Mushrooms overrunning SPSs

[Larry Soderblom]

Dear fellow SPSers,
I posted this question to the Corallimorlphians and got lots of readers but only 1 response; I suspect that I get little sympathy from my mushroom friends. I am re-posting here hoping some of you may have worked on this problem.
Thanks

"I have a 170G system of mostly SPS with mixed with a variety of zoes and mushrooms. I have a problem with a dark grey-green Ricordea that has turned into a spreading infestation. It grows rapidly and invades and damages my SPS colonies. I have tried to stop its expansion by manual pruning and covering sections of it with kalk-paste; it seems to spread even faster. I have one zoe that I find will cover the rock and smoother them out (and this zoe is benign to other corals). Any good ideas on how to control/eradicate my ricordea-weed? I am near the point of replacing all the live rock and replanting clean frags of all my corals. Thanks for any good ideas!"

[mos90]

just remove them. easy fix.

[celamb89]

sounds like a hard one... you can take out the rock, pull the shrooms and then scrape with some tools the rock... If you leave a small piece of it, it may come back... do it in intervals to not harm the SPS colonies... i.e. pull the shrooms when in the tank, then take out the rock with the colony, scrape the rock and put it back in..

[jpacker1508]

Shouldn't the shrooms be very intolerant of the flow that the SPS want? Have you thought about increasing flow or redirecting some of the flow. Just a thought.

[wonrib00]

Ya, those shroom guys just dont get it. Any way you can put a rock over the top of them for a month or so? You can try to inject them with AptasiaX, but make sure the flow it turned off until you siphon out the left over goopy shroom.

[Patrick Cox]

Note to self - Don't put any mushrooms in my new SPS tank. :D

Now for something useful - I used peroxide to kill off some bubble algae that was in my tank. I wonder if that would work on mushrooms? I just applied it outside of the tank with a paint brush and then later a toothbrush to really get all of the small bits.

Good luck!

[mos90]

i have had mushrooms with sps coral for a long time. i separate the shrooms from the main rocks on their own rocks . if they start to grow to close i move them.

[jedheuer]

I have the same problem and i cant offer a solution yet. But I can say I tried a chocolate chip star fish but it ate no mushrooms. I tried a raccoon butterfly and it ate no mushrooms. I tried injecting with a needle tipped syringe with calcium chloride and this killed some mushrooms but it is slow and tedious.

My next experiment will be to put a piece of hydnophora coral next to the mushrooms I want to kill. This is a very aggressive coral and I heard it will fry the mushrooms. I have not tried it yet though.

Good luck and post back here if you find a solution please! My thought is there has to be an organism that eats mushrooms. This would be the best solution (as long as it doesnt eat SPS).

[jedheuer]

I have the same problem and i cant offer a solution yet. But I can say I tried a chocolate chip star fish but it ate no mushrooms. I tried a raccoon butterfly and it ate no mushrooms. I tried injecting with a needle tipped syringe with calcium chloride and this killed some mushrooms but it is slow and tedious.

My next experiment will be to put a piece of hydnophora coral next to the mushrooms I want to kill. This is a very aggressive coral and I heard it will fry the mushrooms. I have not tried it yet though.

Good luck and post back here if you find a solution please! My thought is there has to be an organism that eats mushrooms. This would be the best solution (as long as it doesnt eat SPS).

[wonrib00]

What about a Euphyllia? Anyone try that, yet?

[Larry Soderblom]

I have several types of horn coral (hydnophora)...I'll give it a try. Thanks!

[REEF SMAC]

Shouldn't the shrooms be very intolerant of the flow that the SPS want? Have you thought about increasing flow or redirecting some of the flow. Just a thought.

This has worked for me. ^^^


The more my lighting and flow increased the more my mushrooms decreased.
The few that I have left hide near the bottom in the shade and away from the flow.

They are usually fairly easy to remove if you can grab them by the base with some tweezers.

