problem with mushrooms

[seakwon]

i bought my mushroom rock like two months ago, and now the individual polyps have shrunk so small you can hardly see them, what is wrong? i have good flow in the tank but they are a little sheltered from the flow, good lighting. what do they eat to get bigger?

[seakwon]

please help : (

[Mrs.kbmdale]

First, do you have a picture to show us?? That would help, plus we all like looking at pics.
Second, what are your tank parameters and specs? S.G., temp, alk, calcium, ph, etc. Tank size, lighting, maintenance, and feeding routine? All info you can give us will help!

Brianna:rollface:

[seakwon]

never mind i guess, i dont really know how to post pictures and stuff, i have read a little more through other peoples sites and i think im just going to try feeding them some brine shrimp for a while see if that works. thanks though you can tell me how to post pictures if you do want to see it

[Mrs.kbmdale]

:rolleyes: Come on now, that sounds like a copout to me! I didn't say you HAVE to post a pic, just that it would be HELPFUL. And you didn't bother to post any of the other things I mentioned. Or even what kind of mushrooms they are! ...... Im not flaming/bashing you or anything, but you asked for help, then act bothered when I tried to help.

Not knowing WHAT kind of mushrooms you have, it has been MY personal experience that mushrooms will only eat flake food, unless it is a hairy mushroom.

And here is a link to a thread in the New to Hobby forum about posting pics, it's REALLY quite simple. I use www.Photobucket.com
How to post a pic using a free service such as Photobucket (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=531326)

If you REALLY want help, then reply with what is needed, if not, then don't reply at all.


FWIW,
Brianna:rollface:

[jasper24]

May be too much light. mushromms generally do not like a lot of flow or light. try moving them around and you will be able to tell when they are happy.

[Reefski's]

what is your lighting and how far from it are the mushrooms. they do not like bright light or much current.

carl

[pledosophy]

Do you guys really feed your mushrooms flake food ? ? ?

I have never fed them anything directly. I have added freeze dried cycopleeze, and I do add DT's phytoplankton regularlly.
What else should I be adding?

Also if it is not to much to ask, how much light is to much. I have 2.5 wpg but I am going to be going closer to 5 later this week. Am I going to kill my mushrooms.

[Mrs.kbmdale]

pledosophy,
I have 3x95w vho's over a 30L tank, so that's 9.5 wpg, but my lights are also 6" above the waters surface. Before that I had 3x96w PC's............... So, NO, you won't kill your shrooms, they might, and probably will be upset for a few days (shrivel) until they get used to the new light, but this is normal, so don't worry.

And yes, once a week I feed my mushrooms flake food. The bright red ones pictured just ABSOLUTELY love it!!!! Actually, they catch what they can every time I feed flake to the tank, which is about 3 times a week, so acually they eat that many times, though one of those times I spot feed them.(I spoil my corals) The other shrooms pictured have to be in the "mood" to eat, sometimes they will, sometimes they wont.
These 2 different mushrooms also love flake food:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/kbmdale/December%2005/S4023556.jpg

BTW, NONE of my shrooms (w/ the exception of my ric's and hairy's) eat anything else. The hairy's and ric's WILL eat ANYTHING though!

Hope this helps ease your mind a little,
Brianna:rollface:

[Mrs.kbmdale]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6457167#post6457167 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Mrs.kbmdale
The bright red ones pictured just ABSOLUTELY love it!!!! ....... The other shrooms pictured.....

:o Doh, For some reason I thought I was still in my I call this SKID ROW (http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=745945) thread, it's late, I shouldn't be posting if I can't even remember which darn thread I'm in! :lol: so I'm off to bed now!

Seakwon, I hope you get back to us with some info.....

Brianna:rollface:

[seakwon]

okay im back sorry i didnt have acces to the internet for like the past week anyways though. Okay i have a 45 gal. tall tank with a 250 watt Metal halide, and also 2 t5 actinic bulbs. the canopy is like 20 inches tall and the light is right under that about 2 inches total. the mushroom rock was in th middle of the tank sitting on the top of a rock, so it was a total of 21-24 inches from the metal halide. i have a lot of flow in the tank so i just moved it from on top in the middle to the left hand corner of the substrate. I believe they are yuma's do to the color, they used to be really cool and i bought them for too high of a price so i really want to nurse them back to life. i kno it might sound bad but i dont test my water, but sometims i'll take it into the store for one of my buddies to test. he always says everything is good but i dont know what all that stuff means. I actually never fed the mushrooms directly before, but i have lately been trying to feed them a mixture of brine, flake, and phytoplankton with an eyedropper thing. is that a good idea? is it okay to feed coral directly with a eyedropper? the one has gotten a little bigger, but the rest didnt seem to benifit? i also have a mushroom that has like the smallest leg attached and the rest is constantly getting blown away. I just want them to get big and flurish, im sorry for the attitude that i first presented, but i just feel like i dont know enough to even talk on here, i love to learn but it is also kinda hard to when everyone uses like abreviations and stuff, im not *****ing but i just feel like i dont benifit from this as much as most of you do cause i dont know anything.



lets see im not on the same computer as i was before so i dont have any pics bu i will get them soon.



thanks for all your guys help it really does meen a lot to me. also is it okay to feed a brain coral the same thing i just said i feed the mushrooms? i dont know what kind of brain it is but when i feed it, it turns into an anemone looking thing, it really is cool. i dont know if they all do that or not but yeah thanks again everyone

[seakwon]

opps sorry fo the bad language, i just talk like that i forget i have a foul mouth, anyways i thought of another question, since the fish always eat the food out of my mushrooms mouths before they can eat it would you guys suggest to get oneof those tanks that have water flow through them, but you can put them in the tank then feed them, is that a good way to cut down on water flow also and also light, i might try it, but i might not have enough room for the little tank to fit on the sand, so how far from the top can it be?

i explain the lighting in the post before.

thanks guys

[seakwon]

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f236/seakwon/100_0451.jpg

i think i did that right, if i did these are my mushrooms.

