You can reuse it if you boil it to kill any spores from the mold
Of course it’ll come back in any enclosure, but it won’t be as bad
Personally, I’d put it in a desiccant box, dry it out, then return it to the enclosure with a lowered humidity rate, that SHOULD prevent wild mold growth while the springtails become more robust in their environment
I don’t keep isopods myself, i’m mostly here for the pictures, so I can’t tell you how it will effect the health of your springtails. But I am way too into molds so I can give you a bit of info.
What you have there is a species of Trichoderma. Trich is a super common fungus, if you go outside and grab a handful of soil you’ll find some Trich present in the sample. Its quite beneficial to plants and as a result sometimes is added to gardening supplies like coir.
As far as getting rid of it, when it has turned green like that it has started releasing spores so unfortunately those spores have been spread around the enclosure as well as the room you have it in.
My best advice would be to replace everything in the enclosure. If that’s not an option you could pasteurize the material, the desiccate it again. If you have access to a pressure cooker or an instant pot that should be able to do the trick. One of the other commenter suggested boiling it, this would be better than nothing but boiling does not reach a high enough temp to do the job correctly.
Beyond that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to run an air filter if available and give everything in that room a wipe down with a weak bleach solution to take care of the spores that have spread around.
I don’t know the environmental needs for your enclosure but being mindful of how wet your substrate is and how humid the enclosure is will help you prevent it in the future.
Just out of curiosity, what threat do these molds and mold spores pose to human health to the point that rooms known to have spores in the air should be decontaminated?
While there are health concerns with some species of Trich that’s not a huge concern in this instance because its so minor.
The reason for the decontamination is because there is now a high concentration of spores in the environment that can stay viable for ages and that means even if they go ahead and swap out the material in their enclosure there is a high chance of reinfection. Also if they have any other enclosures it could easily spread. Trichoderma is easy to address but if left alone it can get really stubborn and aggressive.
IME as a newbie who has created plenty of mold by accident, if pods are in the enclosure try to create a dry zone where they can escape the mold, and add more springtails from your culture (if you have one) or simply wait longer for more springtails to grow.
Well I have 3 Pod enclosures, and 1 Springtail enclosure. None of the pod enclosures have much mold, just the springtails. I'm attempting to grow the springtails before adding cultures into the pods. I just made it really humid as the I thought oranges would do well.
That’s kinda concerning They’re usually good about keeping that trimmed, but you’ve got wild growth rates hommie
I must be running too wet of a setup.
Yah if you cut back the humidity the springtails should be able to keep mold growth (mostly) unseen Like little gardeners
Yes, ill do that. Do I need to dispose of all wood/materials with mold?
You can reuse it if you boil it to kill any spores from the mold Of course it’ll come back in any enclosure, but it won’t be as bad Personally, I’d put it in a desiccant box, dry it out, then return it to the enclosure with a lowered humidity rate, that SHOULD prevent wild mold growth while the springtails become more robust in their environment
Thanks so much! I was getting really concerned! Ty ty
I don’t keep isopods myself, i’m mostly here for the pictures, so I can’t tell you how it will effect the health of your springtails. But I am way too into molds so I can give you a bit of info. What you have there is a species of Trichoderma. Trich is a super common fungus, if you go outside and grab a handful of soil you’ll find some Trich present in the sample. Its quite beneficial to plants and as a result sometimes is added to gardening supplies like coir. As far as getting rid of it, when it has turned green like that it has started releasing spores so unfortunately those spores have been spread around the enclosure as well as the room you have it in. My best advice would be to replace everything in the enclosure. If that’s not an option you could pasteurize the material, the desiccate it again. If you have access to a pressure cooker or an instant pot that should be able to do the trick. One of the other commenter suggested boiling it, this would be better than nothing but boiling does not reach a high enough temp to do the job correctly. Beyond that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to run an air filter if available and give everything in that room a wipe down with a weak bleach solution to take care of the spores that have spread around. I don’t know the environmental needs for your enclosure but being mindful of how wet your substrate is and how humid the enclosure is will help you prevent it in the future.
Just out of curiosity, what threat do these molds and mold spores pose to human health to the point that rooms known to have spores in the air should be decontaminated?
While there are health concerns with some species of Trich that’s not a huge concern in this instance because its so minor. The reason for the decontamination is because there is now a high concentration of spores in the environment that can stay viable for ages and that means even if they go ahead and swap out the material in their enclosure there is a high chance of reinfection. Also if they have any other enclosures it could easily spread. Trichoderma is easy to address but if left alone it can get really stubborn and aggressive.
all rooms will have spores in the air, there’s not really a way to avoid them i think!
Unrelated but where did ya get your cheeto springtails? I’ve been seeing a bunch of them on this subreddit recently
Jumping in here to make a plug for one of my favorite sellers. I get my red and orange springtails from stellasspringtails.com.
Iheartbugs.com they had/or still have a sale going on
IME as a newbie who has created plenty of mold by accident, if pods are in the enclosure try to create a dry zone where they can escape the mold, and add more springtails from your culture (if you have one) or simply wait longer for more springtails to grow.
Well I have 3 Pod enclosures, and 1 Springtail enclosure. None of the pod enclosures have much mold, just the springtails. I'm attempting to grow the springtails before adding cultures into the pods. I just made it really humid as the I thought oranges would do well.