[jedheuer]

This has worked for me. ^^^


The more my lighting and flow increased the more my mushrooms decreased.
The few that I have left hide near the bottom in the shade and away from the flow.

They are usually fairly easy to remove if you can grab them by the base with some tweezers.

How much flow are we talking here? What worked for you? Did you use direct flow or a broader flow pattern? I have 2 mp40s in my 120 gallon that are on reef crest program and it is still not enough flow for the mushrooms to leave!

[Ratkiller]

Useing a laser works for me.

[REEF SMAC]

How much flow are we talking here? What worked for you? Did you use direct flow or a broader flow pattern? I have 2 mp40s in my 120 gallon that are on reef crest program and it is still not enough flow for the mushrooms to leave!

I think it's more of a combination of things including the flow. I think I'm running a little more flow than you but not much. I think intense lighting has a large affect as well. All my remaining mushrooms are hiding low in my tank and in the shade. I think they also suffer from low nutrient water. They just don't seem to proliferate like they did when my NO3 and PO4 were higher. I can't really narrow it down to any one particular thing. They just have a hard time living in my tank now for some reason.

Pulling them off the rocks when they are fully inflated quickly with some angled tweezers, pinching them at the base, peeling them off all in one piece, before they have a chance to shrivel up. This works the best for quickly removing the ones that move to where you don't want them.

[jedheuer]

Laser looks promising. I found this video on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Cbk7mA5PuAQ

[Larry Soderblom]

Lasers...thanks for the great idea; but it'll need lots of caution! Question is whether the kill will be complete or the frags will multiply even more. I'll try it and post my findings.

[NewbyReefer]

My next experiment will be to put a piece of hydnophora coral next to the mushrooms I want to kill. This is a very aggressive coral and I heard it will fry the mushrooms. I have not tried it yet though.


This will not work. A local reefer put one near a rock covered in yuma's and he woke up the next day to see the yuma completely rapped around the hydnophora. He had to throw it up on his frag rack and it still is not 100%

[crawlerman]

I just asked the same question at my LFS and he told me to inject them with a small amount of lemon juice. Haven't tried it yet, I'm just not sure about putting lemon juice in my reef.

[tapio]

Dear fellow SPSers,
I posted this question to the Corallimorlphians and got lots of readers but only 1 response; I suspect that I get little sympathy from my mushroom friends. I am re-posting here hoping some of you may have worked on this problem.
"
When I started way back early 90's I loved the mushrooms too. Then got into SPS and LPS. In my newer systems I regard all kinds of mushrooms as a pest and do everything to get rid of them (sorry 'shroom lovers). They spread fast and kill bases of SPS. I use 10" sharp end forceps to pull them out. Scratch pull etc. They still come back sometimes, like aiptaisia. Mushhroom free SPS tanks are easier to take care of.

[phenom5]

I just asked the same question at my LFS and he told me to inject them with a small amount of lemon juice. Haven't tried it yet, I'm just not sure about putting lemon juice in my reef.

Doesn't work. Neither does injecting them with hot vinegar. Kalk paste works the best out of the things I've tried, but even it is kinda hit or miss.

I'm really contemplating unmounting all of my SPS, and swapping out my LR. Not looking forward to that, but...

[jedheuer]

Another thing i heard was that a scribbled rabbit fish would eat them. I cant confirm this though, as I have never tried it. Probably depends on the individual fish.

[Chipie]

I used vinegar on mine and it killed most of them. A second round will take the rest of them out . :)

[coralville]

Anyone try the majano wand for mushrooms?

[phenom5]

About too, once it arrives from MaeineDepot...

[potterjon]

I don't think the flow thing works as I have some mushrooms growing on my sps right in front of my vortech. I will just frag them off and try to sell them as mushroom frags. :(

[jg93]

I've tried just about everything to kill mushrooms. In the end, I needed to scrape the rock - or even better cut it with bone cutters. If you leave anything behind not only will the mushroom re-grow but often they'll multiply.