Mold killed off a whole tank?

[Cazador]

I had a tank full of narceus americanus pedelings, and about a month ago I started noticing a fluffy white mold forming on the surface and along the sides of the tank under the surface in my tank. It's been getting worse so today I decided to gently dig around and see how it looked before the surface, and to check on the pedelings. The substrate was completely saturated with mold, and I only found two tiny pedelings alive, plus the one adult in the tank.

What could have caused such an extreme case of mold, and to spread relatively quickly? And why did it kill off the pedes so quickly, was it poisonous or made everything inedible and they starved? Has anyone had something similar?

edit: I'll post a couple of pics when I get home.

 

[Munax]

A picture would help when you get that up. What is your substrate comprised of, and how often did you mist the enclosure?

 

[Galapoheros]

Sometimes it's not as it appears, the mold might have had nothing to do with the pedes dying off, could've been something else. Just saying it's good to keep an open mind there, might solve the problem faster realizing the mold might not have been the problem. I've gotten stuck on solving a problem by assuming what looks obvious is the problem when the problem was something else, causes a person to waste time.

 

[ErinM31]

I'm so sorry for your loss! I have had several enclosures get moldy, but never had it be the cause of death for either millipedes or isopods. The mold that you describe sounds like a common type and not one of the ones that kills, although it may be indicative of the cause of death -- perhaps saturated substrate or too much added food left to decay. Or it may have nothing to do with the cause of death.

 

[mickiem]

@Cazador how are the rest of your pedelings?

 

[SDCPs]

Happenings such as this are indicative of something less-than-ideal going on with the substrate in my experience. I didn't used to use coir but have been doing so to keep the substrate "leaner" and it prevents such calamities.