The fungus is growing on the organic portion of the potting mix. It won't damage your plant in any way.

If the fungal smell is coming from the fungus, remove and discard the fungus.

Beyond that, what sort of "fungus" is it? A toadstool/mushroom, or what?

Fungus, mold and mushrooms grow because the soil is staying too wet indoors, no breeze to help dry the plant out.

Try digging out more soil down near the top part of the root-ball, getting more of the spores out that keep growing because of the wet conditions. Add back dry soil and keep the plant dryer.
I have also heard that "Tinactin" for foot problems works well in killing moldy soil! Never tried it, but have read that it works well!
Not sure how much to use, maybe someone will know.

I wonder if a small bowl or two of vinegar placed on the soil, or at least close by will help with the smell, it helps in absorbing paint fumes after painting a room!
It might be worth a try until you get the problem taken care of.

Billy Rae

Whahahahahaha!!!!

I did it! Trying a freeky ill-advised strategy, I got rid of this pesky indoor fungus. The Answer: Coffee!

I have a heathy interest in mycology and thanks to that foundation it was in my mind that A: changing the overall PH of the soil is not somthing most mushrooms appreciate; and B: Adding extra Nirogen might also have an effect.

dispite these two quasi-scientific thoughts the deciding factor was one of smell. What could I use that would both mask the smell of putrid fungus and also do no damage to the plant? Coffee.

The result has been amazing. In less than a week an examination of the soil benieth the very light layer of used coffee grounds showed absolutly no mycelium...NONE! Ive since mixed the grounds into the top layer so it looks pretty again and there has been no regrowth. I hope many people get to see this post because I can't imagine an easier solution to this problem. ~Hurray and Wahoo !

Thanks for the info. I was confronted by a neon yellow batch of mushrooms in two of my house plants this week so I am going to try the coffee grounds (and drying out the soil a little).

this was great as I have had the same problem with a large plant(not sure of its name) and was concerned my plant would die. I've had it for 5 years and it got so tall I had to repot it and figuered I was over watering and thats when the yellow mushroom shaped growths started appearing. glad to know I dont need to change the soil, will keep the plant dryer and I cant wait to try the coffee grounds. Thanks

Don't know abt the mushrooms or the coffee, I would have suggested applying Cinnamon to the soil. Turns out it's an excellent antifungal, have learned this from orchid growers, & have dusted orchid roots w/ it myself when I had no other fungicide.

I've also heard of the Tinactin cure, but I'm more likely to have Cinnamon than Tinactin in my home.

Glad you found the remedy!!

Thanks! I just saw these in my house plant along with a lot of little flies. I was able to get right of the flies last time by letting the plant really dry out, but I hate doing that to plant. I'm definitely going to try this and maybe I'll add a little cinnamon too!