Satanas Posted March 25, 2014 Report Share Posted March 25, 2014 so I have had this fungus traveling to all of my beetle containers…and it was actually killing some larvae. Once it reached some of my prized larvae i decided to change all substrate and throughly washed all of my containers! is there anything else i should do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarvaHunter Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 Have you figured out how the fungus started in the old sub? Your sub might be too moist. What are you using for substrate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satanas Posted March 26, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 I'm using decayed flake soil and the fungus came from some shipping substrate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greatwun Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 Did you bake the sub after you received it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satanas Posted March 26, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 no, i thought it would be ok Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shade of Eclipse Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 Did you spread the fungus around by re-using contaminated substrate or does it appear to be infesting even clean substrate? Fungal contaminants are a tough thing to deal with once it's allowed to proliferate and produce spores, so I hope it's just something you spread around by inadvertently inoculating all your substrate with mycelium. I suggest boiling your substrate if you want to get rid of the mycelium. Baking may work as well, but some microbial contaminants react to dry heat by producing spores and cysts that can germinate after cooling and hydrating. Drying substrate is the least effective method and fails to kill most things--mycelium is also capable of surviving dehydration and revives upon rehydration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arstood Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 Instead of sterilizing the substrate, is there any merit to the idea of inoculating the soil with leaf litter from outside, in an attempt to create a stable mini-ecosystem without any single dominant mold or mycelium? That seems to be what the beetles encounter in the wild, and it might prevent a single mold species from taking over quickly. Maybe that's a terrible idea, and it might be why I've never been able to raise a wild-caught larva to adulthood. (That, or the months of neglect. Or a mixture of both). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satanas Posted March 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 i let the fungus grow because i was neglecting one container with no beetles in it, but then it created spores and i destroyed it. it has however spread to many of my other containers…but has slowed now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greatwun Posted March 30, 2014 Report Share Posted March 30, 2014 I would try baking the sub in the oven for 30 mins before having to throw it away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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