Ricordea eating predator

[karimwassef]

My tank has been overrun by Ricordea that are reproducing at an insane rate... Covering and killing coral from the sand floor up to the sps in the wave zone.

I cannot take the rocks out and manually remove them since my reefscape is made of concrete structures with multiple corals growing on each one. If the tank is completely overrun, it won't matter... but until then.

The need is for a predator that prefers the soft meaty mushrooms without hurting my LPS or SPS. If they happen to eat all softies (Xenia, button, GSP, zoanthids, etc...) in the tank, I'm ok with that (sad to say). I do have a rich cuc with shrimp and hermit crabs that I'd like to keep alive unless there is no other option.

What do you recommend? An angel? Peppermint shrimp?

This is my last attempt at lazy removal before I use kalk paste and the electric zapper (both of which are also very hard to do due to my complex reef structure).

Constraints - eats mushroom coral primarily. Will not eat sps or lps or crustaceans.

 

[karimwassef]

Actually.. the next pest in line is Xenia.. closely followed by GSP.. so I'd say anything that would peal those back off the walls would be just as welcome.

Oh - would rather it not eat my other fish

and not be too expensive...

 

[PalaciosAn]

Sounds lik you could start cutting them off the rock and sell them. Ricordea's can go for $10 and up depending on the color and availability. With a razor blade I would cut them as close to the rock as possible. Let them heal up and sell them.

They will grow back, you could build a small puddy doam to cover the small bits that are left. No light = no life, start with the ones closest to your SPS.

 

[karimwassef]

I do. I rip them, slice them, grind them. It's hard because of the structure of my reef so I can only get them when they're high enough or accessible enough.

I let a few linger on the bottom and they've grown to epidemic levels again.

So - mechanical removal is very difficult... I need a death agent to go down there are take care of these pests.

 

[windlasher]

Pics Please - Sounds interesting.

 

[karimwassef]

I hate taking pictures of them. In this video you can see them on the right at 2:15.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qpUkbAJNyFw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

You see it again through the video but I try to avoid them. at 2:45, you see them creeping up a rockface completely covering it. A few seconds later, you see it on the opposite wall creeping up that face.

At 4:00, you see one reaching and killing my sps.

Again at 4:25.

 

[karimwassef]

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/15E27C96-6759-4AA3-B36F-8DA49F62C946_zpscifgz6jk.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/15E27C96-6759-4AA3-B36F-8DA49F62C946_zpscifgz6jk.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 15E27C96-6759-4AA3-B36F-8DA49F62C946_zpscifgz6jk.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/2C9771B7-F05A-4591-B688-DB3EF3D5389C_zpsyq1hi4t8.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/2C9771B7-F05A-4591-B688-DB3EF3D5389C_zpsyq1hi4t8.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 2C9771B7-F05A-4591-B688-DB3EF3D5389C_zpsyq1hi4t8.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/34567D46-3581-47E0-9B75-ABFC9BFF6227_zps2h5cb9sl.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/34567D46-3581-47E0-9B75-ABFC9BFF6227_zps2h5cb9sl.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 34567D46-3581-47E0-9B75-ABFC9BFF6227_zps2h5cb9sl.jpg"/></a>

A few months ago, I removed one rock that I could...

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/56FB9157-68D8-49EE-9F71-58DB662B93EC_zpsdtm4g6mj.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/56FB9157-68D8-49EE-9F71-58DB662B93EC_zpsdtm4g6mj.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 56FB9157-68D8-49EE-9F71-58DB662B93EC_zpsdtm4g6mj.jpg"/></a>

so sad

 

[CrayolaViolence]

I'm pretty sure those are not ricordea, but hairy mushrooms. Ricordea are very distinct.

 

[karimwassef]

Ok. Remember that all these pics are under MH only. Under LED, they glow very bright and each tentacle is more visible & round.

But whatever they are... Hairy mushroom muncher wanted then.

 

[PalaciosAn]

Definitely green hairy mushrooms, but I know that is not the point. I am not aware of anything that is going to eat them but leave your LPS and SPS alone. I would think that most species that would possibly go after your mushrooms will likely go after everything else as well. In fact, they may go after the other corals first before going after the mushrooms.

They need light to live and I know mushrooms are resourceful at getting light.

I would try to cut away at them and possibly try treating them like aiptasia after cutting them they will be stressed out then hit them up with a slurry of kalkwasser. You can try the slurry without cutting them and shoot it into their mouth. That large number of mushrooms at the bottom, take them to your LFS they should give you some store credit for them.

Even if you do find something that eats mushrooms I fear you will have a bigger issue on your hand's afterwords.

 

[slgcmg]

I had some that hold set on on monitpora that I broke off this weekend and sold for $10 each.

 

[JZinCO]

Pep shrimps like Ric's and maybe hair mushrooms. My peppermint shrimp love to eat the the bulbous parts of Ric's but don't care about my smooth mushrooms so I think the hairy bits of hairy mushrooms could get their attention.

But once they decide corals are yummy... might be hard to control the shrimp.

Also if you need a repository for them you can mail them to me

 

[FullBoreReefer]

I am have the same issue, taking over and stinging some of my other corals, ugh!

 

[karimwassef]

Mechanical removal is just difficult because my tank is built in and the structure is complex.

 

[FullBoreReefer]

I have been resorting to manual removal and then covering what's left with reef epoxy. Mine is also in wall and makes it a real pain. It's getting real old and time consuming.

 

[moondoggy4]

I have found if you aim a power head at the mushroom and agate them and not blast them off they will detach and not leave a foot, if you blast them off they will leave a foot and start the whole process over again.

 

[LED Jack]

Hairy Mushrooms

 

[hbrochs]

I don't have a fix for the mushrooms, but I just eradicated Green Star Polyp and Xenia in my tank by dosing Fluke Tabs. I got some from a local reefing buddy who had a little extra. Really just the dust from his bag of pills. Three days after dosing my green star polyp and Xenia were completely gone. It can kill shrimp, but I didn't have any. No other casualties.
I will say that I believe the Xenia helped with nutrient export, and now that they are gone, my nutrients are rising.

 

[karimwassef]

Xenia are growing in my sump too.

I'm not a fan of using chemicals. My ecosystem is healthy and I would compromise it except through mechanical means or adding a predator.

No one knows of an angel or butterfly that has a preference for fat meaty softies?

 

[karimwassef]

Apparently this has been attempted before

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1574964
http://www.reefs.org/forums/topic61729.html

Looks like majestic angel, regal angel, Pakistan butterfly or raccoon butterfly are the contenders

& a chocolate chip starfish