Where did my mushroom go?

[Been Mired]

I purchased my first 3 corals Tuesday night: :dance: two small mushrooms and a GSP.

I acclimated them into my 10-gallon tank, and thought I'd wait 24-48 hours to glue down the mushrooms...but now one of the mushrooms is missing! :strange:

In the first few minutes within the tank, it was shriveled up and floating around a bit in my current, so I scooped a little sand against it to pin it into a low-flow space at the edge of a rock. I didn't see it Wednesday, so I figured it was just floating around and pinned under something else.

Last night I went so far as to take every piece of rock out and dredged the top 1/8" of the entire sand bed looking for it!:deadhorse1:

Here's the list of the other tank residents, who I now consider suspects: 1 Clown, 1 Hermit, ~50 small snails, 4 pieces of live rock, and a tiny bristle worm I discovered for the first time when dredging the sand. I have a HOB filter & 2 powerheads (cleaned them each out to check for it w/ no success).

I can't think of where else to look, and I don't want my first $10 spent to have disappeared that quickly! Help!

[Mike Ordner]

What kind of mushroom? They were not attached to anything when you bought them? Also, that is a lot of snails in a 10 gallon tank. What size power heads? Could of got minced up and spit back out if they were floating around. Sorry, can't really help, just some questions.

[DoubleM 10]

you eat them?

[Been Mired]

What kind of mushroom? They were not attached to anything when you bought them? Also, that is a lot of snails in a 10 gallon tank. What size power heads? Could of got minced up and spit back out if they were floating around. Sorry, can't really help, just some questions.

They weren't attached to anything. The LFS had them loose in a top-down display, and he told me to get some super-glue gel and mount them to whatever I wanted. I got an orange and a green/blue and the green/blue one is the goner.

I agree about the large number of snails. I purchased a 10-Gal CUC from ReefCleaners.org and they sent me a *shite-ton*(that's the technical-term I think) of dwarf ceriths. When I asked, he told me "it won't seem like a lot once they disperse".

I currently have a Marineland Maxi-Jet 600 @160gph and Aquatech Powerhead @170gph running... both have pretty decent guards on the bottom I think.

[m0nkie]

it's probably just hidden in your rock works.. I have a rock of ~30 mushrooms.. after awhile 1/3 of them detached and floated around the tank..

I also lost my ricordea once. glued it down but it generated some slime and went for a ride in the current. after about 3 months, I found it attached to a back rock.. i just left it there.

mushrooms are super hardy.. i wouldn't worry too much

[kurt_n]

They weren't attached to anything. The LFS had them loose in a top-down display, and he told me to get some super-glue gel and mount them to whatever I wanted.....

That was bad advice. Mushrooms don't take to glueing very well - like not at all... as you found out. Best thing is to rubber band them or zip tie them to the rock you want them on. If they don't like the rock they're attached to, they'll release themselves and go for a ride.

It's more than likely shriveled up somewhere in a rock crevice. They get amazingly small when they're shriveled up. If it got chopped up and dispersed, that just means you'll probably have a bunch of them sprouting up about 4-6 months from now! They're pretty indestructable.

[shesacharmer]

Those Dwarf Ceriths are interesting. Mine disperse during the day but towards dinner time they show up in droves...and when I do feed the tank at night the Nassarius pop out of the sand like piranha!

[Azedenkae]

Yeah I agree, do not ever glue down a motile organism... they don't take well to it.

[whosurcaddie]

Best way to get a shroom attached to rock is to put some rubble in a tupperware container and put the shroom in. Then cover the container with some netting and secure the netting. Set it at the bottom of your tank after a few days it will attach to the rubble then you can place it where you like.

[Been Mired]

Thanks for all the help guys.

I must have some bad luck as I have now lost a 10-polyp colony of "mint chocolate chip" zoas too... it was glued pretty securely to the top of a live rock, and this morning it was gone. :(

Is "Big Herm" at fault here? I can't think of anything else in this tiny tank that could be making these disappear.

[Aurori]

Some mushrooms move a lot and others will just stay put. I have had mine disappear on me for a month only to turn a rock and find it living and being happy. As for more of your stuff missing, do you have a fish or anything like that in the tank that could be a coral nipper? I know you have a small tank but I've seen people put fish that don't belong in a tank that size or with corals before and ask the same thing.

[Aurori]

Best way to get a shroom attached to rock is to put some rubble in a tupperware container and put the shroom in. Then cover the container with some netting and secure the netting. Set it at the bottom of your tank after a few days it will attach to the rubble then you can place it where you like.

ah i never thought of this! next one i get im going to try this, maybe then i can have some in where i want rather than hoping they stay placed only to find they want a spot on the other side of the tank :facepalm:

[coralsnaked]

Like the "Terminator" I'll be back. Don't worry when you least expect it there it'll be attached in his happy spot and just a blooming away. Even the power head is no problem. Run one thru there and then in time you'll have them sprouting up everywhere. And man are they hard to get rid of if you decide too.

[whosurcaddie]

Like the "Terminator" I'll be back. Don't worry when you least expect it there it'll be attached in his happy spot and just a blooming away. Even the power head is no problem. Run one thru there and then in time you'll have them sprouting up everywhere. And man are they hard to get rid of if you decide too.

That's the truth! You can put one in a blender then dump it in your tank and BAM instant mushroom reef.