# Mysterious mold take over



## ChunksofNature (Mar 25, 2016)

Hello everyone,
sooo ive read lots of posts about mold on here and see everyone saying how they wont hurt the frogs and to let it run its course. I get this, my question is, what if the mold takes over the entire enclosure? 
Theres a white mold with an almost cotton candy like texture. Its been spreading nonstop day by day. It also seems to be smothering FF and then eating them. Is there any way to control it? ive been adding springs all the time and it does not seem to be making an impact. trying to remove it isnt very effective either. Any help would be appreciated. Seriously hope i dont have to tear this tank apart.
Cheers and Thanks


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## ChunksofNature (Mar 25, 2016)

Another photo


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## Otis (Apr 16, 2006)

You might try hydrogen peroxide on it. I have had success killing a similar looking moss this way, and as you dont spray directly on the frogs it should be ok to use in their terrarium. I accidentily sprayed a frog with it once, and the frog wasnt affected and is still alive (I did rinse it well). So, low risk I think.


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## Ces0809 (Jan 14, 2015)

How is your air flow? One thing that mold loves is humid stagnant air if you can increase the air flow in the area it will help clear up some. 


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## ChunksofNature (Mar 25, 2016)

Ok so now the mold has infiltrated another tank. Will the hydrogen peroxide harm the plants and/or bugs?? Is it possible it could overtake a frog? i have not seen my little guy in a couple of days...

As for air flow i do not have much. Im mostly dealing with 10gal and exoterras. Ive have to tape up some vents cuz i felt it had too much air flow. Sense reading this i have cracked open some of said vents and resorted to light mistings. I have yet to mess with fans, so i have not set anything up.


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## Boondoggle (Dec 9, 2007)

Leave it alone. Unless you have some truly terrible viv conditions, it will run it's course and then recede. Breaking down the tanks would be a mistake as these spores came from somewhere (abg mix, wood, your house) and would return. Treating it will just prolong the process. IME the molds we see in our vivariums always burn through the easily available nutrients after a bit and die back to a barely visible presence. Be patient. It may take a few days or a month, but it's really not a big deal. Molds are fungi and a part of a healthy vivarium. You can introduce springtails to curtail it a bit, but I've never seen springtails keep up with the initial bloom on a new tank. As you noted, you can mist a bit less and encourage a bit more air flow to slow down the bloom, but new tanks bloom mold.

How old are these tanks? Any new wood in there?


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## veggieme (Apr 22, 2016)

Boondoggle said:


> Leave it alone. Be patient. It may take a few days or a month, but it's really not a big deal. Molds are fungi and a part of a healthy vivarium. You can introduce springtails to curtail it a bit, but I've never seen springtails keep up with the initial bloom on a new tank. As you noted, you can mist a bit less and encourage a bit more air flow to slow down the bloom, but new tanks bloom mold.


I don't mean to hijack this thread, but Jeremy, you seem to have strong opinions and some common sense understanding about this problem-so what if mine is just the opposite? I planted a new viv two weeks ago. I mist 2-3 times a day because I have moss slurry in there that needs to stick. I have zero mold of any kind, a lovely 'forest floor" aroma, and most of my plants are showing new growth. Must there be mold in a cycling new vivarium? Is my tank just too new, so I should be patient for exactly the opposite reason this thread was created? Help! I was planning on introducing frogs one month after planting, but until I am sure we are through the worst part of cycling, I don't want to do that. What do you think?


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## Boondoggle (Dec 9, 2007)

veggieme said:


> I don't mean to hijack this thread, but Jeremy, you seem to have strong opinions and some common sense understanding about this problem-so what if mine is just the opposite? I planted a new viv two weeks ago. I mist 2-3 times a day because I have moss slurry in there that needs to stick. I have zero mold of any kind, a lovely 'forest floor" aroma, and most of my plants are showing new growth. Must there be mold in a cycling new vivarium? Is my tank just too new, so I should be patient for exactly the opposite reason this thread was created? Help! I was planning on introducing frogs one month after planting, but until I am sure we are through the worst part of cycling, I don't want to do that. What do you think?


