Slime Mold

[connorlindeman]

How many of you have had slime mold show up in your tank?
Its apparently pretty rare, but I have encountered it three times in the last two years.
I've heard its the result of excellent water quality, but not sure of the truth in that.
Had one show up in the new Walstad overnight.

 

[MattW]

I've only ever seen this on Reddit/YT before. It would be interesting to see how long it lasts or grows.

 

[connorlindeman]

I've only ever seen this on Reddit/YT before. It would be interesting to see how long it lasts or grows.

I'm not going to touch it. We'll see how long it lasts. I have heard some say it travels around the glass.

 

[MattW]

It's not as cool as the slime mold but I have had this in my tank for a long time now. It seems I have a mixture of bad bacteria? Cyanobacteria and Detrius battling over substrate real estate I cant begin to think what it smells like

 

[connorlindeman]

I've had that in my 20g tall. Usually see that in dirted tanks. Looks like the kind of stuff that would start the next pandemic

 

[GaryE]

I've had mold like that show up a few times. I had one patch that became stable for months, unchanging. I left it to see what it would do, but it sat there until one day, it vanished.

When I was a kid I had it in a tank, and a store guy told me it was hydra. It never developed stingers, a good thing in retrospect.

 

[Rusty_Shackleford]

I see slime mold all the time in my dart frog vivariums. It's always yellow. I've never seen slime mold underwater. It is fun to watch though. It's like playing Where's Waldo.

 

[Uberhoust]

Had it once originating from a piece of wood. Lasted about 2 weeks, went away and has never returned. Did not hurt the tank or residents in any way that I could tell.

 

[gwand]

Slime mold are amazing. Slime molds can navigate mazes, finding the most efficient routes to food sources. They can anticipate and prepare for future events, such as the drying out of their environment. They exhibit surprising intelligence and complexity despite their simple structure.

 

[connorlindeman]

Well folks, that didn't last long. By the time I went to bed last night it was gone without a trace.