Help..mold?

[beezy]

So i have a verry nice setup that i just made. i have a green tree frog and a big eyed tree frog in a 10 gal on its side vertically. so i made the tank with rob c's real wood background (YouTube - ‪Robc's real bark back drop Tutorial (all in 1 vid lol)‬‏ use eco earth for substrate and i have a water bowl, live pothos, fake plants , and a big piece of mopani wood...i use a plexi glass lid with like 15 3/16" holes for vents. any ways last weekend i misted them and put alot of crickets in the tank.and i had to leave fro the week...when i came back home yesterday i looked in the tank and theres like 2 or 3 patches of some white furry.fuzzy stuff...what do i do to fix it and how do i make it not happen again?...thanks

[DonLisk]

Hi Breezy. I don't see where you mention you have a drainage layer such as stone or hydroballs.
Is the mold on the wood or in the substrate?

Mold in the substrate will or should cycle and go away. On the wood, I think you would need to remove, wash, and dry out complete in the oven. Bake at 200 degrees for about 1 to 2 hours. Check it routinely so it doesn't burn up.

If you don't have a drainage layer, your substrate will saturate and rot quickly. To crate a drainage layer, you must use about 1 to 2 inch of stone or hydroballs, cover with a mesh screen and then cover the screen with the substrate. The moisture will drop slowly down through the substrate and into the drainage layer to evaporate.

[MikeM670]

Don't worry about it yet. Your tank needs to have a settling in period. The recommended time frame after setting up your tank varies from several weeks to months. This allows things like the mold blooms to come and go, if you added springtails to your tank this allows them to multiply. Plants to grow in..ect.

If your really concerned about the mold just spray that area down with some distilled water.

Now having said all that. Not too many people wait that long and usually put their frogs into newly established vivariums.

[beezy]

ohh a false bottom...i dont have one..=/...and its on the substrate and verry little on the bottom of the wood where it is burried in the substrate...so ill take it out and clean it and put it back...next time i do a whole major tank cleaning ill make a false bottom..=]..thanks

[DonLisk]

Like Mike said, you can just let it settle in but you really want a false bottom/drainage layer. Then you should never have to break down your tank for cleaning.

Mike, thanks for the tip on the distilled water too. Never would have thought of that.