Roach Colony: Pervasive White Fungus

[EntoSpazz]

I have a series of starter roach colonies. All 5 of them have this same white, fluffy fungus with little black spores. It started small, with a smidge of fungus on their food. After a few weeks of me replacing the food and removing all traces of fungus, it returns the next day, worse than before.

I took extra measures and bought brand new soil and egg cartons (both sterilized and such) and bleached the new containers well before putting the roaches in. I brushed every speck of dirt off of every single roach before transferring. I also ordered mesh screening to allow for ventilation, though it hasn't arrived in the mail yet.

Day two of being in the new bins and the fungus is back, worse than I've ever seen it.

I want to know, is this stuff dangerous for me? My cats? What about if it spreads to my T's enclosures? I already see signs of it in my G.pulchra habitat. Will it hurt my roach colonies?

What extra measures do I need to take to finally be rid of this annoying fungus????

Please help me!

 

[omni]

you might want to skip using substrate, or maybe oven cure it for 10 mins @ 300 would kill of anything in that. I think thats a food mold and the spores are in the air. I don't leave fruits in the tubs more than a day, and usually only give them a little so none is wasted. mostly I feed dry dog chow and cereal. I keep lateralis, not too humid and maybe a little cooler (72-75) than most people do bcs I don;t want them overpopulating.
hope you can solve it!

 

[pannaking22]

What roach species do you have? There might be some you can keep dry without substrate. It won't completely solve the problem, but it'll get things moving in the right direction. I tend to see that type of mold from fruit, but I've never had it take off like that before. Unfortunately, short of starting over (including with the roaches) it's going to be really hard to completely get rid of it. The spores will be on the roaches as well and they'll carry it with them whenever transferred. You may be able to get some off with a quick dip in water, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it. Drying things out should help quite a bit with this.

 

[EntoSpazz]

What roach species do you have? There might be some you can keep dry without substrate. It won't completely solve the problem, but it'll get things moving in the right direction. I tend to see that type of mold from fruit, but I've never had it take off like that before. Unfortunately, short of starting over (including with the roaches) it's going to be really hard to completely get rid of it. The spores will be on the roaches as well and they'll carry it with them whenever transferred. You may be able to get some off with a quick dip in water, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it. Drying things out should help quite a bit with this.

I've got orange heads, lobsters, hissers, chrome (porcelain ghosts), and dubias. I didn't initially have substrate, but my roaches would stuck upside down and die overnight in every single container. I put substrate in after 3 days of them dying. It fixed the problem, only to be replaced by a new one. Good news is my mesh screening arrived early today.

 

[EntoSpazz]

you might want to skip using substrate, or maybe oven cure it for 10 mins @ 300 would kill of anything in that. I think thats a food mold and the spores are in the air. I don't leave fruits in the tubs more than a day, and usually only give them a little so none is wasted. mostly I feed dry dog chow and cereal. I keep lateralis, not too humid and maybe a little cooler (72-75) than most people do bcs I don;t want them overpopulating.
hope you can solve it!

Okay, I will try baking the soil again. I got my mesh screening in early today, so I will add that and see if I can get a little ventilation going too. The moisture is trapped in that plastic bin and while some of my roaches like it, I think it will cut down on that fungus. Thanks for your suggestions

 

[Nickz123]

Baking the substrate will do very little. That just provides the fungus a “sterile” surface to grow more. Adding ventilation will help a lot, don’t let the food sit directly on the moist substrate. You should consider adding springtails your your colonies, they will munch that right up.

 

[pannaking22]

I've got orange heads, lobsters, hissers, chrome (porcelain ghosts), and dubias. I didn't initially have substrate, but my roaches would stuck upside down and die overnight in every single container. I put substrate in after 3 days of them dying. It fixed the problem, only to be replaced by a new one. Good news is my mesh screening arrived early today.

All but the chromes can be kept pretty dry. As long as there's stuff for them to grab onto if they get flipped they should right themselves. But I'd say try the screening first and see what happens. Agreed with adding springtails as well.

 

[EntoSpazz]

Baking the substrate will do very little. That just provides the fungus a “sterile” surface to grow more. Adding ventilation will help a lot, don’t let the food sit directly on the moist substrate. You should consider adding springtails your your colonies, they will munch that right up.

Alrighty. Looks like I'll be getting some springtails and applying that mesh today. Do y'all know a place that I can find springtails with no furculum? I don't need springtails escaping. The bins are quite shallow and they would jump away. I can always go outside and find some since I have an aspirator, but that seems a bit tedious.

Also, would isopods to the same job? I think I remember seeing somewhere that they would, but I can't recall the specifics.

 

[Nickz123]

Isopods eat decaying organic matter not mold. Springtails will stay close to the substrate where there is moisture and won’t venture too far from it so they wont be climbing up the walls or escaping. Good luck!!

 

[EntoSpazz]

Isopods eat decaying organic matter not mold. Springtails will stay close to the substrate where there is moisture and won’t venture too far from it so they wont be climbing up the walls or escaping. Good luck!!

Ahhh, I see now. Well, thank you for all of this useful information!