This Guy Let a Ton of Fungus Grow in His Shower Because It Was ‘Interesting’

This is a step up—or down?—from mold in the shower.

One Reddit user took to the community r/MoldlyInteresting to share a photo of what looked like a loofah but was actually mold that eventually produced a whole mushroom.

“It started out this sponge looking thing and I left it for a while because I was interested and wanted to see what it would look like or end up doing,” the user wrote. “It would turn into a mushroom and then eventually explode.”

“It was really interesting to watch for a while, but I’m glad I got it fixed because it’s not healthy,” the Redditor added.

The post ended up getting 16K upvotes and hundreds of comments.

“Put some moss or grass along the edges, maybe some plants above, and suddenly it’s mystical,” one person joked.

“My first apartment in college had a built-out bathroom/shower with no windows, no fans, and no ventilation,” another said. “When I moved in, there were mushrooms growing under the pedestal sink and on the corner of the shower stall.”

“First pic I was like ‘woah, they either don’t shower or they left for a month, there’s a mushroom growing out of their loofah’ and then I realized it wasn’t a loofah,” a different user wrote.

In a conversation with Newsweek, the Redditor, who chose to stay anonymous, explained the progression of the spongelike fungi that created a home in his shower.

“At first, it started out looking like a loofah and then would eventually turn into a small mushroom, and it would change very quickly,” the Redditor told the outlet.

“At first, I moved the sponge thing, and it kept coming back, so I left it to see what it would do even though I know it’s bad,” he continued. “I just really was so interested.”

Word of advice? If you notice a strange object growing in your shower, you might want to clean it before it becomes an entire ecosystem.