Anyone have any experience (good or bad) keeping ricordia mushrooms in a primarily sps tank?
Obviously any direct contact will result in bare sps skeleton in no time, but I'm wondering about general co-habitation in the water column. My 75G is all stonies with the exception of good sized gorgonian and 2 large ricordea colonies - each around 8-10 shrooms. I've always had trouble with montis (digis and caps) where the polyps look good but the tissue gets pale and thin, in some cases recedes to expose skeleton....but the polyps are still there. It seems to affect the older sections more where new growth around cap rims for instance looks healthy for a while, but 1/4-1/2 inch in from the edge is where the fading is starting - growth rate is pretty good though. Acros and pocis in the tank are all doing great.
I've pretty much ruled out my source water since when I rebuilt the tank 6-8 months ago, all the montis looked normal for a while. Prior the tank rebuild, they had the same ill symptons. All the normal chem numbers are right on as well. Many other folks in the area have the same montis I do, but my tank seems to be the only place they're not happy in.
That being said, I'm looking for unique features in my system that could be a potential source. One of which is keeping a couple substantial ricordea colonies. Since they're known to hammer the heck out of anything they touch, could they also be releasing their weapon into the water?
I'm planning on pulling them out to an isolation tank for a while to see if there is any change, but any stories or thoughts anyone else has would be appreciated.
I'll see if I can get some pics of what the montis look like in my tank.
Obviously any direct contact will result in bare sps skeleton in no time, but I'm wondering about general co-habitation in the water column. My 75G is all stonies with the exception of good sized gorgonian and 2 large ricordea colonies - each around 8-10 shrooms. I've always had trouble with montis (digis and caps) where the polyps look good but the tissue gets pale and thin, in some cases recedes to expose skeleton....but the polyps are still there. It seems to affect the older sections more where new growth around cap rims for instance looks healthy for a while, but 1/4-1/2 inch in from the edge is where the fading is starting - growth rate is pretty good though. Acros and pocis in the tank are all doing great.
I've pretty much ruled out my source water since when I rebuilt the tank 6-8 months ago, all the montis looked normal for a while. Prior the tank rebuild, they had the same ill symptons. All the normal chem numbers are right on as well. Many other folks in the area have the same montis I do, but my tank seems to be the only place they're not happy in.
That being said, I'm looking for unique features in my system that could be a potential source. One of which is keeping a couple substantial ricordea colonies. Since they're known to hammer the heck out of anything they touch, could they also be releasing their weapon into the water?
I'm planning on pulling them out to an isolation tank for a while to see if there is any change, but any stories or thoughts anyone else has would be appreciated.
I'll see if I can get some pics of what the montis look like in my tank.
