mushrooms splitting?

[bored4long]

I have 3 fuzzy mushrooms in my 12g nano (yes, I'm a total newb). Two of them were quite large (4-6" diameter). Last weekend one started looking really bad with its mouth gaping wide open. Then on Monday it was all pinched in towards the center. I thought for sure it was dying. Tuesday I noticed that one side where it pinched in towards the middle had completely split apart and now it appears the entire mushroom as split into two. The next day it appeared the second large one also has split. Seems way to coincidental that 2 of my 3 would split within a day of each other.

Is this a good sign or bad sign? I've read that some corals split as a defense mechanism, so I was concerned that maybe they are unhappy or unhealthy.

Thanks.

[funman1]

I'd say if they were that big then they were due for a split..
But you could always check your water prams, like you said it could be a sign of something in the water..

[MrMikeB]

When I have seen mushrooms propagate they actually will move and leave a little bit of themselves behind where their foot was attached - then this turns into a new shroom. You can almost see a trail of babies as it moved over the rock work over a period of time.

I have also seen polyps split like that as a last ditch effort to save itself. A survival instinct I suppose, where they are not happy for whatever reason, stress then split. Given you have two doing it at the same time, I would suggest the splitting is a reaction to something rather than a happy shroom leaving babies. I would verify your parameters, and work backward on whatever might have changed recently.

[bored4long]

Thanks, Mike. I'll try to figure out what's going on.