Help with rhodactis please!

lowride66 · #1 01/15/2004, 08:49 PM

Hi everyone,

I just bought 2 rhodactis (thats what I was told they were) about 4 weeks ago now. One is the size of a quarter and the size of a 50 cent peice. About 2 weeks ago now the one the size of a quarter started to spill its guts or thats what it looks like to me. This white curly stuff is comming out of the middle of it where the green is and when the lights go out and the moons come on there is no more green. Also, it has some what closed up and started to turn a brown color but it mouth is still open. My other mushroom has been doing fine but it has started to get the white curly stuff too. I have took them out of direct MH lights and put them into the shade. I'm not sure what to do. Please help. I have a pic of what my mushrooms look like but they are not mine.
Thanks, Nikki

I have a 55 gallon tank, with 175W MH and two moon lights.
Temp - 81F
Ph - 8.2
Salt - 1.022
Nirtrite - 0
Nirtrate - 0
ALk - 240
Ammonia - 0
Phosphate - 0
Calcium - 360

aquababy · #2 01/15/2004, 08:56 PM

Temperature too high - lower it to 76 - 78max. Alk looks extremely too high. I keep mine at 8.0GDH I keep my calcium at 425-450ppm.

lowride66 · #3 01/15/2004, 09:31 PM

My temp just spiked for some reason today but it stays at 78F. You think my Alk is to high? I thought it was to low. I have a drip of kalkwasser just started on that.

lowride66 · #4 01/17/2004, 10:30 AM

No one has had this problem?

Gerard the fish · #5 01/18/2004, 02:34 AM

81 is not too high for a reef tank its the spike in the temp that would hurt him.

Your rhodactis spewing its guts is a stress response take good care of him and he will be just fine

- g

lowride66 · #6 01/18/2004, 09:19 AM

My mushrooms stressed way before the temp jumped. So, I will try a water change. Thanks for the help.

MaeThunder · #7 01/18/2004, 09:22 AM

alk maybe too high and calc too low like aquababy said. My water temp is about 83 with no problem.
Spikes in any of the params will create problems IMO.
If you keep "things" stable they should be fine. Stability seems to be the key.

MaeThunder · #8 01/18/2004, 09:27 AM

Stressing before... What were the params of the tank they came out of? How well did you aclimate the mushrooms to your system before you put them in?

lowride66 · #9 01/18/2004, 10:12 AM

I put them into the water in the bag they came in and let them set for a half hour to reach the temp of the tank. Then I added water into the bag and let them set for another half hour and then added them into the tank. I don't know the params of the tank they came out of at the LFS. I asked but the guy never said.

MaeThunder · #10 01/18/2004, 10:32 AM

I have 2 rhodactis (small hairy mushrooms) and have them under 175 MH. What type are yours? Did yours stress right away (same day?) or later? I've never had that happen before. My salinity is a bit higher than yours 1.027 (with evap and RO/DI drip it ranges between 1.026 and 1.028) Even with my clown biting it and a huge spike in salinity when the probe didn't work (salt added when not needed) they survived.
I'm sorry, maybe someone else will know. I am definately not an expert.

skylergirl · #11 01/18/2004, 05:55 PM

I have the same type of green rhodactis. I've seen the white curly stuff come out of their mouths too. It is most often from being stressed, like cleaner shrimp walking on it, or I have to move it somewhere. It usually gets better the same day.

lowride66 · #12 01/18/2004, 08:49 PM

I'm not sure what type of rhodactics they are. They started to stress about two weeks after I got them. The white curly stuff dosen't come out of their mouths, it comes out of the green part or the sides of them. I am going to try to post a pic of mine and what they look like but the pic may be a little messed up. Also, I was looking in my tank tonight to notice that where I had my mushrooms there are these little black things crawling all over my rock. They are small, long as a finger nail, and they look like black lines but moveing. Any ideas? Maybe these are what have caused my mushrooms to stress?

lowride66 · #13 01/18/2004, 09:08 PM

Here is a picture of one of my mushrooms. This is the one that is a size of a 50 cent peice.

skylergirl · #14 01/18/2004, 10:48 PM

I'm sorry to say, but it's a gonner. I have had quite a few ricordea start to look like that and they just melt into a goo. I have not been able to save any of my yuma once they start looking like that.

You might try an iodine dip or even increase the current. I tried less current and less light, but that didn't work.

