Mushroom Propogation ?

[O'Man]

Prior to a 5 day power outage caused by Hurricane Floyd, I had a thriving colony of blue mushrooms. Afterward there appeared to be none, then one tiny one appeared. It is now about 1.5" in diameter. I have read the GARF instructions on propogation. They recomend slice & dice and use netting to contain the pieces until they attach to a rock. Anyone try this? What happened? I do not want to destroy my last blue shroom and get nothing. This weekend I am thinking of a pratice run on one of my plentiful red or green mushrooms.

Any one have a technique for propogating Ricordia? Same process? or don't mess with a good thing...
Thanks

[JohnL]

O'Man,

Personally, I like to let nature take its course. Give it the conditions it needs to multiply.

You will probably get a better response in the Reef Central Discussion forum. I can move this thread there for you if you like.

------------------
Peace - John

[This message has been edited by JohnL (edited 03-18-2000).]

[O'Man]

John,

Thanks, I took the liberty of posting in both areas. I am going through that impatient thing. I took a close look, and found an offspring underneath the cap this afternoon, so time probabally is my best friend. These blue ones have great color.

That power outage was a heartbreaker. The area I moved to seems to have no shortage of power outages during the summer. So I have a 12volt bilge pump ready for next time.

A couple of years ago, my tank survived a four day power loss just fine. I think my problem this time was caused by all the critters being stressed from moving the tank across the state.

Brian (O'Man)

[ofthee]

Hello, I am now slicing and diceing my mushrooms, and so far so good, the peices at least are coloring and they have shriveled less. It took a lot of guts, but I did do it. Previously I have cut the whole head off my mushrooms, and the stalk cam back quickly, the head did come back, but it took longer. When your baby mushroom gets bigger, try cutting the parent's head off, you will find it easy to propagate. Have fun

[puma]

:wildone: Hi, im new aroud here, im from México and i have been propagate mushroon for the last 5 years, here some tips:

- after cutting use some a one drop of lugol in a cup of aquarium water, put the cuttings in for about 3 minutes.
- place them in a low current area.
- Place them in a non sediment area.
- Avoid to place them close to a cave other wise you goin to lose them.
- let the cuts heal in a small rock and then glue it to a bigger one.

- Sorry about my english.:o

Good luck and dont worry these guys are strong.:smokin:

[nameless]

I respectfully disagree with the use of iodine here. Iodine will cause more damage to the mushroom than a fungus would. It will definitely prolong healing time significantly. It doesn't just kill fungus....

[Scribe]

Mushroom Propogation is very very easy, and not worth worrying about. I am finding Mushrooms to be like Xenia, you just cant kill them. The one thing I have read with Mushrooms during propogation, and I think it applies to a lot of corals. Make sure when you are cutting the cap in quarters to get as much of the mouth as possible in each of the four pieces.

I think the only difficult things in propogating mushrooms are holding them, due to how slippery they are, and having the patience to keep the netting over them befor peeking during healing.

Good luck.

[Gary Majchrzak]

I would'nt bother slici'n and dice'in,personally,although I've pure'ed 'em before and they STILL survive.Even those that blow into deep dark caves will someday reappear and haunt you.I'll bet there is a SPS reefer near you that cannot wait to share some with you!