# Black mold (?) on wood.



## papafrogger (Oct 21, 2012)

I have 2 sticks in my viv that im pretty sure are manzanita. One has white, green, and black mold on it. I know the white and green are fine and will go away eventually but when i think of black mold i think of mildew. It started green and gradually turned black over the past few days. The viv has only been set up for a little over a week. Heres a pic of the black stuff.










Shoukd i pull the wood or is it harmless?


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## billschwinn (Dec 17, 2008)

If it were me I would remove it and advise you to avoid breathing the spores in.


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## pdfDMD (May 9, 2009)

If it's fresh from the outdoors, who knows what could have been dormant on it. I'd remove it as well; it may be harmless, but it may also be harmful. I'd remove it, scrub it, and bake it in the oven for a bit. I personally clean and place smaller pieces of wood in my oven for about an hour at 275 degrees F to kill off any fungus, mold, or other hitchhikers. Wood's flashpoint is a bit more than double that temperature, though I've noticed that the smell of the drying wood is stronger above 300 degrees; 275 should be high enough to kill most things and low enough that I don't reek up the kitchen too bad.


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## Johno2090 (Aug 31, 2011)

I have this on a piece of manzanita wood that's in my FBT tank. It's nothing to worry about, causes no problems and the springtails do eat it.


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## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

It's hard to avoid having some mold in a humid viv. Unless it gets to be a lot more extensive I probably wouldn't worry about it.


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## papafrogger (Oct 21, 2012)

I got it in a kit from joshs frogs. I havent used anything from outside. Ive heard enough bad experiences from that. But the ballot seems pretty well split. Leave it or pull it? The tank is still in the grow out stage so theres no frogs to hurt.

Edit. I dont know if it makes a difference but its not fuzzy or really mold looking, its more like a staining. Kind of like when you leave a wet towel outside for a week and it gets black spots on it.


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## papafrogger (Oct 21, 2012)

This morning after i turned the lights on i noticed the black stuff seems to be fading a bit. It still looks like mildew to my inexperienced eye but has slightly faded to gray. Does anyone have any experience with getting mildew in a viv? Im also wondering if it could be from over misting. My hygrometer has been at 99% humidity for the last 24 hours but i think it could be inaccurate. there is almost constantly a nice layer on condensation on the glass but even when it faded the hygro read 99%. Im not sure if that even factors into the molding process but thought it might be worth mentioning


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## jacobi (Dec 15, 2010)

Does your vivarium have any ventilation or air movement? 99%humidity is very high. Too high, in my uneducated opinion 

And unless it's a high end hygrometer, it's probably inaccurate anyway...


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## papafrogger (Oct 21, 2012)

jacobi said:


> Does your vivarium have any ventilation or air movement? 99%humidity is very high. Too high, in my uneducated opinion
> 
> And unless it's a high end hygrometer, it's probably inaccurate anyway...


No ventilation at the moment, i could slide the glass lid back but it leaves about a 1/2 inch gap. But i dont have anything to cover that to prevent escapes. The hygro is an acu rite digital weather station. But i didnt realize it was an indoor model until i put it in the viv so i think the humidity might have thrown off the accuracy. The substrate isnt too damp and besides the condensation everything seems to dry out a bit between misting. Should i just let it ride out for a few days without misting and see if it dries up?


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## Steverd (Sep 4, 2011)

I don't know if I would worry too much. BUT you could remove it, soak it in bleach, and/or boil it afterwards. Wash off and put back into the tank!
Steve


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## Tinctoc (Sep 15, 2012)

Steverd said:


> I don't know if I would worry too much. BUT you could remove it, soak it in bleach, and/or boil it afterwards. Wash off and put back into the tank!
> Steve


Bleaching wood is a big no-no. The bleach will soak into the wood and become very hard to remove, thus causing chlorine to leach back out.


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## DanConnor (Apr 12, 2009)

Mold happens some times in new vivaria- I wouldn't worry about it.


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## ICS523 (Mar 10, 2012)

DanConnor said:


> Mold happens some times in new vivaria- I wouldn't worry about it.


Exactly!
besides its probably not the same black mold that we associate with all the health/indoor air quality issues. keep in mind that there are 75,000 species of named fungi, and scientist believe there may be a million unnamed varieties. (probably more if you think about it!) Just keep an eye on it.


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## papafrogger (Oct 21, 2012)

Thanks everyone. I decided to leave it. I started seeing baby springtails all over it today .
They seem to like it and i believe it stopped spreading.


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