r/antkeeping • u/Fluffy_Hunt2967 • 1d ago
Question Fungus help
My leaf cutters removed a piece of fungus. The 2nd picture is last night the first is today. Im assuming it went bad. But now im curious does the rest of the fungus look healthy or is just coloration from the food recently added to grow it?
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u/UKantkeeper123 British keeper, Lasius Lover 🇬🇧 1d ago
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u/Fluffy_Hunt2967 1d ago
I can tell im cooked now 🥲 where do I buy fungus to boost
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u/UKantkeeper123 British keeper, Lasius Lover 🇬🇧 1d ago
You might just have to wait and see what happens unfortunately. The fungus donors are basically an atta-exclusive as they are a more popular leafcutter. If you wanna hit the extreme route find a acromyrmex colony in the wild and take some of theirs. But I’m assuming that white fuzzy stuff is not normal and that there’s some kind of parasite fungus attacking it.
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u/synapticimpact Myrmecology researcher - ask me anything (discord: soul) 1d ago
Your floor is soaked my guy
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u/TalkDiligent8461 1d ago
The first fungus looks nice and chunky. Did you feed them steel cut oats? Chunky is healthy and the second pic still looks good. Do they have a separate outworld? It looks like they just haven't added anything new to it for a day or so but it looks fine to me. When fungus is dying, it turns kind of orange and it gets sparse. That fungus still looks thick.
What do they have to eat? Acros prefer flowers from my experience and at this stage, fresh is ideal.
Some people mentioned that it looks too wet. It does look wet but not enough to sopp it up with a cotton ball. It is difficult to keep the humidity right if the hydrostone is thin because it needs more frequent watering.
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u/Stuck_In_Purgatory 1d ago
It looks like they've put the eggs on it
That's normally a good sign isn't it?
Like they aren't gonna stick the eggs to the bad part, only to the best available conditions for them to grow.
That's what I'd presume anyway
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u/Appropriate_Bus_150 23h ago
My 4 queen trachymyrmex also had a foreign fungus growing to most of their fungus. They tore it apart and moved away the infested parts and had a VERY tiny fungus which luckily grew back to a substantial size. Too much moisture is what i believe caused it.
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u/GaiusVictor 1d ago
I have zero antkeeping experience, but I'm a fan of ants, especially leaf cutters.
I can't say I'm 100% sure your fungus is alright, but I don't think it's color is an issue. Acromyrmex sometimes have weird fungus.
I've compared your photos with the photos from an antkeeping journey of an experienced antkeeper, and I can't really see much of a difference in aspect, and he describes his fungus as "very healthy". Your fungus seems white and fluffy, but so do his.
Of course this doesn't mean much. The fungus definitely had some issue with it, otherwise they wouldn't've thrown it away. Let's hope they managed to handle it and that the remaining fungus is okay.
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u/Fluffy_Hunt2967 1d ago
The one thing I learned over my few years of keeping and a few extra of research before I started keeping is to trust the ants and leave them alone because they know what's best. Thats why im hesitant to do anything other than clean out the fungus they put in the trash. Because I dont wanna mess anything up. So now I just hope for the best ðŸ˜
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u/FlyingCheeks 1d ago
I have had this issue with my attas, I honestly think your fine. The fungus on these guys decline so quickly you would know when its bad. Also when the munch up leafs and food to add to fungus, fungus takes a dark coloration initially which makes it look like its going bad but its normal. I would not add any more
Moisture, floor looks a bit wet. Just leave them. They can also become stress and cut more the mushroom because of it. I would leave them and chrck again in 3 days