Weird (presumably fungi) thing growing underground in dwarf white isopod enclosure ID

jack90274

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Jul 4, 2017
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Hello,

Due to quarantine, I have started to look at my isopod set ups again. My dwarf white isopods have a steady colony of about 200-300 (a guess) isopods in a large Lee’s critter keeper which I have sealed all of the air slits to prevent fungus gnats from getting in and to prevent moisture from escaping. I have a macro camera and I was looking around in the soil when I found what looked like roots going side to side in the enclosure. I am absolutely baffled to what they might be, since I haven’t introduced microbial spores or plants intentionally. They aren’t roots because there is nothing above the surface. Whatever this may be, it seems to be completely subterranean. If anyone could identify this, that would be awesome. Also there is a little white bug that at first appeared to be a spring tail, but upon further inspection was indeed not a springtail and I haven’t been able to identify it as of now. If anyone could help with that, that would be awesome too!

image.jpg
I wish I could show a scale of this, but to give you an idea, what appears to be little rocks are actually pieces of extremely fine grain sand, mixed into the substrate.
image.jpg
i cannot properly explain how incredibly microscopic this animal is. It is way beyond what the human eye can see, so I imagine that there are thousands of them in the substrate. If anyone can identify them, that would be awesome, as they are mind-numbingly small. Again, what appears to be a large rock underneath this interesting little invertebrate is indeed a single grit of sand. This animal is so So so small.

thanks
-Jack
 

moricollins

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The mold/fungi will be fine :)

The "bug" looks like a springtail to me
 

Gurantula

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...I have a macro camera and I was looking around in the soil when I found what looked like roots going side to side in the enclosure. I am absolutely baffled to what they might be, since I haven’t introduced microbial spores or plants intentionally. They aren’t roots because there is nothing above the surface. Whatever this may be, it seems to be completely subterranean. If anyone could identify this, that would be awesome.
I would be super impressed if someone could identify that mycelium from that view! Im not sayings it's impossible, but I would think you would need a microscopic view or a zoomed out view showing much more than that. I would definitely agree it's fungi/mycelium. By the looks of its growth pattern, probably a mold. Do you happen to know the magnification of your lens? I see 3X on the screen, but not sure if that's just the zoom for the picture.
 

jack90274

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The mold/fungi will be fine :)

The "bug" looks like a springtail to me
That’s great, but wouldn’t it be eaten by the springtails i have in there?

also the bug is about the size of a springtail’s leg. At least the ones a purchased. Are the babies this small? It wasn’t moving like a springtail either
 

moricollins

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That’s great, but wouldn’t it be eaten by the springtails i have in there?

also the bug is about the size of a springtail’s leg. At least the ones a purchased. Are the babies this small? It wasn’t moving like a springtail either
If the mold is underground then it's unlikely the springtails will get to it, they don't tend to do a lot of burrowing in my experience in

Baby springtails are really small. Almost microscopic
 

jack90274

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I would be super impressed if someone could identify that mycelium from that view! Im not sayings it's impossible, but I would think you would need a microscopic view or a zoomed out view showing much more than that. I would definitely agree it's fungi/mycelium. By the looks of its growth pattern, probably a mold. Do you happen to know the magnification of your lens? I see 3X on the screen, but not sure if that's just the zoom for the picture.
I don’t know the magnification but I can assure you that it is many many times. The 3X is the digital zoom on the screen. I could get a zoomed out picture of it if that would help?
 

Gurantula

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I don’t know the magnification but I can assure you that it is many many times. The 3X is the digital zoom on the screen. I could get a zoomed out picture of it if that would help?
If the mycelia network is expansive and you can see it with the naked-eye a zoomed out photo would help. However, I'm thinking it's pretty small due to the springtails and you had to use a macro lens to see it. If you have the time though I'd love to try to identify it.
 

jack90274

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If the mycelia network is expansive and you can see it with the naked-eye a zoomed out photo would help. However, I'm thinking it's pretty small due to the springtails and you had to use a macro lens to see it. If you have the time though I'd love to try to identify it.
I will get a zoomed out photo of it in a little bit. I have a few things to do but I’ll post it here
 

jack90274

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If the mold is underground then it's unlikely the springtails will get to it, they don't tend to do a lot of burrowing in my experience in

Baby springtails are really small. Almost microscopic
Well whatever this was, it was underground. So if springtails don’t really burrow, then what is this?
 

