Mushroomless

[jhempel]

After some time gone...I have returned to the forum. I am always excited to read what others have posted. Now I need your help!

I have a 150 reef and it has zoos, leathers, dusters, and macro algae that do extremely well. My problem is that I have never had much luck with Mushrooms. The water params are good, the flow is moderate, and the lighting is PC smartlamps. Mushrooms do not survive no matter where I put them in the tank.

I have several large colonies of zoo polyps in my tank. Is it possible that these are kiiling off the mushrooms or could it be something else I'm not thinking about?

Thanks

[crabbejoe]

That's strange, mushrooms are really tough. If there's chemical warefare going on, you could try running some carbon. What kind of mushrooms are you trying? Rics and yumas can be a little more touchy.

[jhempel]

Thanks for the reply.
I do believe that it is warfare between the zoos and the shrooms, but how on earth do you know?

I have ricordias and hairys, but have tried just about all of them.

I can not find anyone else that has ever had this problem.

[darkcirca]

You know, I have SPS, LPS, and soft corals in my tank and had issues with mushrooms as well. I've found putting them under rocks where it is shadier causes them to open up more. My mushroom I got for free off a guy on here a few months ago finally doubled in size since I stuck it under the rock 2 weeks ago.

[kingfisher62]

I have a lot of zoas amd shrooms under pretty tight conditions in my 14g biocube with pc lighting and they both seems to do well!

how strong is your lighting?

[jhempel]

Darkcirca and Kingfisher I thank you for replying. I do not believe the lighting is the issue as I have placed mushrooms at every level of my tank and it does not seem to matter. The lighting I use are four 96w power compact smart lamps over a 150 gal. As an experiment, I am introducing a mushroom colony into my 12 gal Nano which is under similar lighting. If they survive there, then perhaps I could suspect chemical warfare between species.

[crabbejoe]

Originally posted by jhempel

I do believe that it is warfare between the zoos and the shrooms, but how on earth do you know?

If you aren't already, I would try using some carbon for a while too and see if that helps. That should help draw out whatever's in the water.

[jhempel]

Yep...been down that road as well, but I appreciate the input. In a 150g I have 7 large colonies of zoos, all of which have 50-100 polyps each. Is that a lot for that size tank? They have really spread over the past two years, so they certainly like what the tank has to offer.

[aninjaatemyshoe]

If there is chemical warfare between shrooms and zoas, then I could see why the shrooms are overtaken in such a tank. Carbon would work to some degree, but you'd have to have a high enough flow through the carbon and change it regularly to deal with it. However, I've never read anywhere that there is such a potent chemical warfare, if any, between them.

I've had a mushroom colony for about 2 years now and here have been my observations:
-They actually seem to prefer low light, but they can acclimate to intense light. They hated being under my 250W MH in my previous tank at first, but eventually they became used to it and started to open up again.
-They love high nutrient water. The best growth I ever got was when they were in my poorly managed Aquapod. They just went crazy.
-They can look like they're near death one day and be perfectly fine the next. They just shrivel up when they come into conditions they don't like. Even though they look pathetic at this point, they are just "defending" themselves and will be back to normal once acclimated. This is where I suspect you may have had issues. Did you perhaps throw them away when they looked near death or did you leave them in?
-They are by far the hardiest coral I've ever encountered. The things these guys have been through would have killed just about any other coral. However, you need to optimize their conditions if you want them to grow and colonize. When they didn't like the conditions in any of my numerous previous tanks, they didn't die but they didn't grow at all either.

[jhempel]

My experiences are similar, however they just disappear all together! It is the hardest thing to explain. I'll see how they do in my nano san zoos.
Thanks

[lancer99]

jhempel,

That is very odd. Your tank sounds a lot like my old 75g....lots of zoos, palys in my case, other softies, and my mushrooms did well both shaded and well-lit.

Is it specifically Discosoma that you have problems with, or Rhodactis and Ricordea as well?...I wasn't quite clear from your message.

The only thing I can think of is, as aninja pointed out, might be nutrient levels. I had minimal skimming, a Bak-Pak.

I did use small amounts of carbon in a cannister filter.

Not sure if that helps

-R

[jhempel]

Lancer,

Thanks for the comments.

I have tried just about all the mushrooms because I just really love to watch them when they are fully expanded.

Are you saying (nutrient levels) that my tank is too clean?

Joe

[lancer99]

Joe,
Dunno....just trying to think about what could be different in your tank, and mine, which was similar.

You might try cutting back on skimming, preferably leaving it on at night, when it will help with O2 levels.

Or if it's chemical warfare, more aggressive carbon use.

I hope something works....!

-R

[crabbejoe]

What kind of fish and inverts do you have? Maybe something is eating the shrooms?

[ssavader]

jhempel, I have had great luck with mushrooms in the past and a month ago bought a large rock with over 100 small red shrooms on it. Did great for 3.5 weeks and ALL melted away in 3-4 days with nothing that I can detect in the tank altered. I now how a large bare rock! Go figure? Suggestion- check your params, get some more, try another spot in the tank!

[jhempel]

savader, thanks for the post. My params are right on the money and everything else in the tank is doing really really well. I also have tried different spots high, low, light, less light, etc with no luck. It is possible that switching to 4-96 watt smart lamps is just too much light, and someone else suggested that perhaps my tank is too clean. I didn't know a reef tank could be too clean, but I am experimenting with those two things currently. Thanks again for your input.

[kingfisher62]

jhempel, how about a picture of the crime scene where the mushrooms were last seen, it might give us a clue!
I think I have been watching too many episodes of "CSI" and Law and Order" but a full tank shot might help

[kingfisher62]

Also can you list your specific parameters: nitrates,ammonia,phosphates,nitrites, pH, alk,salinity and temp?

[jhempel]

Ok...I'll have to work on it. Might be a day or so.

[kingfisher62]

I'm not goin anywhere!