A warning!

[Sheol]

Never put mushroom polyps ( corallimorpharians) in a small reef. Mine I've finally taken over my entire tank & caused my hard corals to crash. Now I have a reef composed of green hairy Rhodactis & striped Discosoma. Two hard corals are struggling to live..:rolleye1::rolleye1:
They never gave hint of their invasive nature for two years. Indeed, the Discosoma was believed dead & gone years ago. Only it reapperd & then grew to over 6 inches. Suddenly, it spread all over. And the Rhodactis kill any thing they touch.
Well, there is always reef number two. I'll keep this one as a warning. Basically, though this is a crash in my eyes. Be forewarned!

Sincerely,
Matthew
R.I.P my beautiful Favias. <sigh>

[jenglish]

May I suggest Xenia next :hammer:


Many softies can grow fast and fight dirty, they need to be watched in any system that has slower growers

[Sheol]

Xenia??! Its a wimp! The 'shrooms killed all mine over a year ago:hmm6:
Nothing in the history of invasive aquarium pests prepared me for the horror these monsters have unleashed! I'd have been better adding Aptsia nems!

Matthew:rolleye1:

[ludnix]

Why don't you just frag them out? They are very easy to frag.

[drtrash]

I have heard joes juice or apipasia X will get rid of muchrooms, any truth? I have both Zenia and mushrooms and can't get ride of them.

[Sheol]

Well, I could do it, but I don't have much of a market for the Rhodactis ones. And I'd burn in Perdition if I loosed this on some unsuspecting reefer!!
Plus, I don't want a bunch of sterile rocks.
a second reef free of the scourge seems like the best answer.
or something even meaner I could put in the tank. But that would also take over my tank in the end.

Matthew

[downhillbiker]

I would suggest green star polyps. They will not only cover the rocks, but the glass, the sand, and the powerheads in your tank....

I have heard from quite a few local reefers that taking a syringe of vinegar and injecting them will kill them. You might give it a shot. If all else fails trade the rock in to your LFS and try to get clean rock to start over. Then be very selective and research each piece of coral you add to the tank.

[Sugar Magnolia]

I think a good many of us have "been there, done that" with invasive corals. Sorry about your losses. On a brighter note...time for an upgrade!!

[Sheol]

Adrienne,

Thanks for the kind words. Yes, I thought the loss of Xenia to be a good thing. I just never counted on something coming back from the dead. After I moved my tank the 1st time in '06 I thought the watermelon Discosoma gone forever. Then one little poly appeared early last year. I had become aware of the Rhodactis powers earlier, but this one is like freaking "Dawn of The Dead"! Weirdest thing I ever saw.
"Biker they have started to appear on the sand & walls now too. BTW, I had those GSPs in the early stages of my tank. They faded away & failed to flourish. Believe it or not. Maybe the Rhodactis scared them to death!
I can try vinegar but I'll have to be very careful of PH. Also, what to do with 'em when they die? I don't want to poison my fish, which are thriving ( Thank yo God, thank you, thank you...) at least.

Matthew

[OneReef]

Mushrooms, Xenia, Kenya Tree, and GSP are all the devils love children.......

[flying_dutchman]

Frag of the remaining SPS, take out the rocks, brush all the shrooms off, rinse it and keep it in a dark tub. When all rocks are clean, keep checking for shrooms and inject them with boiling water.
Good luck
Any pics?

[fasteddie99]

Can anyone ID this mushroom? Is it invasive? The reason I ask is because the rock piece it came on now has a clearish film almost all the way around it. It also collected some of the sand up with it while doing so. I was wondering if this is how mushrooms spread?

http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu209/fasteddie99/IMG_7322.jpg

[tkeracer619]

Take the rock out and to the lfs. They will probably trade it with you for clean cured live rock. Swap a few rocks at a time till your done. Next time only add what you want. I did a mixed reef and now I am tearing it apart to pull everything but sps on the rock and lps on the sand.

[reeformadness]

Looks like a bullseye mushroom (Rhodactus inchoata)

[fishybudguy]

my 260 was infested with mushroom polyps xenia and all pepermint shrimp are the only cure for aeptasia and all in all take every piece of rock out and trade it in you cant brush off any of these if there is any slime left behind they will spread again.......

[Gary Majchrzak]

Mushrooms, Xenia, Kenya Tree, and GSP are all the devils love children.......

:lolspin:

a lot of these "pests" can be controlled by environmental conditions.
Research where they naturally occur in the wild.

They often fail to become invasive (or thrive) if pristine reef conditions are maintained in an aquarium.

[ksouers]

:lolspin:

a lot of these "pests" can be controlled by environmental conditions.
Research where they naturally occur in the wild.

They often fail to become invasive (or thrive) if pristine reef conditions are maintained in an aquarium.

I'd have to agree, for the most part. I had xenia, GSP and a single green mushroom. All are gone now. They all just up and disappeared as my water quality and husbandry improved. Unfortunately I'm still stuck with the Kenya Tree. I recently tossed out a large colony, rock and all. Still got a smaller colony that at least hasn't started dropping branches yet.

