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<p>Dear Indah,</p>
<p>Thanks for presenting this very interesting alterations. Are you
certain that you are dealing with mold here? As already suggested,
this two different alterations seem to be more of an efflorescence
of some kind. The questions from John are indeed very helpful in
trying to find out the cause. </p>
<p>But, is it really necessary to remove the residues? For the
specimen, it might be better to keep them on until you are sure
that they need to go away, specially if you don't know what they
exactly are. From the pictures I can't really detect an
deterioration of the soft tissue, it seems to be more of an
esthetic problem. </p>
<p>And just from a conservation point of view: Its not really
recommended to wash specimens with water if they are kept in
ethanol, because it could damage the soft tissue due to osmotic
shock. Besides you don't know how the efflorescence will react to
water. And please don't use detergent either, you don't know what
additive you might be adhering to the tissue and fluid, and adding
surfactants to your mixture could cause a bigger issue as well. <br>
If the alteration has to be removed because of an esthetic reason,
you might first try to take a small sample of it and see how it
react in different a different medium.</p>
<p>And please send more pictures to the community if you find other
interesting cases. Thanks!</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>All the best,</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Am 22.08.25 um 16:15 schrieb John E
Simmons:<br>
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<div
style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"
class="gmail_default">I agree with Dirk, but I would add
that it is also possible that some of the stuff could be an
efflorescence due to anexcess of salts used to buffer the
fixative (I have seen this happen when a formaldehyde
fixative is buffered with an excess of borax and a few other
buffers). </div>
<div
style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"
class="gmail_default"><br>
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<div
style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"
class="gmail_default">Following Dirk's recommendations
should clear up the problem. Do be very careful if you need
to brush away the white stuff so that you do not damage the
skin of the specimen.</div>
<div
style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"
class="gmail_default"><br>
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<div
style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"
class="gmail_default">Thank you for sending these excellent
photos, they are much better than the photos most us post of
our problem specimens.\</div>
<div
style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"
class="gmail_default"><br>
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<div
style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"
class="gmail_default">You mentioned that you were new to the
collection so you don't know the history of the specimen,
but I do have a few questions that might help better
diagnose the problem: </div>
<div
style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"
class="gmail_default">1-Do you know how long it has been in
the collection? </div>
<div
style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"
class="gmail_default">2-Is denatured ethanol used in the
collection?</div>
<div
style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"
class="gmail_default">3-Is the alcohol diluted with tap
water?</div>
<div
style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"
class="gmail_default"><br>
</div>
<div
style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"
class="gmail_default">Thanks,</div>
<div
style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"
class="gmail_default">John</div>
<div
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class="gmail_default"><br>
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<div dir="ltr"><font
size="2"><span
style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">John E. Simmons<br>
Writer and Museum
Consultant</span></font></div>
<div dir="ltr"><font
size="2"><span
style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">Museologica<br>
<i>and</i><br>
Investigador
Asociado,
Departamento de
Ornitologia<br>
Museo de Historia
Natural,
Universidad
Nacional Mayor de
San Marcos, Lima</span></font><br>
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<div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, Aug 22, 2025 at
8:44 AM Indah Huegele <<a
href="mailto:indahhuegele@isu.edu" moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">indahhuegele@isu.edu</a>>
wrote:<br>
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style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
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<div>Hello everyone,</div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">I was wondering if I could get feedback on
some scary-looking growths on a few herpetology
specimens in our collection (photos attached here). Any
thoughts on what these residues are and/or advice on how
to treat them would be much appreciated!</div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto"><b>Orange-brown bumps.<i> </i></b><i>(images
143927 and 143900) </i>There are small, orange-brown,
round bumps on one specimen that has had its tail
exposed from fluid levels that are too low. I completely
replaced the ethanol for this specimen and tried to
gently scrape off the growth, but most of it was quite
dried on, so I left it soaking in fresh 70% ethanol for
the time being. Is this definitely fungal? Should I try
to scrape the rest of the growth off the specimen's tail
or leave it alone?</div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto"><b>White layer of residue.</b> <i>(all
other images) </i>On a few salamander specimens,
there is this opaque, white layer of residue. This is
occurring on salamander specimens that are completely
submerged in ethanol. (However, I am not sure what the
concentration of this ethanol is or the last time that
it was changed out; I worry it might have lost ethanol
concentration over time.) Any thoughts on what this
might be and how to treat it? </div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">I took over this collection a few months
ago, so I am still discovering issues with specimens. I
appreciate any suggestions that you folks have to offer
on how to help these poor specimens!</div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">Thanks,</div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">Indah</div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
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<p
style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:1rem;color:black;font-family:Roboto;font-size:12px"><span
style="font-size:14px;font-weight:bold">Indah B.
Huegele, PhD<br>
</span>Life Sciences Collection Manager | Idaho
Museum of Natural History</p>
<p
style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:1rem;color:black;font-family:Roboto;font-size:12px">Museum
Bldg | Room 220<br>
921 S 8th Ave, Stop 8096 | Pocatello, Idaho 83209<br>
(208) 282-2815 | <a
href="mailto:indahhuegele@isu.edu" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">indahhuegele@isu.edu</a></p>
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