newbie's first shroom propagation - Page 3

vest0830 · #51 01/16/2006, 06:29 PM

Today is one week since I have fragged them. Should I open it and take a look, or let them continue to sit for a few more days?

I haven't touched since I set them into the tank.

vest0830 · #52 01/16/2006, 10:38 PM

I opened it up this afternoon. Only one attached to the rocks, with that said, only one was sitting on the bubble. The sand was a very bad idea, there was none left in the bowl. I set the other frags on top of the rubble and I hope that it attaches.

I believe where I went wrong was the sand. -when I put the container in the tank, the sand started a sandstorm and moved the frags off the rock/rubble. Im gonna try it again sometime soon.

Skepperz · #53 01/22/2006, 09:05 AM

Great! keep us updated.

I might give this a try soon as well.

I will let you know how i go.

vest0830 · #54 01/22/2006, 05:52 PM

mine turned out to be a failure pretty much. I did get one to attach, but where I went wrong IMO is that I put sand in the bottom of the rubble. The sand went everywhere when I put it in the water (duh) and moved my cuttings from the rubble. So they never attached. I am going to try it again sometime.

Skepperz · #55 01/22/2006, 09:51 PM

Oh well im going to do my green one soon we can do it together if you like, and we can help echother through it.

racrumrine · #56 01/23/2006, 01:13 AM

Sorry to hear you guys are having trouble. Believe it or not, mushrooms are very easy to frag.

In my opinion, the best method for attaching the frags, is the bridal veil method.

When I want to frag a mushroom, I try to pry it off the rock (or better yet, dig under the mushroom with a knife and get some of the rock with which you can use to glue the mushroom). If I can't pry the mushroom off, I cut the head off (horizontally) and leave the base. The base will usually form into a new mushroom within a few weeks. Sometimes I have accidently hacked the base up pretty good. Even then, almost all the fragments eventually turn into new mushrooms.

I take the unmounted mushroom, or head, and place it on a small piece of rubble (usually no more than an inch in diameter). I normally try to put the mushroom on the flatest side. Then, I loosely lay the bridal veil material over the mushroom and I tie the corners together with a rubber band. Then, I set the rock down on the sand at the bottom of my tank. The mushroom usually mounts itself within 10-14 days.

The only problem I have ever had is with really small mushrooms. Sometimes they fold themselves up and slip out of the holes. At my local fabric store, they sell the material with smaller holes. You can reuse the fabric over and over again.

Using this method, I have had about a 95% success rate. I have used this technique under 400W SE MH lighting down to no artificial lighting (though it takes longer for the mushroom to attach itself).

Recently, I tried the rubble/sand method. I had to find a calm place in a tank and I had to stick a rock partially on the mushroom to keep it from floating itself off. Though the mushroom eventually mounted itself, I think the bridal veil method is more foolproof.

Best of luck,

Roy

coraline401 · #57 01/23/2006, 10:10 AM

I found that if you cut the mushroom like a pizza and don't even worry about it just cut the heck out of it while attatched they will divide. After dividing takes place monitor and continue to recut after healing some. The mushroom will regrow into a group, Continue this process until the area you wish to cover is covered.
This was an experiment from my first post and it works well

vest0830 · #58 01/23/2006, 07:33 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by racrumrine
Sorry to hear you guys are having trouble. Believe it or not, mushrooms are very easy to frag.

Roy

Yes, I can't believe I messed it up, but like all things, I usally screw it up pretty bad the first time I try to start soemthing new. I dont even want to mention my first tank.

It's just my luck. -always the way it goes for me. I will attempt it again though.

BrianPlankis · #59 01/24/2006, 12:09 PM

Hey all,

Here are two pics of my first mushroom prop efforts in a few years. I have these purple with blue spot mushrooms that are REALLY popular, so I cut one of them into 4 pieces on Saturday (no pic then sorry), these are pictures from this morning and you can see they are already healing nicely. At least 3 of the 4 anyway, one of the other ones looks "weird", so not sure it will make it.

Brian

coraline401 · #60 01/24/2006, 08:11 PM

What is that green thing in the first shot? Its on the left and looks like a sock with green hair...

BrianPlankis · #61 01/24/2006, 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by coraline401
What is that green thing in the first shot? Its on the left and looks like a sock with green hair...

I'm not sure what you are referring to...possibly detritus? Are you talking about the green thing that is vertical in the image and touching the mushroom? These are pretty small pieces...if you look closely in the images you will see gammarid isopods, more commonly called Gammarus amphipods that are only about 1/4" long. There are two in the upper image with one having clearly visible eyes. The smaller white pieces are individual grains of sand.

Brian

pledosophy · #62 01/28/2006, 03:23 AM

So I have read the entire thread and tried it out myself.

My LFS let me frag a bunh of there mushrooms. I took them home, but them in plastic containers filled with rubble rock, and cut holes for ventalation.