[joejoe1055]

i personally like the shrooms , but not taking over

[drtrash]

So injecting hot water works? What about the other Joe's Juice, Aipataia X.... Tried scraping and pulling out Xenia but just comes back. Mushrooms are in alot of cracks so hard to get out.

[Seventy]

Tried any anemones in the tank? I'm sure they would keep the mushrooms at bay. :) But some of them can take over as well. :( The anemone side of my tank and the mushroom side are very well segregated. I can't get GSP to grow for the life of me.

[cobbobby]

Colt coral is the devil, as it will take pristine conditions and continue to take over, waaay worst than any shroom, xenia or gsp i've ever had to deal with. Even aptasia is easier to control. I've pry cut out over 30lbs of it out in the last 4yrs or so.

[Sheol]

Hmm, Maybe that is why the GSP failed to thrive that first year, as I was obsessive about my water quality ( after two fish died because of an inacurate hydrometer). I may have become too laid back ( and work takes alot of my time these days.).
Well, I totally agree with not leaving any slime or cell of these things. The actual Hydra in greek mythology has nothing on these guys when it comes to regeneration! Well, it seems that the two species tolerate each other. Too bad! Wiping each other out would have solved the problem nicely!
****
Removing the rock seems the only answer in saving this tank. But my tank is small, & I worry that my bio-load will overstress the biofilter bacteria in the LR. My tank is a 36 gallon Bowfront for those guys who don't know me. How much at a time??
Also, I hestitate to confess, but I do like the little striped devils. Just not ALL OVER the LR, the filters, the intakes, the Live Sand, the walls..
You get the picture!

Sigh,
Matthew

[Sheol]

Sorry,

My camera is broken, but a couple of months ago someone showed a pic that sums up my current dilema. Maybe someone remembers that thread?

Matthew

[Hookup]

I kill mine in a less conventional way... Challice LPS to the rescue... I get a good sized piece, put it upside down ontop of the mushroom and 8hrs later its sticky-goo for the mushroom...

[Chooch1]

Hookup,

Interesting observation. Does the chalice send out sweepers or something? Can a chalice kill a group of mushrooms? An aquarist I know used to kill aptasia by brushing the tentacles of an elegance coral against them.

Sheol,

Be glad your tank is small. I have a 180 gallon reef that has been ruined by mushrooms. Maybe we should both try a Chalice coral.:hammer:

Gary,

I absolutely agree with you but once these buggers get really established, forget it.

[bubbly]

Can't you just razor off the mushrooms and put calc / putty / superglue on the base?

Also, if the mushrooms are reproducing out of control like that, I would imagine that there are lots of nutrients in the water for them to absorb and grow from -- reducing the nutrients ought to really help in that case.

[Sheol]

Hmm, so Chalices are not just the next expensive in-thing pretty corals, they actually have utillity uses! What about Euphyllia corals, since my Bubble can't seem to hack it. Actually, in this case, I just can't get enough filtration to remove the darn Rhodactis toxins. I believe that is why my LPS are failing to thrive.
Interestingly, looks like the Stripeys are trying to smother the Rhodactis!!

Matthew

[roblack]

I highly advise anyone to NEVER place a chalice coral upside on top of another coral. Maybe an acan echinata, but chalice? Come on, no way! Not good for it even if there were no coral underneath it.

[romanr]

I've started to "thin" out my shroom farm with AptasiaX and it seems to be working pretty well.

[fasteddie99]

Wow! Lets see some pics of your overloaded shroom tanks :wave:

I have just a few mushrooms but they havent babies pop up yet.

I do however have this 1 mushroom that I found floating around the tank. It musta came with the LR somehow. Anyhow I glued it to a piece of rock and now it has this whitish/clear layer covering the rock. Is this how they spread?

Here you can see the substance on the right side of the rock around the hard worm. This is an old pic though and the rock is almost overed in it now.

http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu209/fasteddie99/IMG_7322-1.jpg

[SkyPapa]

Wow! Lets see some pics of your overloaded shroom tanks :wave:



Here ya go. I'll throw in some bubble algae too.:sad1:

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm161/skypapa/DSC_5773.jpg

[romanr]

Some before and after shots (AptesiaX). I'm basically just trying to kill those that are crowding other corals.

Before

http://web2.home.att.net/media/3.JPG

After (as you can see plenty of shrooms left to thin out)

http://home.att.net/~raul/DSCF0561.JPG

http://home.att.net/~raul/DSCF0562.JPG

http://home.att.net/~raul/DSCF0563.JPG

http://home.att.net/~raul/DSCF0564.JPG

http://home.att.net/~raul/DSCF0565.JPG

[Sheol]

Those striped guys are the ones that came back from the dead in my tank. They seem to be almost immortal, like Cnidarian cancer cells! The Rhodactis are slower spreading/growing but VERY aggressive with powerful toxins.
Took the second shot(s) before I saw your problem. At least you still have most of your other corals. Hope you wipe the little monsters out or to an acceptable population..

Matthew

[VitalApparatus]

Ack! Should I steer clear of mushrooms of any kind?