Kill Mushrooms

[tnias]

My 250 gallon tank is overrun by the mushrooms I need to get rid of them. I have searched and searched but all the kill mushrooms choices mostly say cook them for a couple months so you keep the rock live. My rock is 10+ years old and at the moment my fish count is low but this tank is in my office lobby and I don’t want the tank empty for months. A month or two is fine but not several months. I want to pull the fish out and empty my tank. If I don’t care about preserving the live nature of the rocks will the mushrooms die if they are dried out? If so is there time I should keep them dry? Any advice is appreciated.

 

[T Diddy]

You could try cutting them out, and then kalk paste over the nubs. You might also try a chocolate chip starfish, or some large angelfish…not sure what kind of fish you have now, but it’s worth a shot.

 

[jason2459]

I've been told I have a mushroom problem too! It's only a problem if you admit it!

How stable is your rocks. I scrape and suck out problem ones

Rebuild and recovery of a dead tank

Yeah, he knows he's in trouble. Like a dog in trouble he just saw me, put his head down, and backed up to hide behind that rock. lol

forums.reefcentral.com

 

[tnias]

The mushrooms are almost double what they are in this video I made for a friends kid. No way you could tackle it manually. Sorry this was 3 years ago. Most of the monti is dead cause the mushrooms are killing it.

 

[T Diddy]

Maybe a rigid straw/pipe attached to a siphon hose…scrape and suction into a bucket?

 

[jason2459]

Maybe a rigid straw/pipe attached to a siphon hose…scrape and suction into a bucket?

That's what I do as needed.

 

[griss]

The mushrooms are almost double what they are in this video I made for a friends kid. No way you could tackle it manually. Sorry this was 3 years ago. Most of the monti is dead cause the mushrooms are killing it.

Holy Mishroom, that’s crazy

 

[reefing102]

I have to admit, that actually looks pretty sweet.

A few options have been stated, but I’m curious, would it be an option to just switch out the rocks. For example sell some of the rocks of mushrooms off (price them cheap and they’ll sell quickly I’d imagine) and then just replace with new rocks? Could always cook the new rock in the sump for a bit so hopefully it avoids any new ugly phase issues

 

[kharmaguru]

Would have been a great job for Reef Delete, if it had actually worked. In fact maybe contact ITC Reef Culture and tell them you have a challenge to rejuvenate their image lol (at their expense of course).

 

[Timfish]

I'd use steel straws and water changes (not more than 10% weekly or every other week), letting the system recover some between removal sessions. Keep in mind you are drasticly changing the foodwebs in your system and I would be trying to add some more corals as room is made.. There's almost certainly a lot of beneficial cryptic sponges and other stuff on the back side of the rock I would go to great lengths to save. Worst case scenario I would remove a rock keep it submerged in a bucket of aquarium water while scraping the mushrooms off with a knife, rinse the rock in a bucket of clean aquarium water and return to the tank,

 

[T Diddy]

I'd use steel straws and water changes (not more than 10% weekly or every other week), letting the system recover some between removal sessions. Keep in mind you are drasticly changing the foodwebs in your system and I would be trying to add some more corals as room is made.. There's almost certainly a lot of beneficial cryptic sponges and other stuff on the back side of the rock I would go to great lengths to save. Worst case scenario I would remove a rock keep it submerged in a bucket of aquarium water while scraping the mushrooms off with a knife, rinse the rock in a bucket of clean aquarium water and return to the tank,

That’s a great idea with the stainless straws…the angled tip is perfect!

 

[shred5]

Really not much you can do in my opinion.
The problem is anything you do will probably leave little parts behind. If 4 little parts of the foot are left behind you now have 4 mushrooms instead of one. I have seen mushroom rock put in the dark for months and only to have them comeback later when they get a little light. I know mushrooms became the rage for a while it is why old timers really did not jump on it.

My only suggestion is pull the rock out one by one and destroy them. I would not do it all at once either.
Even this may not work. All it takes is one to slip through or a small part.

Same with GSP.
I am fighting that in Sandys tank. We got some branching GSP which is supposed to be a slower grower. But slower than what? Nano tank so it should be easy to take care of. Wrong!
I have small wire brushes. I pull off as mush as possible and scrub with the small wire brushes. I think I got everything and after a week little spots everywhere come back. Any little hole I could not get too, any little overhang in the rock. It is only a small section and I can not kill the stuff.