Slime confusion

[cchang]

Pardon my ignorance, but a recent post got me thinking...

How do you know the difference between slime mold, slime fungus and slime bacteria? Or are they all the same thing?

I had a paludarium going pretty well until algae and slime took over. I've cleaned the entire tank but still have traces of slime in the pots (actually on the LFS Moss) of a couple of sundews. They don't seem to be harming the seedlings as they're still growing well. Anyways, back to the question... does anybody have experience in the three? Would you treat outbreaks of the three in the same manner or differently?

 

[BigCarnivourKid]

cchang,
 Slime mold and slime fungus are the same thing.  I've only seen slime bacteria under a microscope so I am going to make the assumption that you are not likely to see it in normal circumstances without a microscope.  So what you see in your pots is probably slime mold.

The only way I can think of to get rid of slime mold is with a fungicide.  I would also increase the air circulation around the plants as molds grow best in humid stagnant air.
If it's a stuborn infestation then a complete change of soil and dipping/spraying the plants with fungicide and cleaning contaminated pots and/or terrarium with a strong Clorox solution would be my next step.

 

[dodecatheon]

I'm pretty sure that the slime that forms on the surface of the soil is a true algae, or maybe a blue-green algae (cyanobacteria). One of these days I will get my act together and check. All you'd need is a microscope and a few minutes.

If it is algae, then the odds seem good that whatever will kill it will also damage your plants.

 

[BigCarnivourKid]

dodecatheon,
I had to see if you were right about slime molds being a form of algae so I did a Google search.  According to the following link we're both wrong  

 

.

Slime Molds.

It says that Slime Molds "are basically enormous single cells with thousands of nuclei".

The world is full of strange and wonderous things!

 

 

[cchang]

I suspected Cyanobacteria for the longest time but just had to get a second opinion since a recent post...

A single celled, multi nucleus mold? Hmmmm, very interesting.

 

[Guest]

Well, slime mold tastes like pond scum. Slime fungus tastes a little more bitter, but makes the hair on your neck stand up for a couple minutes. Slime bacteria tastes great, but can put you in the hospital. So avoid it at all costs.

SERIOUSLY, I have no idea, and DO NOT taste any of this stuff!

I thought you all might want to hear of an amusing incident. While in high school, a friend and I used to grow CP in a bog we built in his back yard. His biology teacher was interested in taking a look at our bog, so we had him over one day. I will never forget this guy tasting just about everything he could. Pitcher plant juice, sundew mucilege, etc. And I always thought someone with a knowledge of biology would know better than to go around tasting stuff like that. I wonder if he saw the drowned fly floating in the pitcher plant juice while it was taking its next to last meal in a pile of dog crap. Mmmmmmmm Mmmmmmm Mmmmmmmmmm!!!!

SundewMatt

 

[Pyro]

Slime molds are a very strange lifeform, most of their life they exist as fully independent ameboid organisms then they will come together to form a communal growth that forms a sporulating body which will produce the next generation of ameboids. Most people are only familiar with the communal form which is best described as a creeping fungus. These communals are usually bright colours like yellow and red and orange. I have never heard of a green form and like Dodec I believe that the green goo growing in most of your pots is a form of algae. I an inclined to write off cyanobacteria because I believe they as halophilic and are restricted to tidal areas, however I may be wrong.

Slime bacteria is a jargon term for a biofilm which is a community of bacteria growing on a surface. These are not necessaraly homogenious and can be composed of hundreds of species. The plaque on your teeth is a biofilm. While it is possible for a biofilm to be growing in your pots one that is thick enough to see is a health hazard as the only blue/green pigment producing bacteria I can think of at the moment is Pseudomonas aeruginosa which is a nasy human pathogen

 

[dodecatheon]

I don't think that i said that slime mold was an algae. I was trying to make the point that it was probably an algae and NOT a slime mold.

As for them being halophiles, aren't cyanobacteria like Nostoc and Oscillatoria fairly common freshwater organisms? Not to mention those like Anabaena that can live symbiotically within other organisms.

Anyway, I vow to sometime this weekend take a sample of the stuff and go check it out under a microscope. Then we can stop speculating.

 

[cchang]

Thanks everybody for your input.

I think I'm gonna stick to my guns on cyanobacteria (Blue-Green Algae). It's slimey and jelly-like but is a translucent green color indicating chlorophyll (kind of like mucus). This seems to contradict the "dog vomit" discription of slime mold.

I suspect that it's growth has something to do with nitrogen and phosphate levels.

