Mold Experts: Save my aquarium!

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MidnightPyro

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Jun 21, 2005
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There's some weird unidentified substance growing on the ceiling in the basement above my tanks. Parents are blaming me for toxic mold and threatening to force me to sell my stuff. That would make me a sad panda, so I need your help.

Any mold experts out there? Can anyone ID this stuff or recommend the proper course of action?

mold1.jpg


mold2.jpg


(Sorry about the crappy lighting and the lense flare. The camera was screaming at me about everything shooting right up at ceiling lights...)
 
Can't id it beyond the fact that it's a mold. Proper courses of action would be ventilation or a dehumidifier.
 
Wearing a dust mask, and eye goggles - not glasses - clean it up when they aren't around, using a bleach solution.
Follow the directions on the bottle of bleach.

Purchase a glass top for the tank and cut the plastic part to fit as snugly as you can.
Make sure you have an air stone inside the tank, since you will be cutting off the surface from air exchange.
 
I think a dehumidifier is a great solution. Along with cleaning up what mold there is, in a safe manner as described above. You might be able to find other online sources that give other ways on how to get rid of mold - this probably isn't the best place. But a dehumidifier, if the right size, could do wonders in preventing future damage.
 
Basements are not something I'm familiar with, having almost all of my life in Florida, but the times I have visited people's (in New England and Pennsylvania) they always had a dehumidifier going. Unless your basement is really fancy and finished, it's probably prone to the moist, dark conditions that mold loves. Do your best to cover your tank, and clean the mold with a bleach solution, but definitely suggest a dehumidifier...your tanks are probably not causing this situation.
 
you're not the cause of mold... you just helped to make the conditions it's growing in a little better so the colonies grew big enough to see. mold is everywhere... all the time... sometimes it's dense enough in the air to see it... like on high pollen count days, when your eyes itch and you swear you see things floating in the air... that's pollen... mold can be similar... especially when it's life is threatened... but the particles are finer

SubRosa said:
Can't id it beyond the fact that it's a mold. Proper courses of action would be ventilation or a dehumidifier.
Click to expand...
absolute necessities!

dbosman said:
Wearing a dust mask, and eye goggles - not glasses - clean it up when they aren't around, using a bleach solution.
Follow the directions on the bottle of bleach.

Purchase a glass top for the tank and cut the plastic part to fit as snugly as you can.
Make sure you have an air stone inside the tank, since you will be cutting off the surface from air exchange.
Click to expand...
the plastic doesn't have to be too snug. gas exchange should happen sufficiently without the air stone that way and it'll still reduce the humidity of the gases passing through by form of evaporation collection (condensation) on the glass. if you stuff that puppy up and add an air stone, the air coming out will be well over 100% humidity. probably higher RH (relative humidity) with higher volume (thus less space to condensate and lower rh during gas exchange due to the surface being already soaked). this could quite possibly be counter productive and will definitely increase your evaporation rate.

what i would do....

air movement along those rafters... and/or exchange in/out of that room
close that top in ~95% (no air flow here)
bleach/hepa vac (you can rent good ones at tool rental places like sunbelt rentals with the proper hepa filter.... your average dyson/kirby just isn't going to cut it) (vac first if you're going to)
irq or another industrial mold specific primer to encapsulate what's there and retard/stop growth (make sure the wood is completely dry before this step so it soaks the primer up and doesn't lock in moisture... about 2 days with constant air movement after you think it's dry should be fine [i've tested this theory with legit moiture meters, moisture probes, etc. ... air movers and fans alike...])
once the primer (MOLD SPECIFIC!!!) is dry, you can re-paint the rafters/joists

for definite identification you'd have to send samples to a lab... you can get home/mail in kits at any hardware/home improvement store

keep in mind, a dehumidifier may not be what you're looking for in a room with your fish tank... since that seems to be pretty much contained to a small area, it's very possible the R/H in the room isn't very high... just above the tank is... you can pick up a hygrometer, hygrometer/thermometer, digital weather station just about anywhere nowadays and that would tell you whether it's the entire room that needs lowering (in which case i'd use a dehu) or if it's just above the tank (just hang a small fan from the ceiling blowing up between the rafters where it's affected)... all you'd have to do is walk around the room and take readings in different areas... above tank... 3' away from tank... 6' away from tank... if you're above 50%-60% rh throughout the room on your average day... you probably need a dehu... comfy range for humans is ~40%-60%... just be sure to let the meter settle on a number for a few minutes before you move to a new location for testing.

if it gets dusty in there while you're cleaning up... open windows... blow fans out... seal any openings to the rest of the house (doors/vents/gaps/etc.)... get out of there... and don't go back in without a PROPER respirator (any janitorial supply house will have them with changeable inserts) and goggles... if it still gets dusty during cleanup with all that precaution... rent yourself an air scrubber

i don't think your case is one that would obviously necessitate the rental equipment... but the others like bleach/PROPER primer/dry rafters/ventilation/circulation/direct air movement... are absolute necessities in my opinion... and i wont even try to identify your mold to know if it's something serious... so take whatever precautions you can and/or see fit accordingly.
 