After 10 days I opened them up and 3 of 11 were attached. The rest had all fallen to the sides of the plastic.

So my question is how do you keep the shrooms from moving whne you are putting the container in the water and covering it ? ? ?

Also is super glue gel a bad idea for mushrooms, if so why. Just trying to learnmore over here. I am very new to propigation.

I hope to have a full prop setup within the next couple weeks and would love to solve some problems first.

Thanks for any help you can give.

BrianPlankis · #63 01/28/2006, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by pledosophy
So my question is how do you keep the shrooms from moving whne you are putting the container in the water and covering it ? ? ?

Also is super glue gel a bad idea for mushrooms, if so why. Just trying to learnmore over here. I am very new to propigation.

In my case I covered the entire bottom of my containers with sand/rubble, that way the mushrooms can only land on sand/rubble and not plastic. I did have some preferred places in each container I wanted the mushrooms on, so I put them there and then covered the containers. I drilled holes a little over halfway up the side of the container so that each one would hold about 1/3 full of water when out of the tank. This reduces the amount of turbulence when placing the container in the tank. I then SLOWLY lower it into the tank to keep things steady.

super glue gel isn't really a bad idea for mushrooms, just that it won't work on a bare mushroom. Let the mushroom attach to the sand grains/rubble and then you can easily use superglue gel to glue the mushroom foot(with attached sand/rubble) to a large piece of LR for sale/trade.

Brian

padixon2 · #64 01/29/2006, 11:53 AM

out of curiosity, can you just cut up a mushroom on the rock it is on without removing it from the tank? is it through the mouth or to the side? does it matter?

pledosophy · #65 02/07/2006, 03:28 AM

Is it possible that to long of a time period has passed for the mushroom to attach to LR without being cut again?

rutledgek · #66 02/07/2006, 07:51 AM

I cut a mushroom that was already attached to a rock and it grew back together into one whole mushroom.

Doh!

tonkadawg · #67 02/07/2006, 09:33 AM

because of this thread, I decided I would give mushroom prop a try. I picked out a nice piece with several shrooms from the LFS. After about a week, allowing the corals to acclimate, I decided it was time to give it a try. Pulled the rock out, cut the head off from a stalk, then cut the head into quarters. Then all I did was put each quarter back on the rock, where I wanted new growth. Then with some mesh and a rubber band, wrapped the fresh cuttings up and put back in the tank. One week later, all 4 were healed and attached to the rock, the stalk was growing a new head.

Excellent thread - thanks!

coraline401 · #68 02/07/2006, 10:15 AM

I recently took shrooms that would not attach and used a hair net. By dropping the shrooms onto a nice chunk of rock I carfully wrapped the net around and after a few days in the sump they attached...

pledosophy · #69 02/09/2006, 05:06 AM

I found taller tubberware containers and they seem to be doing better now. The containers are a little over 7" tall but still pretty narrow. Doesn't give the mushroom a choice but to land on the rock. I have drilled several holes towrads the top for flow.

The tubberware is a disposable kind they sell at grocery stores, it was $1 for two of them. Got a new prop razor for $1 today as well.

rutledgek · #70 02/09/2006, 07:54 AM

Should the mushroom heads be removed from the stak during the day when they are big and spread out or at night when they seem very small?

racrumrine · #71 02/09/2006, 01:46 PM

The only thing about when to cut is that it's easier to cut them when they are dense. Usually, when you mess with them, they will shrink and get dense pretty fast.

Best of luck,

Roy

rutledgek · #72 02/09/2006, 02:02 PM

Thanks for the help. I have some red with white stripe mushrooms that are outgorwing the rock they are on when expanded so I thought I would thin them out and frag them. My sump is not lighted, but would it be ok to put them in the container and place it there. I know it would take longer to attach but I was wondering if it would be ok in other aspects.

BrianPlankis · #73 02/09/2006, 03:55 PM

I would not put them in an unlighted sump. While they don't have a mouth to consume things they can only get nutrients to heal from nutrient absorption and from light. I've never tried it, but I would think without light they would take longer to attach or recover or could even die.

Brian

causeofhim · #74 02/09/2006, 04:54 PM

I tried this "easy" technique with some nice purple shrooms that I had. I did everything that everyone else did except did not place netting over the top. I watched them for a while and the flow was not blowing them around. They fell in between the rock rubble that was in the bottom of the container. I waited 2 weeks ans pulled all the rubble out only to find nothing. Nada. Zip. All evidence of there ever being a mushrom there was gone.
Oh well.

racrumrine · #75 02/09/2006, 06:48 PM

I have put frags with the bridal veil method in an unlit tank in a brightly lit room. They will attach.

If you have a sump that is a natural room light, I'd say it's ok. If it's in the dark, I would not do it.

Best of luck,

Roy