Mold has a mind of it's own. I can't say that every tank I've ever built went through a moldy phase but many have. It seems to really hit the tanks with little to no ventilation. There are just a lot of conditional variables but you can just about guarantee that there are mold spores in every vivarium. They just haven't met conditions that cause an explosion in yours. I wouldn't worry too much about it either way. If the tank looks habitable after a month you should be fine. Remember too there are different types of molds. In my tank the initial bloom is that white furry mold, but even an established tank will throw some slime molds occasionally. I've never had vivarium mold harm a frog before. I'd be interested to know if anyone has.


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## veggieme (Apr 22, 2016)

Thanks, Jeremy. The mold in my first tank scared me at first. Now, I get a chuckle when I see a tiny orange mushroom pop up for a day or two and then disappear. The new tank is an ExoTerro 18 X 18 X 24 with the glass panel tops that have a one inch gap at the top in back. I also was smart enough to get a plug n play fan for the summer months and hooked it up. So, perhaps I haven't encouraged mold growth with my set up...or perhaps I have simply delayed it. On the pics I attached, the first one shows the moss slurry and you can see it's wet enough to encourage mold. Do you see anything in the main pic that indicates the design and execution of the tank are flawed..I mean besides my lack of creative vision?


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## DragonSpirit1185 (Dec 6, 2010)

Mold is completely common within the first month or two. If you have grapewood it might come back more than once. 
If you don't have any air flow that can cause these sorts of things to happen as well. All vivs should have some sort of circulation in my opinion


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## Boondoggle (Dec 9, 2007)

veggieme said:


> Thanks, Jeremy. The mold in my first tank scared me at first. Now, I get a chuckle when I see a tiny orange mushroom pop up for a day or two and then disappear. The new tank is an ExoTerro 18 X 18 X 24 with the glass panel tops that have a one inch gap at the top in back. I also was smart enough to get a plug n play fan for the summer months and hooked it up. So, perhaps I haven't encouraged mold growth with my set up...or perhaps I have simply delayed it. On the pics I attached, the first one shows the moss slurry and you can see it's wet enough to encourage mold. Do you see anything in the main pic that indicates the design and execution of the tank are flawed..I mean besides my lack of creative vision?
> View attachment 234986
> 
> 
> View attachment 234994


It looks great to me, creative vision included. 

I miss mushrooms. A lot of my tanks are in the 6-8 year range and I just don't see very many mushrooms anymore. I recently went through and replaced the substrate on all my grow-out tanks and they are just getting to the end of a pretty epic mold bloom that that caused. I need to do it on my other tanks and I expect I'll see mold blooms there as well.


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## veggieme (Apr 22, 2016)

Boondoggle said:


> It looks great to me, creative vision included.
> 
> I miss mushrooms. A lot of my tanks are in the 6-8 year range and I just don't see very many mushrooms anymore. I recently went through and replaced the substrate on all my grow-out tanks and they are just getting to. the end of a pretty epic mold bloom that that caused. I need to do it on my other tanks and I expect I'll see mold blooms there as well.


Funny, the unusual things we appreciate-and don't. Living in the Pacific Northwest, the mushrooms in my yard in the spring are scary, but the little dollhouse fungi in my viv are adorable. When I moved here from southern CA, I was amused by the flats of groundcover I could buy at Home Depot, the contents of which routinely got a heavy treatment of Roundup in L.A. I was also delighted to see amazing tulips growing wild here and a rather showy change of tree colors in the fall-nature I only saw in pictures when I lived in L.A. 

Any opinion as to whether my viv should be able to support springtails and isopods? I dumped a springtail culture in and mixed it into the ABG when I planted it two weeks ago, but haven't seen a single one since. I added about 25 hand selected giant orange isopods-same thing, haven't seen any. I have really bad luck with springtails. I sprinkle in fish flakes-no change. Carrot shavings-no change. I mist 2-3 times a day and the glass is foggy, plants are growing/attaching, sending out roots and runners-but no springtails or isopods.

It would seem that the viv is missing a vital component to being able to support life-yep, that would be life! No mold, no microfauna. I am a little nervous about adding frogs-kind of like GMO corn-looks like food, cooks like food and eats like food...but it's not real food!


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