Shrinking ricordea??

[tooshay]

I have a rock that has 9 orange ricordeas on it. Over the last month, they have shrunk to half their original size! I have MH lighting, and the rock is on the bottom. The water flow is gentle. One is splitting in half, and a new baby has popped up in the last few days. Why are they shrinking?

[chicken]

What temperature is your water? I installed a chiller a month ago and have noticed the same thing. I just turned up the temp to keep it around 81.5 and after one day all my ricordea are looking like they are making a comeback.

[tooshay]

I will warm up the water a bit and see if that helps. I have a chiller, and keep the temp at 77. Thanks Chicken.

[chicken]

Please let me know if it helps. I was keeping mine at 77.5-78.8 and I noticed that all my ricordea (florida and yumas) and mushrooms have been looking like crap. I turned up the chiller last night and this morning is the first time I have seen my yumas open up fully in a few weeks. Maybe it was just a coincidence, maybe not. Good luck.

[tooshay]

Chicken, how are things going with your warmer water? My rics are continuing to shrink even though I brought the water up to 81 degrees. Did you do anything else to make them open up? I am getting desperate as they are now 1/10 of their original size. HELP!!!!

[chicken]

Warming the water up seemed to help for a few days, but they went back to their same size. I am in the process of switching back to IO from CS marinemix. I am not sure if all my problems started right around the time I switched salts or not. I figured with all the discusions going on about CS problems that it could not hurt to do a few water changes with IO. So far atleast my normal shrooms are looking completely normal while the ricordeas are looking slightly better. I started the water changes on tuesday and things have been looking better since then. Not sure if that is my problem or not yet :( Anyone have any ideas?

[tooshay]

I can't blame the salt, as I have always used IO. My other shrooms look great, just my rics are slowly shrinking away. Do you know if they will shrink so small that one day I will just have a bare rock left? I have never had anything die in my tank, so I don't know what to expect. Or will they fall off when they die? Some of them are just a green mouth with a tiny orange ring around it.

[mcsock]

I have had 2 yumas just desolve like that one me lately also. I can see no real reason for it happening. The start shrinking get smaller and smaller...then get so small they seem to slime out and are gone. There are atleast 8 other rics in the tank and having no problems at all.

[chicken]

tooshay, Sorry for not posting sooner. I have been really busy with work and am out of town right now. I will post when I get back tomorrow night.

[tooshay]

Good news!!! I completely renovated the rocks in my tank, and made an overhang to provide a shaded spot. I put the ricordea rock completely in the shade and even though it has only been a few hours, they are expanding!!! I guess they were getting too much light. I will keep you guys posted if things continue to get better:)