 

[Pyro]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (dodecatheon @ Feb. 12 2003,9:18)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I don't think that i said that slime mold was an algae. I was trying to make the point that it was probably an algae and NOT a slime mold.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Dodec,

You didn't say that one was the other. I was agreeing with you that it is algae

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">like Dodec I believe that the green goo growing in most of your pots is a form of algae.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

As for the cyanobacteria, it has been forever and a day since I actually read anything about them so I am very likely mistaken. I was just thinking of those mounds in tidal regions that they speculate are probably similar to the first oxygen producing lifeforms

 

[BigCarnivourKid]

Hi guys,
After rereading the above I think I'm now on the same 'wavelength' as you

. I agree that the green slime is probably a type of algae. However he made reference to slime mold and slime fungus. My first thought was of the picture someone posted a while back with slime mold growing on their VFT (I think it was a VFT). A clear/white growth that 'rapidly' move up the leave stalk.

Pyro, I'd forgotten about the biofilm aspect of slime bacteria. I am more familiar with it in the extended aeration process of wastewater treatment where it forms in clumps (flocks) as apposed to other methods such as trickle filters and RBC (rotating biological contact) units. DUH! Looks like I better hit the books hard for my class 'B' certification test this Fall.

 

[Pyro]

A clear/white mold like growth is probably just a really nasty mold like Botrytis.

Slime molds are pretty distinct:

or

And as for your wastewater biofilms, I think the only thing I can say to that is: Eewwww!

 

 

[cchang]

Mine looks absolutely nothing like the two pictures above...
Times like these I wish I had my own digital camera.

 

[BigCarnivourKid]

Well since I haven't been around trickle filters or RBC's I can't speek for them but the smell from an extended aeration basin smells like freshly turned loamy earth. Drying beds are another story

.

 

[Pyro]

Cchang,

I still vote algae for the stuff most of os are growing in our pots.

BCK,

I was more thinking of the nasty stuff in wastewater (i.e. what is brown and sounds like a bell? LOL)

 

[Darcie]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (cchang @ Feb. 13 2003,8:38)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Thanks everybody for your input.

I think I'm gonna stick to my guns on cyanobacteria (Blue-Green Algae).  It's slimey and jelly-like but is a translucent green color indicating chlorophyll (kind of like mucus).  This seems to contradict the "dog vomit" discription of slime mold.

I suspect that it's growth has something to do with nitrogen and phosphate levels.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
If that is the same as my green slime it isn't true blue-green algea, I scoped it out and it's a photosynthetic bacteria colony. Basically blue green algea without the cell wall (yes I know it's genetically different, I'm trying to keep things symple).

 

[Darcie]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (cchang @ Feb. 14 2003,02:06)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Mine looks absolutely nothing like the two pictures above...
Times like these I wish I had my own digital camera.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
If it's green, it isn't slime mold (belongs to it's own kingdom, yes we have more then 4 kingdoms now, try closter to 18, lol).

If it is GREEN and in a thin film or has a hairy look it's probubly true blue-green agea(thats a kingdom now too ). If it looks like a booger then it's probubly one of the other photosythesizing bacteria-like groups (their are 3 or 4 differnent ones, but I don't remember the details).

If it fuzzy and not green, it's a mold. If it is web-like and runs through the soil so you hardly see it on top, it's fungi, but not nessesaraly mold. If it is black and grows like little hairs it's a fungi of some sort(these are usually the parasitic ones)

If it is colorfull but not green and looks like a booger, it's slime mold (will do nothing to your plants). If it is colorfull, but is fiborious in texture it's probubuly red or brown algea(they are photosythesizers, they just don't use chlorophyll) (your not likely to find these in your pots, but I thought I'd be fair and inclued them. If it is colorfull (brownish) and sort of looks like what you get in your toilet if you forget to clean it, that's bacterial slime colonies. If in addition to this it is gritty and a pain in the butt to scrub off you pot, say hello to diatoms, the most importent ingredient in tooth paste, yum yum. LOL

And so ends our short lecture on stuff that grows in wet places. About 50% of this information comes from biology lab work I've done in classes, and 50% comes from scraping stuff out of my own pots and putting them on slides to find out what they were. To close, I would like to remind everyone that these organisms are not as resistent to sudden changes in water concentrations as out true plants and as such wither and die with the use of rubbing alcohal (proticularly good for molds and other fungi)

yes, I'm a very strange person, lol

 

[cchang]

No... not fuzzy or hairy at all.
Green booger... that's exactly what it looks like.
Like someone just sneezed and didn't bother to clean up.