MaeThunder · #15 01/19/2004, 01:49 AM

looks pretty bad to me also. Is that a hole in the center? I have had some mushrooms recover from similar problems. But it takes a lot of TLC and even then you can't be sure it will make it. Have you tried feeding it at all? Before it got this bad? Are all the mushrooms in similar shape? Or some of them a bit better than others? Do you have pics of the others?

lowride66 · #16 01/19/2004, 09:51 AM

My other mushroom is brown in color now and has some white curly stuff hang from him, he used to look like my other mushroom. But the other mushroom is still hanging in there (the one the pic is of). I have fed it some brine shrimp and some Kent Micro-Vert. Yes, that is a hole in the center, its supposed to be is mouth. Sometimes its big like that and other times its small. I do have a picture of what they both looked like before this happened but everything is so green do to algae, you can hardly tell. I will post the pic.

lowride66 · #17 01/19/2004, 09:52 AM

Here is a picture of my second mushroom.

MaeThunder · #18 01/19/2004, 11:56 AM

Nikki, the alk does seem a little high and the calcium a little low. We were discussing that at a reef club meeting recently. From what I understand balance between calc and alk is necessary. I use DKH for my readings and conversions aren't my idea of fun. lol My DKH is 13 (between 10 and 14 is good)

You said you put the 1 polyp in the QT? Are those params the same in QT as your 55? Are you still trying to feed it? Has it gotten worse? I can't think of anything else to help. low flow, lights are good but it's in the shade, Could the fish have been biting at it? It so then it should get better in the QT unless it was too far gone when you put it in there In Marine Atlas requirements say "weak flow" "do not expose them to direct MH lighting". The LFS probably had them under florescents. Make sure you do water changes in the QT.
Please keep us posted on how it's doing.
Mae

lowride66 · #19 01/19/2004, 02:57 PM

dose QT mean quarantine?

skylergirl · #20 01/19/2004, 04:36 PM

yes, it means quarantine

lowride66 · #21 01/19/2004, 08:20 PM

I do have my 29gallon as my quarantine or back up tank. The water is cooler, nitrate is 5 and there is only 40Watts of light and those are the only diff from my 55gallon. I had my colony of bleached button polyps in there but I moved them to my 55g when I got my new MH light (some are starting to come back after 8 months and I still do water changes in the back up tank). I am still feeding my mushroom and they have got worse. I feed them once a week is that not enough? What would an iodine dip do? How long do you dip them for?

MaeThunder · #22 01/19/2004, 09:59 PM

water cooler, how much cooler? going from 81F to something cooler w/o aclimation might shock them again. ("normal" range for these 72F to 79F) I have found that they will do ok if aclimated slowly (3-5 hrs drip line and floating) at even higher temp 81-83F.
How often do you change water? (with the alk & cal out of balance my husband says the water changes should be done 5-10% daily till the tank is in balance again.) He handles the water quality for our system. I do the testing.
I also feed more often. Plankton daily. (another reason for water changes)
one thing that bothers me and i need to make sure, you mention water... RO/DI not tap water with chemicals to make it "OK" right?
The 5 rocks in the tank are they your "cement live rocks"? How long have they been in your tank?
Mae

lowride66 · #23 01/20/2004, 09:14 AM

The cement rocks are in my back up tank, and they have been in there for 2 months and the temp is about 77F. The 5 rocks in my 55gallon are Fiji live rock. I do a 10% water change once a month and I do use tap water. I get the water quality report, so that I know whats in my water and what to test for and to treat. I would still like to know what an Iodine dip would do? How long do you dip for? What do you use - water, salt water what?
Thanks, Nikki

skylergirl · #24 01/20/2004, 09:58 AM

If you plan on using the QT for your shrooms, here's what I would recommend.

First, prepare to do a nice water change. You say your QT is 29 gallons. That is a little too big and uncessary for small corals. Get a 10 gallon tank if you can. It makes heating and lighting it MUCH easier!

Let's say now you've got the 10 gallon tank, ready for QT. Make up a 10 gallon water change. Let the salt aerate for at least a day.

Next, take water from your main tank to fill up the 10 gallon QT. DO NOT USE THE NEWLY MADE WATER FOR THE QT.

Use the newly made water to REPLACE the water you just took out of your main tank.

Make sure your heater is not bouncing all over the place for temperature. Do not add any of the corals until it is stable. You can just hang a small power filter off the back for filtration. Add a piece of live rock to the tank if you can.

You can make an iodine dip using Lugols solution. Try about 10 drops in 1 gallon of water from your main tank. Let the coral sit for about 10-15 minutes. Not so long as the temp drops too much in the gallon bucket.

Put the coral in the 10 gallon QT and hope for the best. Use at least 1 small powerhead to get good flow in the QT. But not blowing directly on the coral. Point it at an angle to the glass.

Whenever you do a water change, take water from the main tank and put into the QT tank. Rotating it this way, your QT water will ALWAYS be very close to your main tanks water.

With that said, I am not a fan for QT tanks. I did this for a leather and was able to save it. But I do not have a QT setup.

Good luck.

lowride66 · #25 01/20/2004, 10:12 AM

Thank you all very much for your help. I am going to try a few things and keep you posted as to how it turns out. Thank you all once again! Nikki