Something ate my mushrooms.

[Bowdowntome]

This being my first post here Id like to start off by saying hi and thanks in advance for any help you can give and hopefully I will be able to help some others. My question is what could have ate my mushrooms. I just set the tank up last night with a few mushrooms on L/R frags and anouther big chunk of L/R. I got in from work and there were a lot of bristle worms crawling on the top of the sand. One was a good 3 inches and I pulled it out. There was anouther "thing" in there to it was about an nch and a half or so and it was some sort of white worm. It faded to a greyish black on one end. Whatever it is that ate my shrooms I want dead. Any ideas on what it could have been?
Thanks people.

[orionsmamma]

This is a newly set up tank? If I am reading your post correctly, you set the tank up last night and threw in some corals?

There is a possibility that they melted away due to the tank not being cycled. I suggest you ignore the tank for a bit, and settle yourself in to do some reading. There are some good articles at the top of the newbie forum that you should check out first.

Good Luck.
Donna

[bertoni]

[welcome]

We'd need some picture to id the worms, but they usually aren't a species that would eat mushrooms.

How long has the tank been set up? What are the basic water parameters?

[Bowdowntome]

Thanks for the quick reply. The tank did get cloudy so with it not being cycled I immediatly thought it could be a horrible ammo. spike. It tested 0 ammo 0 and 0 for nitrate and nitrite. I know about cycling (not trying to sound like a know it all) and all that but all this was given to me a a partial trade for all my f/w equipment and I had no other place to put it. So it has only been set up over night.

[bertoni]

Setting up a tank that way can work, but it's a bit of a gamble. Do you know what made the water cloudy? There might have been some toxin, etc, released by a sponge, etc.

If you can get a free mushroom, you could try again in a few weeks. I don't think we're going to be able to find the cause of death, but the odds are in favor of some sort of stress rather than predation. Not positive either way, though.

[Bowdowntome]

There are a couple of small (dime or so sized) sponges but can one or two release that much toxin? I had the same cloudyness problem with my 55 s/w a few months ago but it was FOWLR. I do use tap water so that may cause the cloudyness. I know it isnt good to use it but Ro wasnt financialy feasible.

[bertoni]

Well, sponges can be highly toxic. They don't have much else for defense. I would do a series of 25% water changes on the tank, and then wait for a few weeks before adding any more animals.

Acclimation could have been an issue, but mushrooms are usually pretty tough in that regard, I think.

[Bowdowntome]

Thanks. I had started with the water changes last night as a precaution. I diddnt know that about sponges though. Thats good to know. So you think the shrooms may bounce back?

[bertoni]

They can be amazingly tough. I would watch for any signs of predation. A little bit of time after light-out might help, although I think predation is a long-shot. A red-filtered flashlight might be useful, although I usually work with the ambient light.

[Bowdowntome]

Thanks Ill do that tonight. I appreciate the help.

[Bowdowntome]

well after a few nights of watching I saw no signs of predatition I saw nothing so Ill chalk it up to me screwing something up. I did notice some temp. fluctations so Im sure that could cause it and Ill be looking for a new heater.

Thanks.
Kerry Kessler

[bertoni]

Well, not having a predator is good. Hope that's true. Good luck!