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Post by corradocancemi on Aug 21, 2011 6:38:05 GMT -8
Hi, have you ever had problems with mold on butterflies? Last year i received a specimen with some white mold on body and in some area of the wings, but i not tried to remove the mold, i simply decided to remove the specimen "infected" from the collection... Do you know if an infected specimen is reparable? Attachments:
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Post by corradocancemi on Aug 21, 2011 6:40:12 GMT -8
Other picture
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2011 7:03:04 GMT -8
1. Brush off the mold carefully with an artist paintbrush. Do this away from your collection area, for you are actually likely to spread spores.
2. Next, take the specimen and give it one or two acetone baths. That has killed the remaining mold on the specimen for me.
3. Investigate the possible cause of the mold. Is your area of the collection too humid? Did the specimen have small amounts of mold while papered?...and so on. Failing to find the potential cause may mean repeated acetone baths/brushings etc. The easiest (and I mean this with sincerity) approach is to find the problem----at its source.
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Post by corradocancemi on Aug 21, 2011 7:20:43 GMT -8
Thanks for the answer, billgarthe, i agree with you. But do you think that acetone can also resolve the damage on the abdomen? It isn't only covered by spores, the mold has changed its yellow color in orange
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Post by lordpandarus on Aug 21, 2011 8:43:51 GMT -8
mold grows in humidity. So where your keeping your collection is too humid.
If you solve the humidity problem I don't think the mold on this specimen would "spread" to other ones.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2011 9:23:01 GMT -8
That abdomen color change is not the purpose of acetone. You may have to touch it up some. Acetone will simply kill any mold left on/in the specimen. Damage to the bug is not "acetonable".
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Post by corradocancemi on Aug 21, 2011 12:27:57 GMT -8
I have also found a specimen of Papilio thoas, preserved in a frame, which i bought 15-20 years ago. When i bought it, the specimens was perfect, now it has the abdomen orange and some orange stains in the wings, but there isn't mould. Do you know if a humid room, although there aren't spores, can damage the color of a butterfly?
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Post by lordpandarus on Aug 22, 2011 20:00:04 GMT -8
Maybe it's tiny worm like parasites. They're too small to make holes in the wings, but can damage scales and leave "dust" on the specimen
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Post by corradocancemi on Aug 23, 2011 6:45:35 GMT -8
I had not considered the possibility of parasites! When you buy a insect, the main advice the seller gives you is to keep the collection far from sources of moisture. But a room which suffers humdity problems but where there aren't mold and parasites, can really damage a specimen?
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Post by lordpandarus on Aug 23, 2011 7:46:49 GMT -8
I think a humid room by itself could only cause the wings to move from their original set position (droop). It's one of the original reasons I started to use Riker mounts
Sometimes parasites are dormant inside the specimen for a few years before they manifest.The close up of your picture is a bit out of focus (P. thoas) , but it looks like it may have been attacked by a small type of parasite (see the little specs of black on the yellow areas)
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Post by wingedwishes on Aug 24, 2011 2:41:23 GMT -8
I suggest you freeze it. This should kill active parasites. There are also chemicals available to prevent them from returning: Moth balls, cedar oil, maybe even a piece of a no pest strip or flea collar.
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Post by corradocancemi on Aug 24, 2011 3:46:05 GMT -8
Thanks for the answers  i'm actually using camfora to prevent them from returning. And do you know if a chemical process can return the original color of the abdomen of this thoas? |
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i'm actually using camfora to prevent them from returning.