# RAPIDLY GROWING MOLD????



## asdsdf (Oct 8, 2007)

Help me please. Whenever I spray my enclosure, some mold seems to like growing in the water droplet really rapidly. They are pink or yellow, and no, the water doesn't stay there for that long, hence the rapidly growing mold. A vid is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nh5_ovZREw8

Has it happened with you? What should I do???

(Sorry for the nobby question....)


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## Andrew (Oct 8, 2007)

I'd just clean the glass with something, like maybe windex or something...dunno how the odors would affect your mantis though.


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## Krissim Klaw (Oct 8, 2007)

I rarely mist my cages, and use screening not glass, so I'm not sure how much of a help I can be on the situation.

One question I have is what sort of water do you use when misting? Is it purfied (reverse osmosis)? Also would be interesting to know what type of lighting do you use and what is the temperature and humidty in the tank?

Hopefully other members who use tanks will have more helpful advice. XP


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## OGIGA (Oct 8, 2007)

I don't know why that would happen but I'll tell you what I would do. Take everything out, clean it with alcohol, and put it outside in the sun for a few hours. By the way, it may be a good idea to replace everything that used to be inside the tank too.


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## asdsdf (Oct 8, 2007)

Krissim Klaw said:


> I rarely mist my cages, and use screening not glass, so I'm not sure how much of a help I can be on the situation. One question I have is what sort of water do you use when misting? Is it purfied (reverse osmosis)? Also would be interesting to know what type of lighting do you use and what is the temperature and humidty in the tank?
> 
> Hopefully other members who use tanks will have more helpful advice. XP


I use a flourescent light and it gets to be around 80 degrees. I rarely spray, and when I do, it become like that. I use purified water(not sure abotu reverse osmosis, but it has to go through some filters.)

Could it be the water perhaps????? Kinda scary since it's drinking water....


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## Krissim Klaw (Oct 8, 2007)

asdsdf said:


> I use a flourescent light and it gets to be around 80 degrees. I rarely spray, and when I do, it become like that. I use purified water(not sure abotu reverse osmosis, but it has to go through some filters.)Could it be the water perhaps????? Kinda scary since it's drinking water....


If it is purfied it should be pretty good, though you might want to check the lable. Some purfied waters add nutrients/vitamins/ other chemicals to their water. Such additives my possibly encourage mold to grow faster. personally I prefer water that has gone through reverse osmosis (a lot of purfied water now currently uses this method) because at the chemical level it is suppose to seperate the H2O from everthing else and give up a really pure water (or so said my health teacher).I also second OGIGA's idea of giving the cage a real good clean. Perhaps you just a growth started in there somehow, and it might be lingering between mistings.


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## Mantida (Oct 8, 2007)

:blink: I get pink dots on my containers. Not sure if it was mold or prey guts...

I have paper towel lining the bottom of my container, noticed that you did too. My non paper towel containers don't have this problem. Perhaps it grows in the paper towel and is an air spreading mold? I have no clue. It doesn't seem to be affecting my mantids though.

Edit; I took a picture of the mold.







Does it look similar to what you have?

It's definately not vomit or diarrhea since it is odorless.


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## OGIGA (Oct 8, 2007)

I heard that it's not beneficial for us (humans0 to drink distilled water because it has not nutrients or anything. Whether or not that is true, is there any bias for or against using distilled or (nearly) pure water?


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## asdsdf (Oct 8, 2007)

mantida said:


> :blink: I get pink dots on my containers. Not sure if it was mold or prey guts... I have paper towel lining the bottom of my container, noticed that you did too. My non paper towel containers don't have this problem. Perhaps it grows in the paper towel and is an air spreading mold? I have no clue. It doesn't seem to be affecting my mantids though.
> 
> Edit; I took a picture of the mold.
> 
> ...


Yep, that's exaclty it. i thought it was pollen at first, until I saw that the they only grew in the water droplets.


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## hibiscusmile (Oct 8, 2007)

That's all I use is distilled water, due to the clorine in our drinking water. You can actually smell the clorine when you run the cold water here. I've use distilled for a long time and mine seem fine, I also do not have the mold problem, maybe the air flow is not right.


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## OGIGA (Oct 8, 2007)

That's pretty horrible. I can taste the chlorine when I rinse my mouth with hot water here.

When I was living at Davis, the water there has no chlorine... and is unfiltered. So it leaves nasty lime and hard stuff everywhere. Don't spray that on your tank!


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## Precious (Oct 10, 2007)

Krissim Klaw said:


> If it is purfied it should be pretty good, though you might want to check the lable. Some purfied waters add nutrients/vitamins/ other chemicals to their water. Such additives my possibly encourage mold to grow faster. personally I prefer water that has gone through reverse osmosis (a lot of purfied water now currently uses this method) because at the chemical level it is suppose to seperate the H2O from everthing else and give up a really pure water (or so said my health teacher).I also second OGIGA's idea of giving the cage a real good clean. Perhaps you just a growth started in there somehow, and it might be lingering between mistings.





OGIGA said:


> I heard that it's not beneficial for us (humans0 to drink distilled water because it has not nutrients or anything. Whether or not that is true, is there any bias for or against using distilled or (nearly) pure water?


Distilled water is literally the steam collected from a boiling source of water, the sediment of minerals or impurities stay in the boil pot, pure water rises and is collected. For people who care: Distilled water has lots of open bonds chemically to bind with toxins in your body and carry them out. BUT minerals are good for you and give water it's flavor, distilled water tastes flat and unappealing. For mantids, distilled seems the obvious choice and I may start doing that instead of ye old faucet that I use now. As for myself, I'm all Evian  .


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## hibiscusmile (Oct 10, 2007)

Hey Precious, funny we drink what comes out of tap (i use a filter for our drinking water, but you know what I mean), but for our babies we spare no cost! :lol: plus a gallon is only 50. cents here and it last me a month or more. :blink:


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## joossa (Oct 10, 2007)

OGIGA said:


> I heard that it's not beneficial for us (humans0 to drink distilled water because it has not nutrients or anything. Whether or not that is true, is there any bias for or against using distilled or (nearly) pure water?


I have drunk distilled water ever since I was born, and I'm still kickin'. To me, spring water tastes horrible because of the minerals; I guess I'm too used the pure H2O.

I always use it with my mantids and they have never had any serious issues, in fact I recommend it.


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