Saving Mushrooms

[fishgate]

I still have my 125 up and running all because I am not sure how to save the Mushrooms. I have a really nice healthy lot of them in multiple locations in the tank but sadly, I also have 1000s of Aiptasia in there. The tank is scheduled to be nuked and totally redone from scratch. The Mushrooms are thriving though! I am not really sure why. I have not changed a drop of water in 8 months. Just the top off water. The tank is almost totally dark red from cyano everywhere. The lights still come on via schedule but that's it.

I am thinking of setting up a temporary tank with a 29g I have and putting the best rocks full of Mushrooms in it. Then investing in some Berghia to wipe out the aiptasia. My question is would that cheap light that comes with the full fluorescent hood be enough for the Mushrooms? I don't really want to go buy another light for them. If I can rid the 29g of Aiptasia I would move the Mushrooms into my 120g (or back into the 125g once it is redone again).

Also on another note - would seahorses be ok with Mushrooms?

 

[Mark9]

I guess it's up to how much you like the mushrooms.
I find them invasive.
I'd nuke the rock and be done with it.

 

[cincyjim]

Just a thought... if their rock isn't infected, can you give them to a LFS and let them hold them, give you credit, or sell them for you? I wouldn't kill them if I didn't have to.

Jim

Always helps to fully read. I just saw where you said their rock has it as well. Maybe move them to the 29g and try to kill the Aiptasia that's on their rock so you can save them. If not, I'm afraid Mark9 is right.

 

[MondoBongo]

shrooms are generally pretty tough. chances are, if you don't want to risk attempting to salvage the whole rock, you could remove the mushrooms from the rock, and just place them in the 29 gallon.

if you can use bone cutters to break off some of the rock below where the mushroom was attached, that is ideal. that way you don't actually damage the shroom itself.

i've had mixed success using a razor blade to cut the base of the mushroom at the rock. usually the shroom will grow back from the leftovers on the rock, but it can be hit or miss if the cut piece will survive, depending on where and how it was cut. so that's an option too.

 

[fishgate]

I think what I might do is take out the major rock where most of the nice mushrooms are clustered (one is 5" across), scrape off the aiptasia best I can, dip and rinse a bunch and see what happens. If I can get rid of all the visible ones I think I can use aiptasiaX for the ones that come back.

 

[xCry0x]

never really great luck with aptasiaX in my experience. I started using it and not sure if there was a cause & effect but I ended up with more aptasia quickly.

A combo of peppermint shrimp and a hypodermic needle + kalk paste worked better.

I still have a few that refuse to die, ill kalk them up and in a few days they are back giving me the finger.

Kalk works great for removing shrooms - inject kalk into the mouth and they die quick. Just spent the past month doing that to get a bunch of shrooms off a rock they had taken over. Shrooms are hard to kill also - I got most of the big ones but then the rock was covered in tiny shrooms, took 2 more rounds to get them all. Still a few left =P --- getting rid of shrooms because I badly need more zoa real-estate.

 

[Mark9]

I think what I might do is take out the major rock where most of the nice mushrooms are clustered (one is 5" across), scrape off the aiptasia best I can, dip and rinse a bunch and see what happens.

Good luck with that. I tried aiptasia-x many times, aiptasia always came back.
Damn things kept sprouting up everywhere.
For me, a losing battle, I had to nuke the rock.
And if the mushrooms take off, you may eventually hate them as well.
Dropping babies. Next thing you know, they are all over the place too.

 

[fishgate]

Well now you guys have me considering just nuking it all. I hate to kill the mushrooms I like them but yes, they do spread a lot. My large ones are beautys though! Decisions, decisions! I think I have some porcelain crabs and maybe a shrimp in the rockwork somewhere too I am guessing maybe peroxide might get them out?

But I think someone said I can just cut off a mushroom and plant it in the sand and it will survive? Or do I need to glue it to a rock? They are not hard so will they stick with super glue?

 

[shifty51008]

you can just cut the shroom off the base, and place it in a small container with some rock rubble in low flow and it will attach.

if your looking for the shrimp and crabs I would do a hypo salinity dip on the rocks that should get the inverts out and do less harm than the peroxide.

 

[fishgate]

you can just cut the shroom off the base, and place it in a small container with some rock rubble in low flow and it will attach.

if your looking for the shrimp and crabs I would do a hypo salinity dip on the rocks that should get the inverts out and do less harm than the peroxide.

Hypo as in pure RO water is ok?

 

[shifty51008]

Never tried a pure ro bath, i was thinking something like 1.009sg but pure ro water should work also, just move fast when they come out