Shrinking Mushrooms

[Chrismayu]

Hello All,

Been having this issue – hope you can help me solve it. For some reason, my mushroom pieces are not growing and in fact they seem to get smaller. Currently I have between 5 – 10 mushroom frags (different types), so I got from @heath some from the LFS. I was just at Heath’s house and hers look great. I know my parameters are fine, I do regular W/C’s and I have been slowly turning down the intensity of my lights, but nothing seems to be working. I had maybe 3 – 5 different mushrooms that I brought and over time they never grew and just slowly got smaller and smaller. We are talking 2 -3 years. I have sold off corals and when I check in on them( to ensure the buyer is happy) they always report the corals are doing great & send pictures - frankly they were better then when I had them…….

I am wondering about the possibility of the some kind of coral warfare going on. Here is the list of the corals

Green Star Polyps: Briareum violacea
Mint Green Star Polyps( not sure on actual name)
Yellow Polyps: Parazoanthus gracilis
Blue Clove Polyps
Frogspawn
Torch Coral
2x types of Hammer Heads
1 red Mushroom
4 ish green Mushroom ( from Heather)
2 ish Orange Mushrooms( from Heather)
3 types of BTA
1 Blue Tuxedo Urchin
2 Clowns
1 Six line Wrasse
1 Diamond Goby

I have lost about 5 other different types….. but this only pertains to mushroom – everything else grows but maybe not as fast as they would elsewhere.

The question:
I did some research and I am wondering if my problem is coming from the Yellow Polyps: Parazoanthus gracilis emitting toxins in the water – causing the mushrooms to react. I do run carbon so I would have thought that would have taken care of it.

What do you think on this issue?

Could this Yellow Polyps be the source??

Last night I added a “Poly filter” Thanks @Joshbrookkate!! So we’ll see if that helps.

I would appreciate your help. I don’t normally write too much on the TFT but I do lurk everyday or so, so I know we have some very smart people here



Thanks!
Chris

 

[EricTMah]

When you say your water parameters are "fine"
What exactly are the numbers? Are you dosing anything in the tank?
Pictures of the "shrinking" mushrooms.
What lights are you running, and the photo period?
Placement of the mushrooms. High light, low light?
Proximity to other corals?

Sony Xperia Z3

 

[heath]

that is horrible Chris...are you feeding them, I started feeding the reef chili (since frag fest), is your water maybe too clean..I know that mushrooms will grow in not so perfect water..the frog spawn that I got from you is doing great.,.,
why don't you post your water parameter's, maybe there is something there that others will see to help...

 

[Chrismayu]

When you say your water parameters are "fine"
What exactly are the numbers? Are you dosing anything in the tank?
Pictures of the "shrinking" mushrooms.
What lights are you running, and the photo period?
Placement of the mushrooms. High light, low light?
Proximity to other corals?

I have AI Hydra about 7 inches from the tank. The Tanks is 18” high. So the mushrooms would be about 24- 25 inches from the light(off the top of my head). I have the light settings about half of the available intensity and on top of that I have a 35% reduction in light( coral acclimation). I have not tested in the past 2 months since my test kits expired, so I don’t have any recent parameters, my logic is besides the mushrooms everything else is fine. Mind you the chaeto hasn’t been growing either…… maybe too clean??? I feed every other day or so

I am not dosing. I try to keep anything simple. I have a new protein skimmer, run GFO.

Mushrooms are about 6” away from the other corals

I will post pictures later tonight and confirm the measurements.

Thanks!

 

[EricTMah]

I'd bring a sample of water to a lfs for testing if you're not planning on buying new test kits. This should be your first step.

As for water too clean. I don't believe that. My system has run zero no3 and po4 for the past year and a half and I have no problems with mushrooms.

Start with the water tests first. Then go from there.

Have you looked at your tank during lights out with a flashlight to see if there are any pests that could be bothering or eating them?

Sony Xperia Z3

 

[Chrismayu]

I'd bring a sample of water to a lfs for testing if you're not planning on buying new test kits. This should be your first step.

As for water too clean. I don't believe that. My system has run zero no3 and po4 for the past year and a half and I have no problems with mushrooms.

Start with the water tests first. Then go from there.

Have you looked at your tank during lights out with a flashlight to see if there are any pests that could be bothering or eating them?

Sony Xperia Z3

That is a good idea about the water sample to the LFS - I will do that next time I go to KW or London. I never thought of pests bothering them. I'll look into it.

 

[Skim]

Try adding some Iodide, seems to perk LPS and softies up. Oh ya, make sure you wash your hands after working on tank, you don't want something else shrinking. Lol !

 

[seb_breton]

Sometimes too much flow on them can cause trouble...my mush seem to trive in lower flow


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Chrismayu]

Okay I was wondering about the flow. Thanks

I was looking at the tank when I got home from work a day or so (4am) and I could not see any pest or anything. Also I got a test kit in the mail - reefsupplies.com I wasn't going to, but with the move coming up I thought I better incase something goes crazy after the move. I'll update some I test the tank.

 

[heath]

mine like the light, and my lights are not good ones until the canopy gets built...then

 

[Dan Cole]

Try adding some Iodide, seems to perk LPS and softies up. Oh ya, make sure you wash your hands after working on tank, you don't want something else shrinking. Lol !

Some good advice...it might not be your issue but you should be dosing iodide. Give it a try.

Dan

 

[heath]

just scanning some of the older post here, how are they doing after the move...