Mold!!?!?!?!

[SycoSquirl]

Im having a hard time with my cage right now. Its all mesh enclosure 18x18x36. I have a low profile rain dome going off for 3 minutes every 2 hours starting at 9, Its distilled water I am using in it. My problem is that my large pieces of drift woord and one of my plants have mold on them. I took them out immediately because I dont want it to affect my boy but ive never had this problem before and im trying to figure out how to solve it. The large piece of drift wood was on the floor of the cage and the part that started to mold was resting on the bottom. There are a bunch of holes in the floor all around the area but water does collect while the dome is on but it dries out before the next misting. Im thinking since the wood doesnt dry as fast that is why it is molding but i dont know what else to do about it besides just take the wood out and the plant like I did. Any suggestions on how to fix this so I can get a new piece of wood?

 

[Lathis]

I bake my driftwood (sand blasted grapevine) regularly. Its such a porous piece of wood, that's the only way to keep it clean. 15 to 30 minutes in the oven at 350*F.

 

[SycoSquirl]

How regularly? Like once a week? Every other?

 

[Lathis]

Monthly for me seems to work.

 

[SycoSquirl]

cool ill give it a try! Thanks!!

 

[SycoSquirl]

So this is what my mold looks like, its growing on my ficus plant in the cage that is alive so I honestly have no idea how to combat it besides cutting it off. Does anyone else have this problem that can help me out any?

 

[Carlton]

So this is what my mold looks like, its growing on my ficus plant in the cage that is alive so I honestly have no idea how to combat it besides cutting it off. Does anyone else have this problem that can help me out any?

View attachment 107612 View attachment 107613

Wow. I think I'd keep that driftwood super clean or not use it for a while, repot your plant to get rid of mold in the soil, and basically try to remove anything that might be a source of this mold. Maybe once you remove all the sources it will disappear on its own.

 

[mvad]

Misting for 3 minutes every 2 hours is not allowing your enclosure to dry out enough. Try tapering back the misting times in addition what people have said above. That's a ton of mold your dealing with. Good luck

 

[mikouba]

Thats really bad, you wont get it away even if you repot the plant if the roots are infected. I had this once and had to get rid of the plant. Good luck.

 

[SycoSquirl]

thanks everyone, looks like I either need to re-pot and hope for the best or get a new ficus, and I am adjusting the misting times so it has more time to dry out between. Ill post here if I solve the problem =)

 

[Carlton]

Thats really bad, you wont get it away even if you repot the plant if the roots are infected. I had this once and had to get rid of the plant. Good luck.

Yes, could be. Maybe take an affected branch from the Ficus to a plant nursery to see if they could identify what is growing on it and suggest a way to treat it (outside the cage of course).

 

[SycoSquirl]

I ended up just throwing the ficus away, ive cut my watering schedule down to 30 seconds every hour up until noon when it changes to every other hour