Mold on cork bark?

[Jimbobtom]

So I just boiled some cork bark and put it in a new bin for my banana roaches. It got some green mold growing over it now after a couple days. I've never had cork bark grow mold before and all of the substrate is new. The bin is no more humid than others I've used... any idea what's up with this?

[stanislas]

Sounds familiar.... If I boil or otherwise sterilize wood, it tends to overgrow with fungi. Those range from green to very hairy. 
Bark can contain enough food to become overgrown with fungi. And there are always fungi and bacteria on *any* surface, but they keep each other in check.
Once you boil the bark, the balance get's disturbed and one species can colonize the whole surface. At least that's how I see it. 

What to do? Clean it at 40-50 degree, so that not all microorganisms get killed, or what I  often do: bury/cover the bark in/with balanced soil of compost so that it get's recolonized in a more balance way. I just take some substrate from a roach bin of bury it in there and wait for a week or so. 

Another option is to have it dry thoroughly  before adding it to the enclosure. Without moisture, these fungi won't grow, 

[Jimbobtom]

4 hours ago, stanislas said:

Sounds familiar.... If I boil or otherwise sterilize wood, it tends to overgrow with fungi. Those range from green to very hairy. 
Bark can contain enough food to become overgrown with fungi. And there are always fungi and bacteria on *any* surface, but they keep each other in check.
Once you boil the bark, the balance get's disturbed and one species can colonize the whole surface. At least that's how I see it. 

What to do? Clean it at 40-50 degree, so that not all microorganisms get killed, or what I  often do: bury/cover the bark in/with balanced soil of compost so that it get's recolonized in a more balance way. I just take some substrate from a roach bin of bury it in there and wait for a week or so. 

Another option is to have it dry thoroughly  before adding it to the enclosure. Without moisture, these fungi won't grow, 

Thank you, I had a feeling it could be due to that. I normally never sterilize cork bark, but it was previously used in another bin. Is the green mold harmful, will it hurt the banana roaches? If not I was thinking of just burying it like you said. In the past when mold has grown on bark due to food sitting on it too long, I've just covered it in the substrate and the mold disappeared.

 

BTW the mold is the color of lichen you'd see growing on a tree

Edited May 7, 2019 by Jimbobtom
Forgot to mention

[Hisserdude]

Yeah this normally happens to sterilized media, give a few days to a week, it should disappear, especially if any springtails are already present in the enclosure. 

[Jimbobtom]

14 hours ago, Hisserdude said:

Yeah this normally happens to sterilized media, give a few days to a week, it should disappear, especially if any springtails are already present in the enclosure. 

I haven't added any springtails just because I didn't want them to annoy the roaches. Think they'd be fine?

[Hisserdude]

1 hour ago, Jimbobtom said:

I haven't added any springtails just because I didn't want them to annoy the roaches. Think they'd be fine?

Depends on the springtail species, if you could just get some small silver ones, that'd be great, those never bother ANY roaches... 

[Jimbobtom]

3 hours ago, Hisserdude said:

Depends on the springtail species, if you could just get some small silver ones, that'd be great, those never bother ANY roaches... 

I think I know the ones you're talking about. Any idea where to get them?

[Hisserdude]

6 hours ago, Jimbobtom said:

I think I know the ones you're talking about. Any idea where to get them?

Not sure exactly where one would buy them, Kyle at Roachcrossing used to sell them... Most people end up getting small silver springtails in their enclosures at some point, (they usually come in with unsterlized media, or as hitchhikers in the mail with new inverts), they are pretty dang tiny, and thus don't bother roaches, but do help a bit with keeping mold growth down. 

[Jimbobtom]

On 5/14/2019 at 3:17 AM, Hisserdude said:

Not sure exactly where one would buy them, Kyle at Roachcrossing used to sell them... Most people end up getting small silver springtails in their enclosures at some point, (they usually come in with unsterlized media, or as hitchhikers in the mail with new inverts), they are pretty dang tiny, and thus don't bother roaches, but do help a bit with keeping mold growth down. 

These actually showed up in my snail bin out of nowhere, they must be the ones you're talking about. They seemed to do just enough cleaning while not seeming to bother the snails any. Which is nice with how messy they can be, but also sensitive to stress from cleaners running around.

[Hisserdude]

8 hours ago, Jimbobtom said:

These actually showed up in my snail bin out of nowhere, they must be the ones you're talking about. They seemed to do just enough cleaning while not seeming to bother the snails any. Which is nice with how messy they can be, but also sensitive to stress from cleaners running around.

Yeah, most people just find them in their enclosures one day lol! I'd definitely add them to your roach enclosures, as they don't stress them out at all, and help keep things a bit cleaner.