[Nhcoll-l] Mold or fungal growth in herpetology collection
Fabian Neisskenwirth
info at naturhistorische-konservierung.de
Fri Aug 22 11:48:48 EDT 2025
Dear Indah,
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.
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.
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.
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.
And please send more pictures to the community if you find other
interesting cases. Thanks!
All the best,
Am 22.08.25 um 16:15 schrieb John E Simmons:
> 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).
>
> 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.
>
> Thank you for sending these excellent photos, they are much better
> than the photos most us post of our problem specimens.\
>
> 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:
> 1-Do you know how long it has been in the collection?
> 2-Is denatured ethanol used in the collection?
> 3-Is the alcohol diluted with tap water?
>
> Thanks,
> John
>
> John E. Simmons
> Writer and Museum Consultant
> Museologica
> /and/
> Investigador Asociado, Departamento de Ornitologia
> Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima
>
>
> On Fri, Aug 22, 2025 at 8:44 AM Indah Huegele <indahhuegele at isu.edu>
> wrote:
>
> Hello everyone,
>
> 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!
>
> *Orange-brown bumps.//*/(images 143927 and 143900) /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?
>
> *White layer of residue.* /(all other images) /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?
>
> 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!
>
> Thanks,
>
> Indah
>
>
> Indah B. Huegele, PhD
> Life Sciences Collection Manager | Idaho Museum of Natural History
>
> Museum Bldg | Room 220
> 921 S 8th Ave, Stop 8096 | Pocatello, Idaho 83209
> (208) 282-2815 | indahhuegele at isu.edu
>
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--
*Fabian Neisskenwirth*
Restaurator/Präparator
Waterfohrstr. 20
DE-45139 Essen
Tel: +49 (0) 1573 2778729
www.naturhistorische-konservierung.de
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