FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

As some of you may know, I just transplanted my new carnivorous babies into a terrarium. When I came home from my trip this weekend, I noticed three tiny mushrooms growing in my terrarium. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. All I know about mushrooms is that they are a fungus, which is what worries me. So, my question for everyone who reads this is: Are mushrooms a bad thing in terrariums?

I don't see how they'd hurt anything. I think the type of fungus you need to watch for is the white cotton looking stuff.

Matt wrote:I don't see how they'd hurt anything. I think the type of fungus you need to watch for is the white cotton looking stuff.

I kind of like the mushrooms, I think they add character, I was just unsure of what they would do. The other thing that concerns me is that I didn't use sphagnum moss in my terrarium, I used Spanish moss which is basically just for decorating. It really has no important in my tank, but it keeps molding or something. I'm tempted to just throw it all out. I had no idea it was going to do this. It is a big pain.

You don't have your plants in the Spanish moss do you? It will make them sick if they are planted in it.

G'day Flesh, unless the spanish moss is hanging it will mold up and you will get plenty of that fluffy looking bad stuff that Matt was talking about. Speaking from experience with terrariums & spanish moss - I have had nothing but trouble, it gets wet, goes brown, then black & slimy then moldy! Try to get it out & look for Sphagnum moss at either your garden centre or hardware store. I bought some sphagnum moss from my local hardware store, it's often sold in 5 litre bags and used for mulching pot plants and lining hanging baskets because it holds soooo much moisture. I was lucky enough to find a bag which still had some green strands of moss in it ( it's usually white and dead here in Australia! ) and I now have more moss than I know what to do with - I even have to trim it away from my plants!

linton wrote:Speaking from experience with terrariums & spanish moss - I have had nothing but trouble, it gets wet, goes brown, then black & slimy then moldy! Try to get it out & look for Sphagnum moss at either your garden centre or hardware store.

I removed most of the Spanish moss last night while I was looking at my plants, the only problem with getting it all out is that I put it in the bottom of my tank as well. It is completely submerged in water at the moment and I haven't seen any signs of mold or anything on it. I keep a good eye on it though just in case it does start to look funny. I would have to rip my entire tank apart just to get that moss out. So I am hoping that I don't have any problems.

Matt wrote:You don't have your plants in the Spanish moss do you? It will make them sick if they are planted in it.

I was using it as decoration for my tank, but it is all in the bottom of my tank completely submerged in the water that is standing in the tank. So I guess that means I need to empty my tank and start over. My mom suggested that I just take the plants out first and then worry about the tank later. Thanks for the info, I'll start emptying my tank immediately.