Going in circles and getting nowhere fast.
Had a minor flood from a rainstorm that brought water in through a basement window. It was discovered early and the water was wet/dry vac'd up as much as possible. Then dehumidifiers and fans were brought in. It would seem to have been effective. However, I've felt a little under the weather - especially when in the basement.

Bought a mold test kid and set it in the room for 24 hours. Then sealed it in a baggy and kept it in a warm place for 72 + hours (not more than 73 hours). I've found mold. Not a lot, but found it.
View attachment 360463 View attachment 360464
Any ideas on how to find pictures with labels that specify what kind of mold the image is of? I'm still looking but keep on getting routed to the same images that say "How to identify mold". Clicking on the links does nothing useful. Some circle right back to the original page. Others are 401, page can't be loaded.

 

Hello,

Is it a type of fungi?
This page has some pictures:
https://www.livescience.com/17192-microscopic-worlds-gallery-fascinating-fungi.html
The page was found using this query:
https://www.google.nl/search?sca_es...z4MB4QrNwCegUIkAEQAA&biw=384&bih=619&dpr=2.81

Bertus

 

Thanks Bertus. I just want to find an image that is as close as possible to my photos - and to tell me what kind of mold it is. And whether it's dangerous or common. Before I start ripping out carpeting and walls I'd like to have a good idea what I'm dealing with. If it's something dangerous then I need to hire professionals to come in and remediate it. If it's not dangerous I can handle most of the work myself. No need to spend thousands of dollars to have someone cut out drywall and pull up carpeting.

 

Thanks Bertus. I just want to find an image that is as close as possible to my photos - and to tell me what kind of mold it is. And whether it's dangerous or common. Before I start ripping out carpeting and walls I'd like to have a good idea what I'm dealing with. If it's something dangerous then I need to hire professionals to come in and remediate it. If it's not dangerous I can handle most of the work myself. No need to spend thousands of dollars to have someone cut out drywall and pull up carpeting.

Could be condensation if you found it in the Bathroom, I had some issues of outside walls cold and inside warm. I installed new sheetrock and insulated.

Been good so far.


kv

 

Hard to identify by pictures. Usually requires staining and microscopic examination to determine shape and response to staining. Petri Dish Mold Identification Chart - Educational Chart Resources

However... From the article:

 

Hello,

Many hospitals and microbiological labs have an instrument called biotyper to determine bacteria and fungi:
https://www.bruker.com/en/products-...and-diagnostics/microbial-identification.html

Bertus

 

I'm at a bit of a loss. You bought a mold test kit. Didn't that kit come with some kind of means of finding out the results of the test, such as sending it in to a lab for analysis?

 

You might be onto something here:


The image displays a sample of penicillin mold growing in a petri dish, similar to the one that led to the discovery of the first antibiotic.

• The mold is a species of the Penicillium genus.
  
  
• Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928 when he observed this mold inhibited the growth of bacteria.
  
  
• This discovery revolutionized medicine and has saved millions of lives globally.
  
  
• The pale green color is characteristic of the mold's spores.

 

Going in circles and getting nowhere fast.
Had a minor flood from a rainstorm that brought water in through a basement window. It was discovered early and the water was wet/dry vac'd up as much as possible. Then dehumidifiers and fans were brought in. It would seem to have been effective. However, I've felt a little under the weather - especially when in the basement.

Bought a mold test kid and set it in the room for 24 hours. Then sealed it in a baggy and kept it in a warm place for 72 + hours (not more than 73 hours). I've found mold. Not a lot, but found it.
View attachment 360463 View attachment 360464
Any ideas on how to find pictures with labels that specify what kind of mold the image is of? I'm still looking but keep on getting routed to the same images that say "How to identify mold". Clicking on the links does nothing useful. Some circle right back to the original page. Others are 401, page can't be loaded.

Google images search?

 

Could be condensation if you found it in the Bathroom, I had some issues of outside walls cold and inside warm. I installed new sheetrock and insulated.

Been good so far.

kv

KILLivolt - good to see you. How you been?
The bathroom is where I incubated my test. Had to be kept dark and warm for 72 hours. Did that with the heated floor in the bathroom. Put it in a box and covered it with a small throw rug.

The mold test was performed in my electronics lab. It's also my music room so I spend some time in here.

 

Going in circles and getting nowhere fast.
Had a minor flood from a rainstorm that brought water in through a basement window. It was discovered early and the water was wet/dry vac'd up as much as possible. Then dehumidifiers and fans were brought in. It would seem to have been effective. However, I've felt a little under the weather - especially when in the basement.

Bought a mold test kid and set it in the room for 24 hours. Then sealed it in a baggy and kept it in a warm place for 72 + hours (not more than 73 hours). I've found mold. Not a lot, but found it.
View attachment 360463 View attachment 360464
Any ideas on how to find pictures with labels that specify what kind of mold the image is of? I'm still looking but keep on getting routed to the same images that say "How to identify mold". Clicking on the links does nothing useful. Some circle right back to the original page. Others are 401, page can't be loaded.

Spores are everywhere, just let bread age and you'll soon see (harmless) pin mold form. I wouldn't worry too much, once the source of water has gone and everything truly dries, you'll be back to normal. Everyone of us could do that same test and we'd likely see a similar growth. Its incessant damp and moisture (broken gutters and pipes that let water run down the outside walls and saturate bricks/wood) that encourages these mold colonies.

https://www.cdc.gov/mold-health/about/index.html

I had terrible asthma as a kid, we'll it only truly went away 100% when I reached my 50's. I grew up in poverty in Northern England, our old Edwardian house was damp, humidity everywhere, poor ventilation. No doubt that damp moldy house was the root cause. But if you're house is ordinarily not like that, the I wouldn't worry. Sure get it dried out as quick as possible but if you never had mold before I expect you'll be fine once the place dries.

Don't let it get like this

 

I sent it to google lens. Here is the result:

The image shows a colony of Phoma betaegrowing on a potato dextrose agar medium.

• Phoma betae is a fungus that causes leaf spot and root rot in plants, particularly beans.
• The colony exhibits a white, fluffy, and dense mycelial growth with darker gray or black areas, which are likely pycnidia (fruiting bodies).
• This specific image was taken by Lindsey du Toit at Washington State University.
• The fungus is a significant pathogen in vegetable crops.

 

• This specific image was taken by Lindsey du Toit at Washington State University.

Perhaps a pointer to overall unreliability of the result!

 

• This specific image was taken by Lindsey du Toit at Washington State University.

@Tonyr1084, is that you?

 

As @SamR has posted, it's not possible to identify a mold by visual examination. You need a micro lab including microscope, stains, biochemical testing, and ultimately DNA analysis. And with all that you may still be stumped. There are thousands of scientific papers in the literature with the organism incorrectly identified.

It's hard, at least as hard as identifying a mushroom in the field. A few may be easy to identify but most are not.

But the good news is, who cares what it's called? The path forward is the same - clean and bleach where you can and run the dehumidifier. If you suspect it's in the walls and ductwork, then the remediation efforts have to be stepped up.