If a mushroom dies...

[wontonflip]

How do I get it off the rock? My large mushroom is lookin' horrible again. I don't want to toss the whole rock, because it's got a dozen other mushrooms on it. How do I get it off? Just slice off the top? I don't even know it's out for the count yet. I'm going to do a water change to see if that perks it up. The other mushrooms look awesome and not sick at all.

Or should I just leave it on the rock? Won't it cause an ammonia spike? It's pretty big....6 times the size of a quarter when it's fully open...and it's in my 10 gallon.

 

[Gdbyrd]

I think I've read that people cut them out with razor blades, you should probably wait for someone to confirm though. I would not leave it in the tank, especially a small one.

I would think that if it was down for the count it would come off the rock pretty easily.

 

[hibye]

Try cutting it by the stem and throw it out. the stem may grow back into a healty one again

 

[wontonflip]

Thanks guys. I'm doing a water change today, and all around maintenance. Maybe he'll perk up. He looks gawdawful. Like a rotting piece of fruit.

Stupid question..should I pull out the rock with all its mushrooms and slice it off, or just do the slicing underwater? I am assuming that as long as the blade doesn't stay in the water, it shouldn't do anything to the water.

 

[dcantucson]

If you take the rock out it would be easier, but you will have to work quickly and should have the other mushrooms back in the tank within 3-4 minutes. I would take it out and pry and pick it off with a sharp knife. If it's dying it should removed from your tank if possible.

 

[Gdbyrd]

That's a good question. Someone asked Rc about that as well. He had a post awhile back about thinning out his mushrooms. He would use an exacto knife if I remember right. I don't think that would be your problem.

But, someone brought up the point that cutting them up under water may release crud from the actual mushroom. That question wasn't resolved. If anything that's probably what you should worry about.

Either way I don't think it would be an issue. I'd get it out of the tank as soon as you can though.

 

[wontonflip]

UNGH. I think I did a bad thing :(

Ok, so I was doing a water change and overall tank maintenance. Stupid me should've done it outside the water, but it's one of those moments of non-thinking. I tried to pry the shroom off its rock.....and SQUISHED IT!!!!!!! I pulled out the rock, and pried the base of it off, and put it back in the tank......how poisonous are the shroom's insides????

I just hope the tank doesn't crash!!!! I just changed the water prior to that, but should I just do another change tomorrow? I'm watching my ammonia levels now just in case.

 

[Gdbyrd]

Get a mesh bag and put some carbon in it if you are worried. That should help you out. And I think you should do another water change.

 

[Rcpilot]

Mushrooms are tough as nails. I HACKED 2 fuzzy green mushrooms off a rock with an exacto blade UNDERWATER. Mushroom guts everywhere.

Tossed the mushrooms in the frag tank, guts hanging out. Figured that would get rid of them in the main tank, where I cut them off the rock. Nope. Each spot where I hacked the foot off has grown back into 3 mushrooms. :frustrat:

The "frags" that I tossed into the frag tank healed up in a couple weeks and grew like weeds. Sold them to a local reefer for $5 apiece.

I had another fuzzy green mushroom that was growing rather large in the 30g tank. It was up around 3" across and had begun to shade my superman mushrooms. Everybody knows superman mushrooms are WAY more pretty to look at, so I YANKED this big fuzzy green mushrooms off the rock with my fingers. It was actually attached to some turf algae, so it came off pretty easy. Took some turf algae with it. No exposed guts this time. Tossed it in the frag tank too. It'll find a rock and attach itself in a couple weeks. I'll sell it.

I HACKED some green striped mushrooms off another rock because they had begun to shade my green favia. Again, Green favia be more expensive and more prettier than striped mushrooms, so to hell with the mushrooms!! Hacked them off with an exacto blade while still under water. I'm not talking about a sterile surgical procedure here. A chainsaw would have been just as efficient, but the damn hydrocarbons do tend to pollute the tank water, so I was stuck using the exacto. Tossed the shredded pieces of mushroom and mushroom guts in the frag tank. They found rocks and grew back. They are currently for sale. Guess what happened? Yup! The spot where I cut them out of the display tank grew back 3-fold!! now instead of 3 striped mushrooms shading my favia, I got 9 striped mushrooms. :frustrat:

I swear, mushrooms are almost as bad as kenya weeds. Ya cut one down and 3 more pop up in it's place. :grumble:

It's not rocket science to cut them off a rock. I run a little carbon for a couple days afterwards. Then do my usual water change on Sunday.

If anybody wants cheap mushroom frags, PM me. :mrgreen: I got purple mushrooms, fuzzy greens, striped green and supermans.

 

[yote]

AHAHAHA
Rc's got ya covered on the shrooms.

HAHAHAH
Never heard it put that way about em Rc:lol:

 

[Rcpilot]

Some mushrooms are beautiful. But the kind I have are mostly very hardy beginner corals that I purchased when I was a newbie. I've moved beyond that stage now and would like to concentrate on the LPS corals.

The green fuzzies and green striped are sorta cool, but they grow rapidly in good water conditions. I've always struggled with purple mushrooms, but I think thats from too much light and too much flow. My tank just isn't set up right to make them happy. They grow, but they tend to drop off rocks and go wandering around looking for a shaded spot where flow is reduced and lighting is not so bright. A few of them have ended up under the rear rock wall and died from lack of light.

I DO like the Superman mushrooms a lot. They grow well, but not near as quick as the green striped and green fuzzies. I love the violet colored body with little blue fluorescent warts all over.

Just need more room for my acans, trumpets, enchanita and blastos to grow and spread out. 20% of my tank real estate is taken up by mushrooms. I'd really like to just move on and concentrate on the LPS while still keeping a few of the Supermans around.

 

[Melosu58]

You`ll be OK. Just cut it off. The other shrooms will be OK out of water for awhile

 

[wontonflip]

Thanks RC for that ..... very graphic violent piece LOL

Yeah, I love the shrooms (cuz frankly, being in this hobby for less than a year, I haven't ventured into reef yet, so shrooms are the closets I've come so far). It's the only thing in my tank that's not lookin' like a rock, a cuc, or a fish :D

The squishing thing just freaked me out....I had this picture in my head of horrible poisonus stuff now floating in the water from the shroom's insides that's ready to kill all life in there because it's just a 10g. I'm warming more water for another water change. I'm concerned cuz I'm detecting a bit of ammonia (maybe around .25ppm) in my 10g :(

I did get the whole thing off the rock, even the base....I think. My daughter cried!!! Can you imagine her reaction if I kill the fish???