Welcome to the Shroomery Message Board! You are experiencing a small sample of what the site has to offer. Please login or register to post messages and view our exclusive members-only content. You'll gain access to additional forums, file attachments, board customizations, encrypted private messages, and much more!
|
 RigVedaLXVII.Soma
Bacteri/Phyc/Bry/Myc/ology
Registered: 11/21/11
Posts: 380
Loc: Michigan
|
 How to Safely Study Mold? 
#15744985 - 01/31/12 09:13 PM (3 months, 26 days ago) |
|
|
Hello everyone,
I really hate having two threads on the same page, and I try to post as little as possible. Sorry bout that.
But I am in need of a little advice.
How should one go about collecting, and studying mold under the microscope for possible taxonomic identification.
Most of my life I have been quite fond of Mushrooms, Boletes, and Myxomycetes, etc. But even though I have a love of fungi, Mold has always been kind of an almost Mysophobic, hypochondriac induced fear of mine. I can really mentally panic sometimes when I am in an enclosed space flourished with mold, or around moldy food, or even cleaning contaminated grain jars. I cringe at the site of someone poorly handling an old moldy object to throw it away, in an open container just whooshing it around the air. Just thinking about all those millions of spores just stirred up into the contained air, as if they were inoculating their house.
The reason I think like this, I think sprung mainly from seeing a video of a man who's sinuses were home to a colony of Mucor, who had to have 75% of his face removed.. And Memories of falling through my friends, winter melted, soggy, "cardboard" walls of his trailer, into a containment of more black mold than one can imagine.. And just my lack of knowledge on mold all together.
Now, are you supposed to take very very specific contained, sterile, procedures for collection and microscopy of mold?
Could someone safely, at home, do this? Or does studying mold call for a more professional, safer environment.
I am just looking to be able to hopefully, properly collect mold, and prepare slides, for microphotographs and possible identification.
Thanks guys. Hope I can, in turn, learn more about mold and understand, to what degree, I should actually worry about mold exposure. 
--------------------
     "While clinging to the moronic belief that they constitute a "counterculture," they share our society's overriding urge for expediency. They make no attempt to learn about the organisms they eat and it always struck me as ironic that people with such a low level of consciousness should be seeking "higher consciousness." -David Arora
"Man is placed in the middle between two infinities - the infinitely great and the infinitely little - both of which are equally incomprehensible to him." -Pascal
MyPostImage Gallery Trade ListSpores I Am Looking For Seeds I am Looking For Solanaceae, Amanitaceae
|
 BargainBab
Hey Dere Ho Dere
Registered: 04/04/11
Posts: 977
Loc: Callisto
Last seen: 2 hours, 5 minutes
|
|
You can safely work with molds that can be harmful, and do the agar work to isolate those molds in a controlled environment. But you definitely shouldn't do it in your home. Even if you're careful and methodical you wouldn't want to chance it getting into your house.
Alternatively, you can get spores on premade slides and such, often for free. They also sell boxes of slides of molds and spores at science supply shops on the net. Plenty of universities or private researchers would gladly give or trade you spores and cultures. Good luck on your studies brother 
--------------------
Oh wow, GOOD Nyborg!
|
RigVedaLXVII.Soma
Bacteri/Phyc/Bry/Myc/ology
Registered: 11/21/11
Posts: 380
Loc: Michigan
|
 Re: How to Safely Study Mold? [Re: BargainBab]
#15745175 - 01/31/12 09:57 PM (3 months, 26 days ago) |
|
|
Thanks a lot, I appreciate the comment.
So I could not safely scrape sections of mold that may already be occurring somewhere with forceps, and place a small amount on glycerine on a microscope slide, and pop a cover slip on it? Would even this small amount, be too hard to contain?