[Mrs.kbmdale]

Hey seakwon, don't worry, I didn't know a damn thing when my husband decided to "go saltwater"...... and compared to some, I still don't know a damn thing, so don't down yourself, or give up.

Yes, those I do beleive are yumas, they look bleached. Most likely they don't like the high light. You said you've moved them so that should help. Also, I know I need to top off (cause salinity has gotten too high) when my shrooms start to close and look weird. I baby everything in my tank, and I will admit, I overfeed. You do NOT have to feed them, they are photosynthetic, however, I have found that feeding them helps them grow really big and spread.

The one mushroom that is comming unattached needs to be moved to a VERY low flow area, so it can attach back, then slowly move it back to MEDIUM flow once it has reattached.

Not to be offensive, but you REALLY should get some test kits of your own, so you don't have to depend on anyone else to let you know what's going on with your tank parameters.

Feeding your corals with an eyedropper is A OK. I do it with an old medicine dropper from my kids meds. Try feeding a little for your fish first, then while they are busy eating, spot feed anything else. If that doesn't work, go buy some strawberries, save the little crate thing and just rest it over the shrooms while they are eating, then remove when they are done. Phyto, in my opinion(IMO) is meant for the TANK, as it benefits everything. I dose phyto 3-4 times a week, depending on my time constraints.
None of my mushrooms will eat brine or mysis, except my gigantic hairy mushroom, I've tried. But they love flake food.

As far as your brain goes, it SOUNDS like it is an open brain, though dont quote me on that. Brains, any inparticular, GREATLY benefit from weekly feedings of MEATY food. like scallops, squid, silversides, fish, etc. all chopped into small coral edible peices of course. IMO, as well as most others, brine are considered "potatoe chips", like snacks, unless they are freshly hatched with the egg yolk sac thingy still attached.

If you decide against buying test kits of your own, then you need to ask that buddy of yours what he's testing, and write down the results as well as the date of the results, so that when someone asks what your tank params are then you can say, well on such and such date the lfs tested my water for me and these are the results.

I would sstill like to know what your tank params are though, so go get some water tested :lol:


Hope this helps a little bit, if you need anything more you can always pm me.

Brianna:rollface:

[seakwon]

thank you soo much, that helps a lot. i will get back to you on the other things.

[Mrs.kbmdale]

Hey, glad you saw my incredibly loooooong post :lol:

I'm here off and on throughout the day, and love to help whenever I can, so don't worry about it ;)

Brianna:rollface:




EDIT: :lol: I just realized what time it is, so apparently I'm here throughout the night and into the early morning hours as well! :lol:

[seakwon]

if you want to see my tank then here is a video, you might be able to give other suggestions also, thanks.

<a href='http://media.putfile.com/100_0469' target='_blank'>Click here to watch '100_0469'</a>

[seakwon]

my parameters are as follows
Ph 8.1 -8.2
no2-0
no3-25-30
kh-11 (is this too much)
CA-320 (what should it be)
salinity-2.0

what adjustments should i make?

[Scottkelly911]

Do you top off your water with freshwater. Sometimes new aquarists forget about this and it causes the salinity to increase which will make your corals and fish unhappy and eventually kill them if it gets too high. You seem like you jumped into the hobby without too much knowledge but have a real interest in it, so this place is perfect for you. I've been doing this for a fairly longtime and still learn more and more every day! Welcome aboard.
~Scott aka Mouse

[seakwon]

i have an automatic top off system that i made it is very accurate, it gets filled once a day back to desired level with RO water.

[jbplay]

Seakwon

I bought a "mushroom rock" at a local Petco with mushrooms that looked identical to the the ones in your picture except that they were shriveled up as well. Because these were so pitiful-looking, the manager sold them to me for half price to get them out of his tank. They looked like they might be yumas and I was willing to take the chance. I brought them home and put them in my quarantine tank(20g w/2x65 pc lighting). For kicks, I tested the store's water. Nitrates were 40-50ppm. Within a day they opened up to reveal they are yumas and now, after two weeks, they are starting to color up pink/purple. I did put a squirt of phytoplankton in, but I think in my case it was the better water quality and lighting of my tank or maybe it's because I talk soothingly to them:) In a couple of weeks, I'll move them to a more shaded part of my 75g since I have mh there and see how they do.

[schristi69]

So how do you feed them flake? You grind it up, mix with water and feed with eyedropper? Same thing with other types of foods?

[GroYurOwn]

might be a little late in replying, but no one noticed his salinity is 2.0?? little high! first he needs to add freshwater, then he needs to buy a couple books...

[Opiy]

I saw that also but dont some gauges give readings in a different # then you have to use a conversion to see what is it in another reading, if that makes any sense. I know some electronic meters do that. But if it is 2.0 instead of around 1.023ish then its very high.

Good luck with those yumas.

Well I just noticed his last post was like 2 months ago hehe

[All Delight]

Is 1.023 really high? That's where I like to keep mine.

[ANNIESREEF]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6918930#post6918930 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by All Delight
Is 1.023 really high? That's where I like to keep mine.

Mine averages the same! I have no problems with fish or corals...

But I also use a hydrometer(?sp). Could be the difference.

[GroYurOwn]

1.023 is good, this guys was at 2.0