Mushroom Death

arandacole

arandacole

Member
We have had this mushroom for 1 year and it is at least 3 years old. All of a sudden is shivielled up and looked like it was dying. We put it in our sick tank and it's definately dying. All of our other mushrooms (and everything else in our tank) looks great... what could it be?
Our water is the same as it has alwasy been. We never been able to get it to the levels we are supposed to have, but everything has consistantly grown.
RO Water
80 temp
Nitrite 0
Nitate 5 (had been running close to 20 for over a year)
Calcuim 400
Phospate .3 (has been at .5 for a long time)
Salinity 1.020 (is this low?)
Alk (strip test show good- this is the only test we've used a strip test for)
What am I missing?
Now that I look at the tank again, everything isn't quite as good and we did change the salt with our last water change... our usual wasn't available.
Edited to add that we are wondering if our mushroom wasn't stung by another coral. It (the other coral) had moved much closer to the mushroom and that is when we had noticed this)
Here is a picture of what we are thinking could have stung it... the mushrooms behind it are not the one(s) I am talking about.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arandacole/545701420/
Help :)
Love,
Aranda
 
arandacole

arandacole

Member
Thank you.
I just read this to my dh and he said that he has consistently has the salinity at 1.020-1.022 for over a year. I'm not sure is this could be it, but we are definitely keeping it in mind. Thank you so much. This really is a mystery.
Love,
A
 
reefreak29

reefreak29

Active Member
whats a dh? coud you have something in your tank thats bothering it, did u add anything new recently, are there any stinging corals next to it? also sometimes corals just do that for no reason and could come right back
 
arandacole

arandacole

Member
Hi there,
Sorry, dh stand for dear (or something) husband.
We are starting to think that it was a coral next to him.
We have added nothing else other than changing the salt.
We did add a nice large mushroom rock a bit ago, but the other mushrooms look great..
I do not currently have a picture of the coral we are thinking could have stung it. It looks like a pink tree.
Love,
Aranda
 
reefforbrains

reefforbrains

Active Member
How large of a tank?
In Auburn this time of year its getting pretty warm. Could the tank be overtemping during the day while your at work or otherwise away?
Salinity is a bit low.
If you just did a water change perhaps you shocked them. Mushrooms should be little troopers. A little shriveled is normal for them. If they are sliming or melting then theres obviously an issue. If just shriveled then I wouldnt worry too much.
 
reefreak29

reefreak29

Active Member
sounds like u have a leather next to it , its very possible that it stung it, i dont think it would hurt to try and move it
 
arandacole

arandacole

Member
Hi there,
Thank you for your response! Auburn is very hot, but we finally got a chiller last month so our temps are stable for the first time in a year.
It was 7 inches long (2 shrooms) and 4 inches wide (these are VERY conservative) and now it's about 2.5 inches long and 1.5 inches wide (although my measurements suck, with the lights on it is a quarter of the size of what it has ever been with the lights off) it is not sliming, but we panicked and put it in our qt tank)
Our tank is 90 gallons.
The only thing I could think that could have shocked them with the water change is the change of salt, but what could it be that I haven't tested for (I know there is quite a bit that I do not have test kits for, but what could do this to one shroom?)
Thanks again!
Love,
Aranda
 
arandacole

arandacole

Member
Originally Posted by reefreak29
its a leather coral and very possible that it stung it
Is there anything that we can do?
TIA!
Love,
Aranda
 
teen

teen

Active Member
move the leather to another spot, try and get it somewhere thats "downwind" form the other corals.
i didnt read the whole thread, but it sounds like you have a lot of soft corals. if this is the case, you should be running carbon because softy tanks are known for chemical warfare. if you run carbon and keep it fresh, it will remove a lot of the toxins that the corals are realeasing into the water. just be sure to change it out often, or rinse the pouch if you buy the pouch type.
 
rocksalt

rocksalt

New Member
Hi all, as my LW stated the only real change in our environment was the salt. All other variables are the same. Salinity, PH, temp, etc. has not changed in a year. Everything else is flourishing. Just that one carpet mushroom. One day it's fine and literally the next it looked dead. The Leather coral had been moving closer over the past month or so. If it did sting it, can it recover? The carpet mushroom has been moved to our sick tank for now but it still looks pretty bad.
 
reefreak29

reefreak29

Active Member
Originally Posted by RockSalt
Hi all, as my LW stated the only real change in our environment was the salt. All other variables are the same. Salinity, PH, temp, etc. has not changed in a year. Everything else is flourishing. Just that one carpet mushroom. One day it's fine and literally the next it looked dead. The Leather coral had been moving closer over the past month or so. If it did sting it, can it recover? The carpet mushroom has been moved to our sick tank for now but it still looks pretty bad.
mushrooms are prety tuff it should recover
 
rocksalt

rocksalt

New Member
How long should we keep it in the sick tank? Also, the lighting is different. It's a florescent as opposed to the power compacts in our main reef tank. Will that make a difference?
 
rocksalt

rocksalt

New Member
I found out what my 'Carpet' mushroom really is. the victim of this horrible act is our Green Rhodactis. the suspected cuplrit is a Leather Tree coral.
If in fact it was stung by the Leather, what can I expect for a recoup time? What should I see if it does die?
The sick tank water is good. The only real difference is the lighting.
Thanks!
 
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