Before my mushroom dies.....

[Dana42078]

I have a rock with ugly button polyps on it and they are surrounding my mushroom and i think they are shading it and eventually going to kill it. Any suggestons on how to get this guy out without hurting myself?
Hes right in the middle of the rock....hard to see but if you look , you can see em.

 

[AdeptMrSniffles]

I think you should leave it alone. It'll eventually move/float around your tank until it finds a nice place. Don't be surprised if you don't see it for weeks. I just noticed a superman mushroom that I haven't seen for 4 months! They're extremely hardy corals.

You could try taking a butter knife to the "foot" and see if it will release itself for you.

 

[Bifferwine]

Can you remove the button polyps instead? Those are pretty easy to scrape off with a razor blade. It's easier to get them off than it is to get the mushroom off.

 

[Dana42078]

Can you remove the button polyps instead? Those are pretty easy to scrape off with a razor blade. It's easier to get them off than it is to get the mushroom off.

So you have done this before? Im willing to do whatever it takes to seperate the two....fuck the ugly button polyps....my nuclear green ones are strating to take off and they look better anyways. IF i cut the button polyp on accident, it isnt toxic like zoo's right?

 

[Bifferwine]

Yeah. Get a blade (like for an exacto knife) and just get underneath them. They are attached my a mat-like substance that kind of crumbles when you cut into it. If you want to save them, just put a drop of super glue gel on the bottom of the polyps and stick them somewhere new.

Palys (button polyps) are actually more toxic than zoas, but they're still not very dangerous unless you get it into an open wound or your eye or something. Last week I got juice from my palys right in an open cut, and nothing happened. Of course, every species is different, but if it was something that was going to kill you, we'd have heard stories of such things.

You can wear gloves to be safe, but you should be okay with your hands if you're just cutting them off the rock with a blade with one hand and grabbing them before they float away with the other.

 

[bjohanson1234]

You could also take a pair of sharp scissors and cut the mushroom at the stalk. Then take the top, pat the underside dry with a paper towel, and glue that to another rock. The stalk will develope a new mushroom in a few weeks and the top will grow a new stalk.

 

[Dana42078]

So if i cut into one in my tank the juices wont do anything right? Just want to make sure before i go ahead and give this a shot.

 

[Bifferwine]

No, I think it will be fine. It's always better if you can remove the rock and do the fragging outside of the tank, but you don't have a lot of them.

 

[PRC]

And what she means by doing it outside the tank is do it in some sort of a bowl underwater. That way you're less likely to get squirted. Just take a little water from your tank and put it in a bowl big enough to work with.

 

[Bifferwine]

Yes, thank you. Outside of the tank, in a separate container of water.

 

[Dana42078]

Well i did it, it didnt go to well lol....dunno if the shroom is gunna make it....oh well i got another free one from a friend today....maybe ill get lucky and ill get a few new shrooms from dicing the other one.

 

[yote]

You'll be surprised at just how tough shrooms can be.
Good luck with it.