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The Fungus Among Us - Please help!

thoughtintheact

17 years ago

I've been playing with terrariums for a couple of years now. I set one up in August and, about a month and a half later, little mushrooms started springing up. At first, they appeared seldomly, so I ignored them. More recently, they've become significant in number. I started digging up chunks of soil around the bases and thought I was making headway. I started a new job this past week and slacked off on maintenance. Since then, a great number have come up, and they're inching closer to my plants.

I talked with somebody at the local nursery and he was clueless. The fungicides I've seen are merely topical agents. I really don't want to dig the whole thing up and replace the soil. Is there any type of fungicide I can dilute and water with? Perhaps a household remedy?

Any help would be greatly appreciated......

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Comments (6)

iliketerrariums
17 years ago
I wish they would grow in one of my set ups! I think they look really good! but to answer your question, no, I dont know of anything that will kill off mushrooms/fungus, Im sure that if you do find something it will prob kill any little critters you might have too =( I know theres a little in that lives in soil, it eats up dead and decaying matter, I think their called springflies? not to sure though?
iliketerrariums
17 years ago
The correct name is Springtails, here a link =)
http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Entomology/entfacts/trees/ef420.htm
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paul_
17 years ago
"Since then, a great number have come up, and they're inching closer to my plants."

Well your plants obviously don't mind them. The mushrooms are merely the fruiting/reproductive bodies. The fungus has already infiltrated all of the soil including that amongst the plants' roots. If your plants were going to be harmed, it would have already happened.
amphitecna
17 years ago
Hi- We're terrarium neophytes and I'm hoping some of you have experience that could help us. We're in the process of setting up a terrarium for poison dart frogs. We haven't gotten the frogs yet. We have set up the habitat though, and in less than a week we have a fungus problem. We'd like to know 1) is this fungus likely to harm our future frogs and 2) what can we do about it? We know about springtails and will try them, but is there anything else we can do? We are also going to get a little laptop fan to help with airflow (we have a waterfall and mister, so hopefully that won't cause a problem witht he humidity). If we need to clean out and start all over again, how do we prevent this from happening in the future (the spores are now unlikely to be removable from the terrarium). Our substrate is coconut fiber with a layer of purchased mosses on top. The fungus is a white spiderwebby thing that is in the coconut, but sending fruiting bodies up through the mosses. There are a few plants in there, but we haven't finished adding those yet. The plants, as yet, seem to be unaffected. The jury is still out on whether or not the mosses are succumbing to their housemate.

Any tips and suggestions would be most welcome! Thanks a lot!!

Susan
iliketerrariums
17 years ago
I dont know much about fungus, but I know I dont have any problems with it when I use fans, I would add the fan and wait a bit, keeping the temp and humidity in check, then if the fungus doesnt go away in about a week or so, Id tear it down and build it back up, this shouldnt be a problem as it seems that you have a simple set up, no insults intended as a lot of the time I wish I had bilt a simple set up! LOL! let us know how things work out =)
tetrazygia
17 years ago
Susan, don't you worry about no mushrooms. They're just a sign that your vivarium is functioning as it should.

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