White mold on wood

[Ste9710]

Hi everyone, this is my first post here. I am quite new to the hobby! A month ago I set up an enclosure for a heterometrus sp., with springtails. In the last few days the wood started to mold (at least I think that's mold). The wood wasn't taken from the wild, It was bought some years ago for an aquarium and never used it. Should I worry about it? Is there a way to remove the mold without taking everything out? Ventilation is provided by a metal mesh of 30x30, which is basically the lid of the enclosure.
Thank you!!

 

[viper69]

Spores are all over, last forever too.

All you can do is dry it out, which is not so good for springtails.

I wouldn’t be concerned.

 

[Ste9710]

So I should just leave it like it is? I hope it won't get much worse! Thank you anyway

 

[The Snark]

Bake in oven at 300F for about an hour. Have a pan full of water in with it to aid penetration into the wood. Heat must penetrate one full inch into the wood.

 

[The Snark]

Addendum. This is a mold, not a fungus, and one of the principle organisms in breaking down woody material in the detritus recycling operation. As @viper69 mentioned, their spores are extremely common except in very dry areas where fallen wood may remain intact for hundreds or even thousands of years. Geologists use petrified wood to help determine the past climate in certain areas. Petrification being the end result of woody materials that nature was unable to recycle.
In order to eradicate the mycellium which produces the spores it is best to soak or even saturate the wood before baking so the heat gets conducted to all of the 'plant'. An alternative is to use a propane torch passing the flame quickly over the wood repeatedly until it comes up to the required kill temperature. Use a wire brush to remove scorched wood.

 

[Ste9710]

Thank you for the answers! I will try to soak it and then bake it. Can I do this operation without removing everything from the enclosure, or is it better to change substrate? Also can I keep the plants or should I change them? Here's a photo of the full enclosure, hope it helps.

 

[Albireo Wulfbooper]

Thank you for the answers! I will try to soak it and then bake it. Can I do this operation without removing everything from the enclosure, or is it better to change substrate? Also can I keep the plants or should I change them? Here's a photo of the full enclosure, hope it helps.

The spores will already have infected the substrate, plants, and everything else. If you really want to get rid of it you have to get rid of or sterilize everything and start fresh.

However, a bit of mould, while unsightly, is not a cause for concern. You can just scrape it off periodically if it gets too much. Even if you go to all the effort of sterilizing everything and starting fresh, there are mould spores of all kinds floating around in the air all the time, so eventually something else will take up shop.