Mold or Fungus or What?

[leica M2 fan]

Several days ago I chronicled steps I took to "remove" fungus from a beautiful Tele-Elmarit 90 I've had for over 25 years. I was thrilled that the dreaded inclusions in my lens were GONE. A few days later while looking at my Canon 50 1.4 50 I noticed these same gremlins on this lens! What Up Here? I carefully cleaned the lens and they were gone. Was this coincidence? I then went on-line and viewed pictures of actual mold and fungus on lenses and happily realized what I had seen was not, in fact, fungus or mold at all.These anomalies were just simple everyday dust on the outer surfaces that had formed on the glass. A simple cleaning took care of the problem.I guess that I have to agree with a poster that the dreaded T-E disease is irreversible.

 

[x-ray]

Mold requires specific conditions to grow. Food and moisture and generally they like the dark. Mold spores are everywhere and they can't be avoided. It's most likely you are storimg them in a moist dark place. Keep them in a dry place and mold won't grow. Use a desecant or dehumifier and you won't have any more problems. Dry air must be able to circulate around them.