jack90274

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If the mycelia network is expansive and you can see it with the naked-eye a zoomed out photo would help. However, I'm thinking it's pretty small due to the springtails and you had to use a macro lens to see it. If you have the time though I'd love to try to identify it.
P7311297.JPG
P7311298.JPG
They are everywhere throughout the enclosure. They form a network similar to mycorrhizae, but there are no plants in here.
Here are some macro shots of the isopods. There are pieces of the same grain sand next to them which could help give a scale to the bug and the fungi/mold. The spongy looking material around them is actually sphagnum moss.
P7311299.JPG \
You can see how small the sand is compared to her. I also believe that she is pregnant which is cool.
P7311300.JPG
P7311301.JPG
In this photo, I believe the yellow on her underside are developing babies - correct me if I'm wrong.
P7311302.JPG
 

Gurantula

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Oh neat it looks like you got yourself some mycelial cords or rhizomorphs. Those form when the mycelium goes searching for more nutrients. This is an indication your substrate is very nutrient poor, at least for the fungus. I'll spend some time looking into what exactly you might have.
 

jack90274

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Oh neat it looks like you got yourself some mycelial cords or rhizomorphs. Those form when the mycelium goes searching for more nutrients. This is an indication your substrate is very nutrient poor, at least for the fungus. I'll spend some time looking into what exactly you might have.
Thanks, and I am not entirely surprised that the substrate is poor in nutrients. I haven't added any nutrients to the substrate because there are no plants. That's ok for the isopods right? And does it seem as though the fungus is beneficial or is it impossible to tell? One last question: Would there be some location where all of these mycelial cords come together? Like if I dug around may I find a subterranean mushroom?
 

Gurantula

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Thanks, and I am not entirely surprised that the substrate is poor in nutrients. I haven't added any nutrients to the substrate because there are no plants. That's ok for the isopods right? And does it seem as though the fungus is beneficial or is it impossible to tell? One last question: Would there be some location where all of these mycelial cords come together? Like if I dug around may I find a subterranean mushroom?
I dont know much about isopods so hopefully someone will chime in and let you know if you need to add more nutrients for them. Edit: did you mean if the fungus was okay for them? If so, I'm sure it's no problem for them.

I was under the impression springtails eat fungus so the fungus you have there may be beneficial to them. If they are not eating it though, it's just draining your substrate of nutrients.
As for your last question, you might be able to see where a lot of the cords started to form, but that's only a small portion of the total amount of mycelium. It very well could be throughout your entire substrate. You will not find a subterranean mushroom.
If I can, I'll find what species of fungus you have there, but normally without seeing a fruit (mushroom) or some sporulating body it can be impossible to tell. Bottom line though, I'm sure whatever it is, its completely fine to be there haha.
 
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jack90274

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I dont know much about isopods so hopefully someone will chime in and let you know if you need to add more nutrients for them. Edit: did you mean if the fungus was okay for them? If so, I'm sure it's no problem for them.

I was under the impression springtails eat fungus so the fungus you have there may be beneficial to them. If they are not eating it though, it's just draining your substrate of nutrients.
As for your last question, you might be able to see where a lot of the cords started to form, but that's only a small portion of the total amount of mycelium. It very well could be throughout your entire substrate. You will not find a subterranean mushroom.
If I can, I'll find what species of fungus you have there, but normally without seeing a fruit (mushroom) or some sporulating body it can be impossible to tell. Bottom line though, I'm sure whatever it is, its completely fine to be there haha.
I believe the fungus is fine for them, but I did mean about the nutrients. To counter the nutrient issue, I could feed more veggies and fruits, which they eat very slowly. Thanks for the help!
 

SamanthaMarikian

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the isopods dont really need nutrient rich soil. but all of my tubs have nutrient rich soil and I have lots of lil spores n stuff growing in there and every once in a while i see some mushrooms pop up. As long as you have rotting stuff and supplemental food when you feel its needed then you’re fine. I feed supplemental food to my colonies a lot. Just be careful with mold and old food. This has also taught me i might have a mold allergy. Last time I had a lot of mold in a colony i was sneezing a lot lol. But be careful with cross contaminating colonies with spores if you dont want the mushrooms. Most of my colonies get them now bc i’ve worked with multiple tubs open at the same time having mushrooms.
 

jack90274

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the isopods dont really need nutrient rich soil. but all of my tubs have nutrient rich soil and I have lots of lil spores n stuff growing in there and every once in a while i see some mushrooms pop up. As long as you have rotting stuff and supplemental food when you feel its needed then you’re fine. I feed supplemental food to my colonies a lot. Just be careful with mold and old food. This has also taught me i might have a mold allergy. Last time I had a lot of mold in a colony i was sneezing a lot lol. But be careful with cross contaminating colonies with spores if you dont want the mushrooms. Most of my colonies get them now bc i’ve worked with multiple tubs open at the same time having mushrooms.
Oh ok that’s good to hear thanks. I think it’s cool when the little white mushrooms pop up, they look cool but any others would be a nuisance. Thanks again.
 
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