--------------------
"While clinging to the moronic belief that they constitute a "counterculture," they share our society's overriding urge for expediency. They make no attempt to learn about the organisms they eat and it always struck me as ironic that people with such a low level of consciousness should be seeking "higher consciousness." -David Arora
"Man is placed in the middle between two infinities - the infinitely great and the infinitely little - both of which are equally incomprehensible to him." -Pascal
MyPostImage Gallery Trade ListSpores I Am Looking For Seeds I am Looking For Solanaceae, Amanitaceae
|
total
Post Office Tyvek Advocator
Registered: 10/03/04
Posts: 8,353
|
|
I've taken field samples for my microscopic purposes...
If you want to see something under your microscope, by all means plate it up!
I wouldnt go to any lengthy trouble to get some mycelium on a slide...
|
RigVedaLXVII.Soma
Bacteri/Phyc/Bry/Myc/ology
Registered: 11/21/11
Posts: 380
Loc: Michigan
|
Re: How to Safely Study Mold? [Re: total]
#15745285 - 01/31/12 10:30 PM (3 months, 26 days ago) |
|
|
Awesome. That is really great to hear.
Are there any precautions that should be taken?
--------------------
"While clinging to the moronic belief that they constitute a "counterculture," they share our society's overriding urge for expediency. They make no attempt to learn about the organisms they eat and it always struck me as ironic that people with such a low level of consciousness should be seeking "higher consciousness." -David Arora
"Man is placed in the middle between two infinities - the infinitely great and the infinitely little - both of which are equally incomprehensible to him." -Pascal
MyPostImage Gallery Trade ListSpores I Am Looking For Seeds I am Looking For Solanaceae, Amanitaceae
|
BargainBab
Hey Dere Ho Dere
Registered: 04/04/11
Posts: 977
Loc: Callisto
Last seen: 2 hours, 5 minutes
|
|
I'm not saying not to take samples from outside lol, just not to work with it in your house, I think I misunderstood a bit. I've taken a few slides from mushrooms in the forest by my house too lol, no problems.
--------------------
Oh wow, GOOD Nyborg!
|
RigVedaLXVII.Soma
Bacteri/Phyc/Bry/Myc/ology
Registered: 11/21/11
Posts: 380
Loc: Michigan
|
|
Such a beautiful world, I nearly missed..
How would you go about determining phlyum? I don't seem to notice any Asci. Does it have to be fully enclosed as a ball shape, to be a Zygomycete? Maybe its a Deuteromycete..?
What looks like an Immature fruit to me. between the ugly bubbles..
Mold Spore Hell! This literally goes on at this magnification, probably for 10 more images, side to side.
Anyone know what this may be?
250x Magnification
Sorry don't have the measurements right now.
1000x Magnification
100x Magnification
Iodine staining was my first assumption to possibly show presence of Basidia or Asci, but Iodine showed nothing different than the unstained.
What I assume to be Hyphae?
Check out this beautiful branching, seems like this is where all the fruiting bodies connect, and the hyphae seems to be connected on the right, center.
Ill see what I can do about Identification. Mold seems to be a bitch to get a good resource on.
I sealed the slide off on all edges of the cover slip with clear nail polish, for a permanent slide, so I can go back later once I know what to truly look for.
--------------------
"While clinging to the moronic belief that they constitute a "counterculture," they share our society's overriding urge for expediency. They make no attempt to learn about the organisms they eat and it always struck me as ironic that people with such a low level of consciousness should be seeking "higher consciousness." -David Arora
"Man is placed in the middle between two infinities - the infinitely great and the infinitely little - both of which are equally incomprehensible to him." -Pascal
MyPostImage Gallery Trade ListSpores I Am Looking For Seeds I am Looking For Solanaceae, Amanitaceae
| |
|
|
You cannot start new topics / You cannot reply to topics
HTML is disabled / BBCode is enabled
Moderator: Prisoner#1, RogerRabbit, EvilMushroom666
179 topic views. 2 members, 5 guests and 0 web crawlers are browsing this forum.
[ Toggle Favorite | Print Topic ]
| | |
|
|
|
Previous
Index
Next
Threaded
Edit 
Reply 
)
