Mushroom Coral Dying - Covered in something slimy please help ID and correct!

Honda619 · 07/25/2013, 02:42 PM

Hey Everyone,

So I have a little problem that seems to be stumping everyone I have already approached...Im really hoping someone here has seen or dealt with this before and can help me identify and correct this problem before it gets any worse!

I left out of town for the weekend and when I returned I noticed that my mushroom coral rock (just a particular rock that was once covered in thriving mushrooms!) has a strange gunk like or slime type of substance covering many of the remaining mushrooms. I started with about 40 + and now Im down to about 10. They are literally disappearing before my eyes. The strange thing is, my water tests are all golden! AKA perfect! No power outages or anything unusual at my place while I was gone.

I preformed a 40% water change and siphoned off all of the stuff that I could find...sure enough, the next day it was back and was killing the remaining mushrooms. So I siphoned the rock again and did another water test (perfect).

I went to Aquatouch and had them do a water test and showed several employees videos and pictures I took and no one was able to identify this stuff. My water test was also perfect that time too.

So far I have only lost mushrooms and half of a Ricordia that was very near the mushroom covered rock. I moved it and I think it will recover (its the orange one in the video and pics).

I posted 3 short videos on youtube to give everyone a better idea of the movement and characteristics of this substance. Here are the links,

http://youtu.be/bkOI6jQcDWQ

http://youtu.be/El_qrkARiVA

http://youtu.be/gi0ZwTz0cU4

I do have a green hair algae problem that I am trying to get under control, but that has been a battle for several weeks now so I do not think that plays a factor in this issue. I might be off with that assumption though.

Tank Info:

The tank is a 72 gallon bow with a 10 or 15 gallon sump, 80-90 pounds of LR, 80-ish pounds of sand (about 3 to 4 inches deep in most areas), lights are t5 HO 48" 4 bulb, undersized 65 coralife skimmer (upgrade in progress as with sump), coralife 36w UV light.

Tank was purchased running but without fish about 4 months ago. I replaced all the sand and added about 15 pounds of LR.

It is overstocked but I'm in the process of transferring the inhabitants to a 130 half cylinder in the next week or two. Will be upgrading most equipment at that time as well. Just finishing my stand build now.

Stock list: ALL Juvenile - Hippo, 3 Bartletts, Six Line, 2 Sabe clowns, and a firefish.

CUC - 2 emeralds, 15 or so hermits, 6 or so assorted snails, peppermint shrimp, and Skunk cleaner shrimp.

Water temp is pretty consistent at 81. Lights only run for 7 hours per day.

Multiple corals, lps and sps...only the mushrooms are being killed off and half of a single ricordia.

Really could use some help with this so please don't hesitate to throw out some ideas!

Thanks in advance!

dream54ing · 07/25/2013, 03:15 PM

IMO, you should never do such a large water change. too quick of a change might shock certain stuff.
Although that's not the cause, mushrooms are pretty hardy for them to die off that quick.

anyone taking care of the tank over the weekend?
were lights on? timers?
did you add anything new the week before you left?

tatuaje08 · 07/25/2013, 03:18 PM

Anything bothering them? Maybe at night?

Honda619 · 07/25/2013, 04:05 PM

Thank you Dream54ing and Tatuaje08

I thought a little more about the actual amount of water that was changed and it was probably closer to 30% but still a guess...I don't know how to determine how much water is actually in the tank, given the LR and sand.

I took exactly 20 gallons out and replaced with the same. What would you say that equates to in total percentage of water changed? Is there a formula to determine this?

My girlfriend was taking care of the tank while I was away. She is very good about it and knows what to do/not do. I trust that she would have told me if something happened. Lights are on timers, and I added the fire fish, and 10 hermits, and an unusual looking emerald crab about 10 days prior. The emerald I got is more of a tan/pinkish color, and I probably should not have been so easily persuaded to purchase it...I have since spoken with AT (LFS mentioned above) and they will be taking it back to replace with a regular variety of emerald crab. They said it is likely an impostor that was mistakenly collected and sold.

I have not seen that crab near any of the mushrooms but I have only checked a few times after dark so that might be when (if at all) it is pestering the mushrooms.

Do you think that the unusually colored emerald crab could be a problem?

markmiller639 · 07/25/2013, 05:16 PM

The slime is probably the mushroom's defense system trying to protect itself from what ever is bothering it.

DaddyMav · 07/25/2013, 05:58 PM

What sort of flow do you have in the tank? I've had something similar happen and I think it was a cyano problem that got worse due to improper flow. Just throwing that out there.

tatuaje08 · 07/25/2013, 09:36 PM

D you have any other coral that also have slime on them?

tatuaje08 · 07/25/2013, 09:38 PM

One other thing..... This slime wouldn't necessarily show up in water tests, so I'm not surprised your water tests good.

Honda619 · 07/27/2013, 05:18 PM

Thanks everyone,

No slime on anything else in the tank outside of the mushrooms on a particular rock and that single Ricordia (which I'm pretty sure is toast). Nothing seems to be bothering them either from what I have observed. But still a gamble.