This is only a little bit relevant, but I just want to say that I lived in a house that was flooded (twice!) in Miami, chock full of mold...like, so much mold that when the house was finally gutted, there were black shadows on the Sheetrock in the shape of the built in bookshelves. When my coworker gave me a ride home one day, later on she said she could smell the mold coming out of my air conditioning unit!

I lived through it, and consider myself a healthy person. I did get sick more often, felt lethargic, depressed and tired (like chronic fatigue syndrome) and I am allergic to mold now - it makes me dizzy and faint with a lingering headache afterward. Strangely, just before I smell it, my heart starts pounding and I get a burst of adrenaline - fight or flight response, I guess? Bread mold doesn't, but moldy papers and people who live in moldy trailers and such do.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that mold DOES need to be taken seriously, addressed and carefully managed...I lived with it for years and didn't notice how much it bothered me until I got out of that living situation.

I really don't think you need any special rental equipment, but you do need to dry the area, clean it with bleach...and painting over it with mold specific primer is a great idea. Don't let it go, it will only get worse...take it from me!
 
platytudes said:
This is only a little bit relevant, but I just want to say that I lived in a house that was flooded (twice!) in Miami, chock full of mold...like, so much mold that when the house was finally gutted, there were black shadows on the Sheetrock in the shape of the built in bookshelves. When my coworker gave me a ride home one day, later on she said she could smell the mold coming out of my air conditioning unit!

I lived through it, and consider myself a healthy person. I did get sick more often, felt lethargic, depressed and tired (like chronic fatigue syndrome) and I am allergic to mold now - it makes me dizzy and faint with a lingering headache afterward. Strangely, just before I smell it, my heart starts pounding and I get a burst of adrenaline - fight or flight response, I guess? Bread mold doesn't, but moldy papers and people who live in moldy trailers and such do.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that mold DOES need to be taken seriously, addressed and carefully managed...I lived with it for years and didn't notice how much it bothered me until I got out of that living situation.

I really don't think you need any special rental equipment, but you do need to dry the area, clean it with bleach...and painting over it with mold specific primer is a great idea. Don't let it go, it will only get worse...take it from me!
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absolutely!!!

heightened awareness/sensitivity/asthma and symptoms are well known side effects to mold exposure. you'll never see that mentioned in conjunction with the more serious effects of mold though for some reason. what you would find, however, if you search long/hard enough is mention of these possibilities on one page (be it web, book, pamphlet, whatever)... and on totally separate pages you'll find mention of sickness including respiratory and heart problems, aspergilosis, symptomatic parallels to black lung and/or emphysema (symptoms similar to and possibly as deadly as what coal miners went through), etc., etc., etc. with mention that they're highly unlikely unless the victim is ultra sensitive or has prior issues including, but not limited to asthma, allergies, respiratory issues, compromised immune system (all of which mold itself can also cause). then there's the mention of mold being anywhere and everywhere at all times throughout the air. then there's the description of a typical comfy home where mold will grow and prosper.... which happens to describe the cavities behind just about every wall in every house built in the U.S..

basically... mold can cause the issues that make a person highly susceptible to the symptoms/illnesses it can cause that are very serious. i find it ironic that even the epa doesn't seem to correlate the 2 on their site, yet they do have them both documented in separate areas and on separate pages on their web site. what that tells me is it's probably best to take care of any mold situations before you get a case of itchy throat, etc., etc. to keep yourself from being compromised and susceptible... as platytudes has lightly indicated she already is... due to mold itself.

the facts still remain that we do deal with it every day and get by just fine... without lower life forms our planet would have never matured enough for us to live here... etc., etc., ... so there's no reason to be paranoid... just by getting rid of it and preventing it from coming back, a person would be virtually eliminating any possibilities of serious and/or chronic illness. acute symptoms typically last no longer than a week or two after remediation in many cases as well... although the effects wear off slowly like being weaned off of a drug and heightened awareness is likely still... short bursts of anxiety are commonly associated at later exposure times as well due to heightened awareness. it happens, unfortunately.

so, yeah... that's called heightened awareness and sensitivity in "the industry"... and is very real and common. it's due to exposure and suggests that further exposure might just have dire consequences. take it easy and be careful, platy. thanks for chiming in, too. you bring up some very relevant points that should never be overlooked!

just FYI... this is coming from a certified fire and water restoration technician/foreman/job coordinator with years of experience in mold remediation... if you feel the need to consider the source.
 
Is it only on the floor joists and not on the underside of the floor above? If so it was probably in the wood joists when the house was built.

Had to tell from the pic, but that looks to be bright green, almost a lichen, not a mold.

Lots of good suggestions above.
Airflow will definitely help, as will reducing evaporation by covering tanks.
Many houses are way too dry in the winter, so if you can channel that humidity throughout the house it's actually a benefit!
 
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