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So what am I accidentally growing?

nightsky

Lover of Mountains
Whatever it is, it grows extremely fast. 3 hours ago, there was no trace of this at all. Now..., well the pics show what I found. It's only growing in this one pot, and the media isn't bad, only about 3 months old ( bark mulch/perlite). I'm hoping it isn't harmful. I'm assuming it's just a fungi that feeds on bark, but what's weird is how it popped up so suddenly! Also, I do a monthly trichoderma treatment. The pot is 6" across for scale.

2189.jpg


2188.jpg
 
Slime mold?
~Joe
 
Wow quick reply. So this is the infamous slime mold..first time I've met this life form..
 
Fruiting bodies of slime mold. I see them here in the desert after every rainstorm, or after I've done a good soaking.
 
I also vote for some kinda slime mold if it grew that fast. I personally would try to get rid of it.

I have only had slime molds twice in my tanks over the years. The first time was a type that looks like a white gorgonian sea fan, the white stayed on the glass crawling all over fora few days then shriveled up, never came back and didn't harm anything. However last summer I got a selection of mossy rocks from someone and one of them apparently was harboring a nasty grey colored sea-fan type and over night it wiped out all the plants on the ground level of one of my vivs. Ate up my ceph and a couple small orchids a mini-fern and most of the moss.
 
Looks pretty.
 
OH SEND ME SOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THat looks awesome.. Unless it is toxic of course.. THan its super awesoem!
 
Looks like some kind of Myxomycota. They're not actually true fungi, but protists. A group of amoebas will organize into the fan-like structure you have and form tower-like sporangia. Only the amoebas that are on the top of that sporangium will be able to produce spores. One thing scientists are still trying to figure out about these guys is how they decide who will sacrifice themselves to be the stalk of that structure and who will actually be able to reproduce. I can't find the videos, but if you watch them on time lapse, they actually look like they're pulsating as they grow. There are other videos of them even taking the shortest route through a maze.

Edit: They're most often saprophytic by the way, so not a great deal to worry about besides aesthetics. Here's that video. Only the beginning of it shows the slime mold. The rest is actual fungi.
<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/GScyw3ammmk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
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Oh then really send me some it is cooler than i thought!!!!!!!
 
  • #10
It ended up more than doubling in size overnight, and by the time I got home from work that day had shriveled up. It had taken over half of one of the nep leaves, but it seems to be unhurt by it. But, just earlier during watering I noticed minute patches of it in another pot..so it seems to have dispersed spores. I'm definitely going to keep my eye on it and make sure it doesn't get out of control.

I still can't believe how fast that stuff grows. Remarkable...
 
  • #11
It would be awsome if you can do a time lapse of it. Do u have a camera with a intervelometer built in? Would be an awsome thing to record. :) It does look kinda cool though. :p
 
  • #12
I made an intervelometer for my DSLR with my TI-83+. Look it up if you have one laying around and are interested. ^.^
 
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