As for flow, I don't know that it's too slow but could probably use more. I have two Koralia's now but should get another in the next few days when I have a chance. I have a 240 and a 750 now. I also have a SEIO M1500 that I have tried to setup in the past without success. It just kicked up way too much sand wherever I attempted to position it. It came with the tank and is missing all the mounts so i have to figure out if I should try it with new mounts or buy another of some type. But I can't afford much right now because all my fish-cash is tied up in a tank build. I can probably afford something around 50 bucks if anyone has some suggestions I'm open to pretty much anything.

To update on the current status,

For now it seems that the damage has been done so I will just continue to observe and check water this weekend. I'm still not sure what it was or how it even happened though. But I'm still new to this and learning as I go along.

Unfortunately I lost a few more, but did manage to stop it from progressing or possibly stop it all together. I took a water test into Carlos at Aquarius who has been extremely helpful. I need to keep checking things often and will be back to see Carlos again in the next day or two depending on what I see this weekend. I did some additional siphoning along with iodine soaking and have been adding pH/KH buffer since Carlos noted that my Alkalinity/dKH was at 8. For some reason the prior tests had not picked up on that.

Thanks again for the quick help!

07/25/2013, 03:15 PM	#2
dream54ing Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: n. phoenix Posts: 2,356	IMO, you should never do such a large water change. too quick of a change might shock certain stuff. Although that's not the cause, mushrooms are pretty hardy for them to die off that quick. anyone taking care of the tank over the weekend? were lights on? timers? did you add anything new the week before you left? __________________ 450 peninsula Current Tank Info: 96x36x30

07/25/2013, 05:58 PM	#6
DaddyMav Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: N. Phoenix Posts: 72	What sort of flow do you have in the tank? I've had something similar happen and I think it was a cyano problem that got worse due to improper flow. Just throwing that out there. __________________ 55gal single corner overflow DT w/ 10gal refugium/sump. 4x54w T5HO, Coralife 125 SuperSkimmer, 2x Koralia 3s Current Tank Info: Standard 55gal with single corner overflow. 10gal sump. 4x54w T5HO.

07/25/2013, 03:18 PM	#3
tatuaje08 Registered Member. Join Date: May 2013 Location: tempe, az Posts: 867	Anything bothering them? Maybe at night?

07/25/2013, 04:05 PM	#4
Honda619 Registered Member Join Date: May 2013 Location: Phoenix Posts: 110	Thank you Dream54ing and Tatuaje08 I thought a little more about the actual amount of water that was changed and it was probably closer to 30% but still a guess...I don't know how to determine how much water is actually in the tank, given the LR and sand. I took exactly 20 gallons out and replaced with the same. What would you say that equates to in total percentage of water changed? Is there a formula to determine this? My girlfriend was taking care of the tank while I was away. She is very good about it and knows what to do/not do. I trust that she would have told me if something happened. Lights are on timers, and I added the fire fish, and 10 hermits, and an unusual looking emerald crab about 10 days prior. The emerald I got is more of a tan/pinkish color, and I probably should not have been so easily persuaded to purchase it...I have since spoken with AT (LFS mentioned above) and they will be taking it back to replace with a regular variety of emerald crab. They said it is likely an impostor that was mistakenly collected and sold. I have not seen that crab near any of the mushrooms but I have only checked a few times after dark so that might be when (if at all) it is pestering the mushrooms. Do you think that the unusually colored emerald crab could be a problem?

07/25/2013, 05:16 PM	#5
markmiller639 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: EAST MESA Posts: 25	The slime is probably the mushroom's defense system trying to protect itself from what ever is bothering it.

07/25/2013, 09:36 PM	#7
tatuaje08 Registered Member. Join Date: May 2013 Location: tempe, az Posts: 867	D you have any other coral that also have slime on them?

07/25/2013, 09:38 PM	#8
tatuaje08 Registered Member. Join Date: May 2013 Location: tempe, az Posts: 867	One other thing..... This slime wouldn't necessarily show up in water tests, so I'm not surprised your water tests good.

07/27/2013, 05:18 PM	#9
Honda619 Registered Member Join Date: May 2013 Location: Phoenix Posts: 110	Thanks everyone, No slime on anything else in the tank outside of the mushrooms on a particular rock and that single Ricordia (which I'm pretty sure is toast). Nothing seems to be bothering them either from what I have observed. But still a gamble. As for flow, I don't know that it's too slow but could probably use more. I have two Koralia's now but should get another in the next few days when I have a chance. I have a 240 and a 750 now. I also have a SEIO M1500 that I have tried to setup in the past without success. It just kicked up way too much sand wherever I attempted to position it. It came with the tank and is missing all the mounts so i have to figure out if I should try it with new mounts or buy another of some type. But I can't afford much right now because all my fish-cash is tied up in a tank build. I can probably afford something around 50 bucks if anyone has some suggestions I'm open to pretty much anything. To update on the current status, For now it seems that the damage has been done so I will just continue to observe and check water this weekend. I'm still not sure what it was or how it even happened though. But I'm still new to this and learning as I go along. Unfortunately I lost a few more, but did manage to stop it from progressing or possibly stop it all together. I took a water test into Carlos at Aquarius who has been extremely helpful. I need to keep checking things often and will be back to see Carlos again in the next day or two depending on what I see this weekend. I did some additional siphoning along with iodine soaking and have been adding pH/KH buffer since Carlos noted that my Alkalinity/dKH was at 8. For some reason the prior tests had not picked up on that. Thanks again for the quick help!