HCA: Hermit Crab Association

This is the second time I've come across something like this in the tat. At first I didn't worry too much about it because I assumed a crab buried food, so it was mold growth due to the humidity. Now coming across this for a second time, I'm getting a better look at what's growing underneath my water dishes- and they look like little mushrooms. I doubt they are really harmful to the crabs- but how in the world are they even able to pop up?? Is it necessary to clean the tank? Pictures below, they look like alien sprouts of some sort




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They are mushrooms, and I get them too sometimes! Fungi are odd little beasties, so the fact they're popping up someplace warm and moist with organic food (coco fiber) is really not that unusual. Those brown ones are easy to control, just try to pick them before they fruit (umbrella). They tend to go through phases where there will be several, and then they disappear again.

Hi Wode, thanks for the reply!

Sooo, now things have appeared to have gotten worse...it looks like they are springing up everywhere in the tank now!! I can see a few through the glass, and they're growing relatively deep in the sub. There's at least 9 growing near the glass all throughout the tank. I believe I have a molter down, and I don't want to disturb her by attempting to pluck them out


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I'm sorry, I'm a little late to the party!

Yeah, this is what mushrooms do. It'll be mushpocalypse for a few weeks and you'll think your tank is under attack. I promise, it will eventually just disappear! Let that area dry a little bit, and keep pulling the fruiting bodies as they pop up. It wants to reproduce and it has to finish its job.

Springtails are your best friend when it comes to mushrooms. They go bonkers for fungi!

I wish I had pictures handy. You should have seen my toad tank last year! It was a white out of mushrooms above and below the surface. I literally did nothing, just popped them out as they popped up. Within a few weeks they stopped sprouting, and there hasn't been a single one since. I'm sure they'll be back in the future, but for now it's a happy equilibrium

wodesorel wrote:I'm sorry, I'm a little late to the party!

Yeah, this is what mushrooms do. It'll be mushpocalypse for a few weeks and you'll think your tank is under attack. I promise, it will eventually just disappear! Let that area dry a little bit, and keep pulling the fruiting bodies as they pop up. It wants to reproduce and it has to finish its job.

Springtails are your best friend when it comes to mushrooms. They go bonkers for fungi!

I wish I had pictures handy. You should have seen my toad tank last year! It was a white out of mushrooms above and below the surface. I literally did nothing, just popped them out as they popped up. Within a few weeks they stopped sprouting, and there hasn't been a single one since. I'm sure they'll be back in the future, but for now it's a happy equilibrium

Wow! Thanks for that. Since my last post, they've really started to spread. There's a few under the water dishes, too many to count alongside the glass..I'm shocked by how rapidly they spread!! It really is starting to look like a mushpocalypse. And the fact that they came out of nowhere. I won't be home for a few days, but once I come back I'll start carefully plucking away at them.

The surface layer of the sub tends to dry out a bit in my tank so I wet it a little every week to keep it the right consistency. Should I just hold back from this entirely until they all die out?


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