rootmeansquare
New member
Hello all, ex-lurker here. Had an interesting experience at LFS today and need some advice.
I headed over to the LFS this morning to purchase some mushrooms. They had a dish of rubble in a big frag tank with assorted mushrooms. Asked the guy at the shop to grab a couple of various colors for me. He grabbed me a brown ricordia (I think? if ID is incorrect, please correct me, pics to come; new to hobby!), a generic red shroom, a generic green shroom, and a generic blue shroom. All were about an inch in diameter give or take. Based one what I've seen around the forums, they all look to be pretty common varieties to the hobby.
At checkout, I asked what I should do about dipping, acclimating, etc. He said not to bother acclimating, since they were "indestructible," and also offered to "dip them in the bag" for me. Being new to the hobby, I agreed and thanked him. He asked me how long it would be until I got home. I replied 20-30 minutes. He said it should be no problem and dumped about a cap-full of ReVive coral dip (that citric acid one that smells like floor cleaner) into the little LFS baggie and sent me on my way. I got home about 25 minutes later and opened up their bag to give them a look over and add them to the tank (he said to just "plop them in there").
They had all clearly retracted, and one or two had detached from their rubble. I assumed they were just stressed from the dip, and added each to the tank in some moderate-low flow, moderate-low light areas. An hour or so later, the ricordia (I think?) had extended again and was laying flat against the LR I had placed it on, looking pretty natural from what I can tell. The other three, however, still hadn't expanded, and, as of writing this some 6 hours later, still haven't extended. They may even have shriveled a little more, but hard to tell.
They don't look like they're doing so hot, what do you guys think?
http://i.imgur.com/hmxZlJg.jpg
Green left, red right
http://i.imgur.com/rlbwGfm.jpg
Green left, red right
http://i.imgur.com/JSDrttd.jpg
Ricordia(?) expanded to about an inch across
http://i.imgur.com/hYHRSMG.jpg?1
Blue, not shriveled like green, but only a CM across - was larger than ricordia(?) at the store
All except for the ricordia(?) are less than a centimeter in diameter right now and looking pretty sad. The green one is partially detached from its rubble, and the blue one is fully detached (tucked its base into a shallow nook in the LR to keep it from floating off, as shown in image - good or bad idea?).
Water parameters, as tested last night are: 0 ppm NH3, 0 ppm NO2-, 0-5 ppm NO3- (slightly above 0 on my API test kit, but closer to 0 than 5), pH 8-8.2 (same issue as nitrate, dang kits are hard to read sometimes), Calcium 520 ppm (using instant ocean salt - this batch seems to run high on the Calcium), dKH 10, PO4 3- 0 ppm, salinity 35 ppt according to refractometer reading, temp 79-80 degrees fahrenheit.
So, shroom experts out there, what's a newbie to do? Do you think they're gonna pull through? If not, what do you think happened?
Also, as a side note: the same guy, after asking me what I had in my tank, told me to ditch my 3 miraculous hitch-hiking money cowries as soon as possible to prevent them from eating my mushrooms, and that I could bring them in for store credit. From what I've read on here, although most cowries aren't reef safe, monies are herbivores and won't bother corals. I really like the little guys (they hitchhiked in with my LR and survived all the ammonia during the cycle somehow), so I'd prefer not to get rid of them. Are they shroom-safe? Did I identify them correctly? Plopped one next to the ricordia(?) and annoyed him with the light for your viewing pleasure. Pics below:
http://i.imgur.com/JXb5kCK.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/0iRlzAg.jpg
I headed over to the LFS this morning to purchase some mushrooms. They had a dish of rubble in a big frag tank with assorted mushrooms. Asked the guy at the shop to grab a couple of various colors for me. He grabbed me a brown ricordia (I think? if ID is incorrect, please correct me, pics to come; new to hobby!), a generic red shroom, a generic green shroom, and a generic blue shroom. All were about an inch in diameter give or take. Based one what I've seen around the forums, they all look to be pretty common varieties to the hobby.
At checkout, I asked what I should do about dipping, acclimating, etc. He said not to bother acclimating, since they were "indestructible," and also offered to "dip them in the bag" for me. Being new to the hobby, I agreed and thanked him. He asked me how long it would be until I got home. I replied 20-30 minutes. He said it should be no problem and dumped about a cap-full of ReVive coral dip (that citric acid one that smells like floor cleaner) into the little LFS baggie and sent me on my way. I got home about 25 minutes later and opened up their bag to give them a look over and add them to the tank (he said to just "plop them in there").
They had all clearly retracted, and one or two had detached from their rubble. I assumed they were just stressed from the dip, and added each to the tank in some moderate-low flow, moderate-low light areas. An hour or so later, the ricordia (I think?) had extended again and was laying flat against the LR I had placed it on, looking pretty natural from what I can tell. The other three, however, still hadn't expanded, and, as of writing this some 6 hours later, still haven't extended. They may even have shriveled a little more, but hard to tell.
They don't look like they're doing so hot, what do you guys think?
http://i.imgur.com/hmxZlJg.jpg
Green left, red right
http://i.imgur.com/rlbwGfm.jpg
Green left, red right
http://i.imgur.com/JSDrttd.jpg
Ricordia(?) expanded to about an inch across
http://i.imgur.com/hYHRSMG.jpg?1
Blue, not shriveled like green, but only a CM across - was larger than ricordia(?) at the store
All except for the ricordia(?) are less than a centimeter in diameter right now and looking pretty sad. The green one is partially detached from its rubble, and the blue one is fully detached (tucked its base into a shallow nook in the LR to keep it from floating off, as shown in image - good or bad idea?).
Water parameters, as tested last night are: 0 ppm NH3, 0 ppm NO2-, 0-5 ppm NO3- (slightly above 0 on my API test kit, but closer to 0 than 5), pH 8-8.2 (same issue as nitrate, dang kits are hard to read sometimes), Calcium 520 ppm (using instant ocean salt - this batch seems to run high on the Calcium), dKH 10, PO4 3- 0 ppm, salinity 35 ppt according to refractometer reading, temp 79-80 degrees fahrenheit.
So, shroom experts out there, what's a newbie to do? Do you think they're gonna pull through? If not, what do you think happened?
Also, as a side note: the same guy, after asking me what I had in my tank, told me to ditch my 3 miraculous hitch-hiking money cowries as soon as possible to prevent them from eating my mushrooms, and that I could bring them in for store credit. From what I've read on here, although most cowries aren't reef safe, monies are herbivores and won't bother corals. I really like the little guys (they hitchhiked in with my LR and survived all the ammonia during the cycle somehow), so I'd prefer not to get rid of them. Are they shroom-safe? Did I identify them correctly? Plopped one next to the ricordia(?) and annoyed him with the light for your viewing pleasure. Pics below:
http://i.imgur.com/JXb5kCK.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/0iRlzAg.jpg
