Rhodactis Hairy Mushroom

[Elvis636]

Hi all, quick question... I have several of the Green Rhodactis hairy mushrooms that over the last couple weeks have just shrank and closed up. Has anyone ever seen this? My tank paramters haven't changed any. I am giving normal suppliments, same as I always have. At any rate I've had these for about 2 years now and all of a sudden they are closing up. The only change is I recently swapped my 4 T12 flourescent lights for a 260W compact flourscent. Because of this my temp has gone up to about 80F. Which for my tank is the typical temp during the summer. Any ways, any ideas or advice?
Thanks...

 

[KnoxvilleIa]

light

light

was that a big increase in watts?
I'm fairly new but I have heard and seen (some of mine did)
that soft corals shrink if the light is too intense going from less to more.
my shrooms love the bottom I moved some up to the top once and the just pulled in and did not exspand.
so it could be too much light, I think mushrooms look the best when they are streaching out to get all the light they can.
just a guess

 

[Elvis636]

Yea, The T12's are about 40 watts each, so 160 total... Mine are in a 110 acrylic tank about 2 or 3" up from the bottom of the tank.... I've been contimplating moving them higher up, but i'm still not 100% sure... all in all they are a couple hundred bucks worth of musrooms! Im afraid to kill them...

 

[glaspie69]

it could be a combo of things, the lighting is probably the larger factor, the heat could also be having some negitive effect on things. I would run the lights for a lesser time period for a few weeks and see if theres any change in activity. Also you should get some fans on the lights to help lower the temp.