How do you clean moldy cork bark?

zomby19

Arachnopeon
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Nov 30, 2023
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5
About two months ago I ordered zoo meds cork bark rounds two pack off their website, one came moldy and other was fine when I inspected it. Now I just am noticing some moldy parts and I was wondering if there’s any way to save it? Or would I just need to remove the bark and purchase a new one?
 

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vancwa

Arachnobaron
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Oct 3, 2011
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410
Toss it. Cork Bark is porous. The mold will always come back. Chemicals to kill mold will also seep into the bark. You can cut off the moldy part and see what happens
 

Ultum4Spiderz

ArachnoGod
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Oct 13, 2011
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6,237
I had a moly piece of bark I removed all of it and still use it today. Mold never came back. on a different piece I had to use it on dry substrate.
I threw out my tree bark because one piece of mold wish I had not.
 

campj

Captive bread
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I've left it in some cases. Nothing bad has ever happened, just looks a little ugly.
 

Woody72

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Oct 26, 2023
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You could pour boiling water over the mouldy bits and then give it a bit of a scrub when it's cooled down.
 

Introvertebrate

Arachnoprince
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Dec 18, 2010
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Wait, you mean store bought wood gets moldy too? I might as well just walk through the woods and get some.
 

Wolfram1

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if you let the mold grow it will eventually eat up all the sugars left in the cork and peter out, i honestly don't even see anything i would worry about in any of the pictures you posted

...
most bark will go through a cycle of molding, especially if it was bone dry and later comes into contact with moisture/higher humidity

the spores present instantly bloom into mold, but die-back again for lack of nutrients after a while

that is normal and to be expected
...
 

cold blood

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You could pour boiling water over the mouldy bits and then give it a bit of a scrub when it's cooled down.
worst thing you could ever do...as its porus, this will only lead to the wood soaking up the water and becoming even more susceptible to molds.

Get sandpaper, rub the area with the mold off with it.....but keep the wood dry no matter what you do.
 

Sugarpill

Arachnosquire
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Oct 26, 2023
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You could also perhaps try using hardwoods that don’t mold, such as driftwood and the like if you get tired of replacing cork wood pieces, some of my favorite enclosures have centerpieces that were slightly more expensive, but totally worth it! ;)
 

ZombieGos

Arachnopeon
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Nov 7, 2020
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1
I reuse my cork bark, over the years I've tried many different things to clean and sanitize my used cork. I settled on a prosses that has word well for me and is nontoxic or harmful. I soak the cork bark in a 10:1 mix of water and white vinegar 10 parts water one-part white vinegar. I let it soak 10 min to an hour no harm in how long it soaks I've left it in overnight once or twice with no problem. Then rinse it under running hot water and scrub it with a scrub brush and let dry. I'm still using cork i baught 4 plus years ago.
 
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