# Deadly Fungus/bacteria



## The Gecko Fein (11 mo ago)

Hey all,

Can anyone provide photos of what to look for in the case of any possible signs of harmful bacteria or fungus in your frog vivarium?


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## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

In the viv itself -- that is, not on the frogs? If so, I don't think any are particularly hazardous. Plants that continue to decline in a "rotting" sort of way generally indicates an imbalance of moisture and ventilation in the viv.

If on the frogs, pretty much any progressive skin breakdown calls for a visit to a qualified exotics vet, who can culture to determine what the organism is.


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## The Gecko Fein (11 mo ago)

Appreciate it!

Reason I asked, I thought I read a post regarding someone being thankful that they had an extra setup as he had something take over his vivarium (plants not frogs).
Of course I cant find it now..


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## Harpspiel (Jan 18, 2015)

The Gecko Fein said:


> Appreciate it!
> 
> Reason I asked, I thought I read a post regarding someone being thankful that they had an extra setup as he had something take over his vivarium (plants not frogs).
> Of course I cant find it now..


There’s this fungus that mostly presents as white balls, it’s very common in vivs. There was a theory that a particularly aggressive strain was coming in on a component of ABG mix, maybe it was tree fern fiber. People said it was killing off their springtail populations. I have lots of this fungus, particularly in one grow bin, and I haven’t noticed an impact on plants or springtails but maybe I don’t have the virulent strain…

Anyway, you’d be looking for die off or failure to thrive in either plants or springtails. There are also different fungal and bacterial infections that can impact orchids in particular, but those can mostly be avoiding by providing appropriate air movement and moisture levels, as @Socratic Monologue said.


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## Harpspiel (Jan 18, 2015)

What I mean when I say “lots”









Increasing ventilation would probably reduce the fungus, but this has been working fine as a prop bin with very high humidity, low ventilation, pretty moist and I water about once a month, so I’m not messing with it.

* Note that epiphytic orchids won’t be happy with these conditions, and although I’ve been using it as a quarantine for some keikis that aren’t very high value to me, I do not recommend this. It’s much better for rooting out cuttings and growing mini ferns.


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## IShouldGetSomeSleep (Sep 23, 2021)

Harpspiel said:


> What I mean when I say “lots”
> 
> View attachment 305363
> 
> ...












had this in my whip spider tanks a few years ago, stuff is nasty, covered everything!


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## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

There have been many threads about this in the past. It could use its own forum section here almost.









White fungi growing in crestie vivarium


Identified as possibly Isaria Siclairii, counted about 7 of them, one biggen in the back as well as 3 that I only noticed today at the front, I have isopods, earthworms and springtails as cleanup crew, cork bark and an array of plants, created is nice and healthy (still unsure of her age, she’s...




www.dendroboard.com







https://www.dendroboard.com/threads/white-mold-taking-over-crested-gecko-bioactive-setup.359087/











MUSHROOMS AND FUNGI


Hello everyone, I have a created gecko vivarium and noticed a few mushrooms pop up in the past. I know that this is normal but the whole drainage has been taken over. What should I do? All of the drainage was originally brown btw




www.dendroboard.com













Is this harmful?


Hey all, I've noticed that these little yellow ball-type things have started popping up everywhere in my ABG substrate. Does anybody know if it's a threat? I don't have any frogs in the viv right now, just springtails. Thanks in advance for the help!




www.dendroboard.com













Using filter foam as growing media


I have had a vivarium set up for about 3 months using all best practices and ABG soil from Josh’s frogs. I apparently got a bag with the tree fern mold/fungus and I am going to have to tear it out and start over. Given I have heard a lot of issues with ABG purchased in the last 6 months, I am...




www.dendroboard.com













substrate re-use: to sterilize or not?


Me again! Tried searching old posts on the subject but wasn't quite getting what I needed; maybe I wasn't searching effectively. Working through a tank re-do. The tank in question (animal-free, before and going forward) has had periodic mushrooms popping-out of the substrate-filled cork rounds...




www.dendroboard.com













Please help: getting conflicting opinions on whether...


My tank has been planted for a few months and has had frogs for one month. This fungus started after I added the frogs. I have posted on facebook groups and have been told it is flower pot fungus. Some people say it is fine and others say I need to gut the tank because springtails won't eat it...




www.dendroboard.com













Please help


I have something growing in my tinc's tank. It started out in the soil. I didn't think much about it because it is my first tank. Got everything from Josh's frogs. I thought it was normal and that my springtails and isopods would dispose of it. It has increased in size and spread to the drainage...




www.dendroboard.com





For what it is worth, some vivs without any noticeable fungal growth do not have visible springtail or isopod populations in spite of frequent seeding. The correlation between fungus and apparent microfauna populations is drawn on the basis of unreasonable concern about fungus, IMO. It also isn't necessarily found in conjunction with any ingredient in ABG (I get it on pure coco chip). In one of the above threads, I took a survey of my reptile room and found no apparent connection between the fungus and microfauna, and I also did a test to see if the fungus killed springtails in a cx cup (it didn't, and the springs ate it under those controlled conditions).


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## Harpspiel (Jan 18, 2015)

Socratic Monologue said:


> There have been many threads about this in the past. It could use its own forum section here almost.


Yeah it’s been covered pretty thoroughly, I just thought that might be what the OP was referring to.

Orchid growers are much more concerned about this stuff, but after dealing with it and hanging out in both orchid and dart frog spaces for years now, I suspect that’s not because it is harmful, but because it indicates that the bark is starting to decompose, which is fine for terrestrial plants but not so good for epiphytes. Anyway it’s present in small quantities in all of my enclosures, and I don’t know why it’s so much more apparent in that particular grow bin but so far…meh. I’m pretty tolerant of weird stuff growing alongside my plants. Cute mushrooms from the same grow bin (I get these same mushrooms fleetingly in various enclosures, and I have seen mixed assertions that they are/aren’t the fruiting bodies of the ball fungus):


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## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

Harpspiel said:


> Cute mushrooms from the same grow bin (I get these same mushrooms fleetingly in various enclosures, and I have seen mixed assertions that they are/aren’t the fruiting bodies of the ball fungus):


Looks like the ones I get in one (only one) of my vivs -- they appear every ten days or so, and have for months now. They are only on ghostwood and pods, and there is no ABG in the viv (calcium clay). There is no ball fungus in the viv that I can see.


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