Help with mushrooms please

tapeworm

Member
My umbrella mushroom is excreting what looks to be white worms out of its base. It looks like white worms or white strings.
It has also left the little rock it came on and started moving a bit. It is not opening all the way.
Can I have a diagnosis?
55 gallon tank, 260 Watts of light, water quality good, supplementing with stronium, calcium and iodine.
Could it be too much light?
I did have high phosphates a week ago, but I remedied that.
Thanks in advance.
 

kogle

Member
It might be easier to help if your actual water parameters were known. Good to some people might be bad to others. Just trying to help. How long has your tank been set up?
 

fishfreek

Active Member
I've seen mine do that on occasion when they are very stressed. Did you add a new chemical to your water? I think mine used to do that when my Kents powder "super buffer" wasn't mixed throughly enough and some of the mix landed on the shrooms. HTH
 

tapeworm

Member
Sorry,
Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate close to zero.
PH 8.2.
Calcium over 400 ppm, 650 last time I checked.
Phosphate less than 0.10
Tank has been running for a couple of months.
 

bigarn

Active Member

Originally posted by TapeWorm
Sorry,
Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate close to zero.
PH 8.2.
Calcium over 400 ppm, 650 last time I checked.
Phosphate less than 0.10
Tank has been running for a couple of months.

Close to 0?....Ammonia and nitrite have to be 0. :D
 

jtutton

Member
shrooms do this regularly. The white strings are the guts. Mine did that when the urchin kinda squished it and also when a new batch came in and were stressed from being jostled during shipping. They also occasionally do it for no reason. I sometimes touch the strings so they go back in.
They don't like phospates, so check that parameter.
 
Check for biting fish.
This is a sign of serious physical distress. Something bit it.
If it is poor water quality, it would be dead already.
The curly spaghetti is "guts", sit accross the rooom and watch for the fish that is biting it.
I personally don't believe that nitrates/phosphates will cause this, unless you recently added it or had a giant spike in one/other.
if you have detectable ammounts for nitrite/ammonia, maybe you don't have enough of the bacteria that digests that stuff, and turns it into ntirate. Nitrates are the stuff that trashes our water.
How long has your tank been alive?
 
C

crm13

Guest
I believe that mushrooms will also do this to aid in filter feeding. It's a way for them to catch suspended matter.
 
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