Ricordea Question

[kevin34]

Well I know a guy who knows a guy who is breaking down his reef tank. He just really lost interest in it and all together pretty much stopped caring for it. He said that I could have anything I want for free. I havnt met with him or seen any of the corals yet but he told me over the phone he has a rock of ricordea mushrooms. He said some of the have lost their color and have started to look transparent. Does this mean they are dead? Can transparent rics have their color brought back? And of rics die in your tank could that mess up the tank?

 

[mr_x]

they will come back over time with good lighting and water parameters. also feeding them will help. no, they won't hurt your tank. they have just lost alot of their zooanthellae. it takes a whiel for them to re-populate.

 

[kevin34]

Ok thanks. The guy said that he basically stopped caring for his tank so I bet that there have been some diseases in there. If I do take any corals I think I will frag them off of his rocks and onto some of mine just so I dont bring anything like ick into the tank. How would I do this for rics? I know that with zoos you just peel the mat off but with rics would I have to cut each mushroom off, put them in a container of sand for a while, then attach them to a rock?

 

[hexedagain1]

Originally Posted by Kevin34
http:///forum/post/2698257
Ok thanks. The guy that he basically stopped caring for his tank so I bet that there have been some diseases in there. If I do take any corals I think I will frag them off of his rocks and onto some of mine just so I dont bring anything like ick into the tank. How would I do this for rics? I know that with zoos you just peel the mat off but with rics would I have to cut each mushroom off, put them in a container of sand for a while, then attach them to a rock?
I would dremel the shrooms off of the rock. But that's just me.
Watch the mouths on these though. If they are gapped wide open, look into it and see if you can see the rock underneath. If so, it is on it's way out. I have never been able to recover one when it reached this point. If anyone else has, please let me know what you did.

 

[myzislow]

most of my ricordea have been freaking out on me lately for no apparent reason. I've had some turn totally clear to the point you couldn't even tell at all what colors they used to be. I have no idea what caused it as I haven't changed anything and they've always done awesome for me. The only ones that didn't seem to be bothered were the regular orange rics lol; all of my rainbow and multicolored ones are struggling. Lately though they seem to be getting there colors back but they look nowhere near what they used to and don't even come close to inflating as large as they once did. I'm kind of bummed about this but have faith they will recover.
If they are still alive with a tad of color and inflate just a tiny bit they should have enough life left to recover fully in your system.

 

[metweezer]

Originally Posted by myzislow
http:///forum/post/2698480
most of my ricordea have been freaking out on me lately for no apparent reason. I've had some turn totally clear to the point you couldn't even tell at all what colors they used to be. I have no idea what caused it as I haven't changed anything and they've always done awesome for me. The only ones that didn't seem to be bothered were the regular orange rics lol; all of my rainbow and multicolored ones are struggling. Lately though they seem to be getting there colors back but they look nowhere near what they used to and don't even come close to inflating as large as they once did. I'm kind of bummed about this but have faith they will recover.
If they are still alive with a tad of color and inflate just a tiny bit they should have enough life left to recover fully in your system.
How are your nitrates? Have you tested for Calcium, Magnesium, Alkalinity?

 

[myzislow]

Originally Posted by metweezer
http:///forum/post/2699886
How are your nitrates? Have you tested for Calcium, Magnesium, Alkalinity?
yeah, im very on top pf everything as the tank is SPS dominated. it's really weird too because when the ricordea do this they also split

. Something is definitely stressing them.
alk-8.5-9
ca-420
mg-1450
nitrates-5ppm-10ppm at it's peak.
some are looking great and others not so much. Hopefully it will just run it's course.