[Nhcoll-l] What do you do with failed wet lots?

[Dirk Neumann]

Hi Nate,

another option is to keep them dry and to remove the mould by cleaning / rinsing the mussels with 70% EtOH. This depends on the purpose of the collection. After dessication, the soft body will not regain the full size after rehydration.

It would be relevant to eliminate the reasons that caused the mould. If the mould was only inside the jars, the reason is obvious, i.e. loss of biocidal strength of the ethanol. If the mould is also observed on the outside, there might be other reasons as well.

If kept in a dry and stable environment, you can keep the dried-up mussels also dry, as this is a stable condition (even though not necessarily a desirable one in the first place).

Hope this helps
Dirk


Am 01.03.2023 um 18:38 schrieb Shoobs, Nate:
We’re in the final throes of an alcohol collection inventory and top-up/rehousing project of our freshwater bivalve collection (17,000 lots in 20,000+ containers), stored in cardboard trays on stationary steel warehouse shelving.

In the process of inventorying, we have been leaving desiccated lots that we find in their positions in the wet collection series, and not attempting to rehydrate them (though we do rehydrate if there is any moisture left in the container). Some of these dried out lots have mold growing on them, or the remnants of past mold growth that has since arrested, but most are bone dry. I’d like to hear what others have done in this situation.
Do you leave the lots in place in the wet series and note in the database that they are desiccated? Take them out and attempt to fit them into the dry series? Open jars and attempt to rehydrate/remediate damage?

Our dry and wet collections are stored in the same warehouse room, and space in the wet series is thankfully not an issue for the foreseeable future (we have way more space on our shelves than we have remaining in cabinets). I am unsure of what to do with the moldy specimens. The ‘clean’ dry specimens would also not easily fit in the dry collection and the dried bodies would almost certainly attract carpet beetles and other pests, as our current cabinets are not airtight.
-Nate
--
[The Ohio State University]
Nathaniel F. Shoobs
Curator of Mollusks
College of Arts & Sciences Dept. of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology
Museum of Biological Diversity, 1315 Kinnear Rd, Columbus, OH 43212
614-688-1342 (Office)
mbd.osu.edu<http://mbd.osu.edu>



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--
Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversitätswandels
Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany

Stiftung des öffentlichen Rechts;
Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Grüter (Kaufm. Geschäftsführer)
Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn
Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst
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