Help! Floating 'shroom

[joshola]

Hey all,

I just noticed a baby mushroom was sitting on my sandbed -- obviously came loose from its rock and got carried down. I tried gently scooping it up with tongs and placing it back on the rocks, but it's so small the current picks it up. Is it a goner? Should I turn off my flow and try to let it reattach?

If it's dead, will it be good eats for my hermits eat it, or should I get rid of it?

 

[Jojoyojimbi]

get a little plastic cup, put a couple pieces of rubble in the bottom and sink it in a secluded area so it can attach to a piece of rock

 

[Frick-n-Frags]

If it still looks like a mushroom(vs some fungused ball of yuck) it is just fine. no need to worry about death or killing it

you can herd it into a quiet corner and wait for it to attach to some sand/rubble, then superglue that to something bigger.
I think you will find that shrooms are amazingly resilient. I find them all over the tank after they have dropped off because they didn't like where they were at.

In hindsight, the original place it blew to was probably just as good a place as anywhere else. they can survive several months in a dark sump on the bottom of a rock (yes I did this to several leapers that I never saw where they re-attached) they get clear white, but then by magic over a month they turn blue or red again, whatever once back in the DT.

or you can get proactive and net it to a piece of rock with bridal veil until it attaches

I have had about a 50% success rate with just supergluing the shroom, so I don't do that much anymore

 

[joshola]

Thanks for the tips. Got a cup w/rubble and the shroom's safe from the current. I'm pullin' for her/him/it!

 

[Europa13]

I'm sure it will be just fine. It's normal for mushrooms to detach. They do this to seek out better or less lighting, different flow, and to simply spread throughout the tank when they are doing well and naturally reproducing. I have a few mushroom rocks, and when they start getting too full, some will detach and drift away. I used to worry about it and try to get them to stick to a rock, now I just let them do their thing. I have several that have moved to the back of the aquarium and even into caves. Next time you can just leave it, it will find a new home on its own.

 

[drummereef]

It will be fine. Either put it in a cup with some rubble, or you can use some bridal veil material to keep it secured to the rock. It should attach itself in no time.