out sensitive plants and fresh cuttings.
> 
> For me, outbreaks always happen after adding new leaf litter. I use purchased live oak and magnolia; dried but not boiled. Maybe I should start boiling first.
> 
> Do you notice your fungus outbreak correlating with any other variables?


My tank is pretty young- a month or so old. So I don't know which variable to point at.
I am hoping someone would have had seen this before in their tank and know how to take care of it!


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## kromar (Jun 6, 2015)

i think misting every 2 hours for 10s is a bit overkill, when i started my tank i misted maybe about 4-5 times a day (10-30s) and now its down to 2 times (10s) with one 4cm fan that only blows when the humidity gets to high.
what tank do you have? does it have some air vent?

do you also mist during night? i read that its good to have humidity during night a bit lower to avoid fungus and algee.

since the tank looks relatively new that first fungus wave might be normal from what ive seen, but i would assume that the wetness you provide helps it spread more than others experienced.


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## sumer (Dec 14, 2012)

I spent a long time looking at the tank last night and tried figuring out what might be the reason behind this.

I have the same plants (Cryptocoryne striolata) at multiple locations in the tank. All the other plants are doing great and this fuzzy fungus decided to eat only this plant?
Sinningia was attached which was also very close to this crypt. A few other bucephalandra which were close to this cryptocoryne also got this fungus.

That made me notice that there was no direct airflow on this area. I am sure 4x28 cfm fans would create some passive airflow at this spot but no active airflow was the only difference between other spots and this spots.

So, I reduced the misting period to 4 hours for 10 seconds and have put in another fan for some active air flow on this plant. 
I am keeping my fingers crossed and am going to do a daily close inspection to see if it comes back.


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## sumer (Dec 14, 2012)

Nope!
The above mentioned observation was just an observation. And as we all know, 90% of the times, observations yield to no or wrong conclusions. Haha..

So, I did some study. After reading a few scholarly research papers, I came to realize that fungus doesn't like lower pH. They run away from acidic environments (just like bacteria).
You can read one very good paper here- Contrasting Soil pH Effects on Fungal and Bacterial Growth Suggest Functional Redundancy in Carbon Mineralization

So, I looked for some acids that would work in my vivarium. I could not come to terms with using any sort of chemical in my tank. I wanted something that has been used with the animals. 

*Alder cones*. Yes, alder cones have a TON of humic and fulvic acid that they leach out (just like peat).
So, I put a handful of alder cones in a cup filled with distilled water overnight and in the morning I had a nice dark brown looking fluid in the cup which upon measuring showed a pH of 3.3
AWESOME!
Filled it in a small spray bottle and sprayed it on the plants that had or had had this nasty looking fungus on them.
That was the last time I saw that fungus in the tank. It has been 2-3 days since then and I haven't seen it coming back at all. Finger crossed; touchwood!

Has anyone else had any experience with using acids with bacterial or fungal infections?


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## jturner (Nov 26, 2014)

That looks like over watering to me. Every two hours for ten seconds is definitely too much misting. I would cut back on the misting schedule to something more like 5 times per day for 5 seconds. Also try some air exchange. Put a fan in one of your air vents and have that go on a few times a day. Plants die much quicker from rotting than from drying out in my experience. I would try more air exchange and less misting before doing any anti fungal stuff. Healthy plants should be able to fight off most fungal infections. Is this in the viv that's under that live wall?


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## sumer (Dec 14, 2012)

jturner said:


> That looks like over watering to me. Every two hours for ten seconds is definitely too much misting. I would cut back on the misting schedule to something more like 5 times per day for 5 seconds. Also try some air exchange. Put a fan in one of your air vents and have that go on a few times a day. Plants die much quicker from rotting than from drying out in my experience. I would try more air exchange and less misting before doing any anti fungal stuff. Healthy plants should be able to fight off most fungal infections. Is this in the viv that's under that live wall?


J,


I have 5x28 cfm fans moving air inside the tank. One of those 5 fans is right under a vent that is forcefully pulling the new air in. It runs 24x7 just like the other fans do. So, I am positive that the tank has no shortage of new fresh air and humid air circulating.

I also have a fogger that comes on every 90 or so minutes for 2-3 minutes. 



jturner said:


> That looks like over watering to me.


Would that not depend on the kind of plants I have in the viv? Yes, it is the viv under the live wall.

Most of the plants I have in there are aroids or orchids. I have placed the orchids at spots where they get maximum air flow + new air that comes in from the vents. They are never soggy with water since they are mounted up high on the walls.

Rest of the plants are Bucephalandras, Cryptocorynes, Homalomenas, some Begonias (including bipinnatifida), Marcagravia and Rhaphidophora. They are taking the misting + humidity very positively. All of them are showing great health.
Many of the orchids are flowering (look out for some photos in my main thread  ). So, I think we need to revise the idea of misting "less". I think it should depend on the plants that are being kept in the tank. What are your thoughts?


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## Broseph (Dec 5, 2011)

But the fungus is attacking aquatic plants. Can we over mist and under air circulate an aquatic plant? Serious question, not trying to be a jerk, just interested in the solution here. Aggressive white fungus has attacked plants for me too- in established (years) vivs where plants were previously growing fine. I've even seen established creeping fig take a hit from this stuff.

I'm guessing there are just pathogenic fungi that sometimes make their way into vivaria (new leaf litter?). Wet conditions with poor air circulation probably don't help the problem, but I also don't think increased circulation and less water is a guarantee against it.

Anyone agree?

_Edit: Wizard OP beat me to the "aquatic plant argument"_


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## sumer (Dec 14, 2012)

Broseph said:


> But the fungus is attacking aquatic plants. Can we over mist and under air circulate an aquatic plant? Serious question, not trying to be a jerk, just interested in the solution here. Aggressive white fungus has attacked plants for me too- in established (years) vivs where plants were previously growing fine. I've even seen established creeping fig take a hit from this stuff.
> 
> I'm guessing there are just pathogenic fungi that sometimes make their way into vivaria (new leaf litter?). Wet conditions with poor air circulation probably don't help the problem, but I also don't think increased circulation and less water is a guarantee against it.
> 
> ...


Oh no! We are just discussing here. Most of the good things I have learned over the years have come out of such discussions only.

"Less water is a guarantee"- I agree. But what do you do with the Bucephalandras that start curling their leaves if you don't spray for 4 hours? I have moved my misting from 2 hours to three and they are still OK with that. I tried pushing it to 4 and it didn't work well.
So something that would kill the disease but would also kill the plant doesn't sound right! We gotta find a diff solution.

I increased the air exchange and added a fan for circulation. Is it helping? Seems to. I will have better observations made in a week or so.

But you are right; it is possible to mist more and air circulate less with aquatic plants. But an even more serious question is how do you measure how frequently to mist is good and how much air circulation is less?


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Broseph said:


> But the fungus is attacking aquatic plants. Can we over mist and under air circulate an aquatic plant? Serious question, not trying to be a jerk, just interested in the solution here. Aggressive white fungus has attacked plants for me too- in established (years) vivs where plants were previously growing fine. I've even seen established creeping fig take a hit from this stuff.
> 
> I'm guessing there are just pathogenic fungi that sometimes make their way into vivaria (new leaf litter?). Wet conditions with poor air circulation probably don't help the problem, but I also don't think increased circulation and less water is a guarantee against it.


If the humidity is high enough it is quite easy to have fungal attacks that wipe out plants, it is possible to have outbreaks of molds that are considered to be only aquatic pathogens such as Saprolegnia ssp. These fungi are pretty much omnipresent and are likely always in the enclosures just waiting for the right conditions to grow. 


some comments 

Ed


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