Ricordias slowly dying

[emm0909]

I had a rock with about ten Yumma ricordias on it. For the last two months they have been slowly dying one by one. I have four left on the rock. They end up detaching and I find them in other places in the tank. So I have 7 total. They start to get smaller and not looking so well then they are just gone. Some I find.
I have four 96w powercompacts with no reflector. The first month was only two 96w with no reflector.
Could this be a lighting problem?
Water parameters are pretty good.
Amonia:0
nitrate is slowly dropping: 10 but was higher.
calcium: 480
alk: high - it's blue so it's good (red sea)
PH: good. The aquarium pharmacudicals is hard to read. I got a red sea, trying tonight.
How affected are ricordias to nitrates?

 

[qbnfreek]

I don't know if many other reefers would agree with this recommendation, but depending on the size of your aquarium, I would do a 25% water change everyother day for a couple weeks to help lower the nitrates. I'ld also remove any types of filter media which can be harboring more nitrates. Good luck with your ricordeas! -qbnfreek

 

[pettyhoe]

yuma ricordea are very sensitive to lighting and flow. do a search on yuma ricordea in google or something to do some background, they are more than likely in the wrong spot in the tank. I believe they like a lot of light when compared to other ricordea. According to SWF.com, they prefer strong lighting and medium flow. It sounds like they are starving for more light and flow.

 

[emm0909]

I guess I'll move them up. Thye've been up higher before but I guess I'll try again. I hate moving them around so much.

 

[russy pelican]

Mine have done better when in LOW flow areas. Also, do you feed them? Are they bleaching or just getting smaller? And pics?

 

[meleerock]

What are your nitrites?
You say you have a reading of 10 for nitrates but I wouldnt worry about it. In most cases there are traces of nitrates in tanks. Try to stay in the 0 to 20 range, anything higher do a 10 to 20 percent water change to bring em back down.

 

[emm0909]

I moved them up to the top of my rock.
As they shrink the phosporesents in the ric become more dense causing it to glow stronger in actinics. Other than that no color change. (For all but one. The biggest one did bleach)

 

[flricordia]

Agree. Don't move them too much but find a low flow spot and you may be able to save a few at least. Unfortunatly,all may be lost before it is over. Wild yuma colonies don't always do too well and the more they are mucked with the less chance they have of surviving.
I have found that there is a better chance of survival if they are not exposed to air, even when taken from the place of purchase. I now demand that the LRS bags them underwater, then I take them home and place them directly into my system. I do not acclimate them and I do not allow them out of the water. The LRS I buy most from has even started keeping them in water when brought in and they have had much more survival rate.
If there is question about the LRS water coming in contact with my water then I would not buy the yuma in the first place.
Since I have started doing this, not allowing them to expose to air, place them in lower light and low flow, not touch them afterwards, I have had no losses with my yumas. Yumas are pretty tough when it comes to salinity shifts, ph shifts and temperature shifts but don't do well with high nitrates.
Hope the last make it. As far as water quality goes, only be concerned with nitrates.

 

[hagfish]

This exact same thing happened to me. But, there were no significant changes in my tank. And before the die off, the rics were growing like crazy. I had started with about 10 and was up to about 50. Now I've got about 5. I had them for about 2 years before they started disappearing. So I doubt exposure to air was the problem. And I wasn't touching them or doing anything like that. Most of them were on a huge rock that I couldn't move without messing up the whole display. They were always under 250 watt MH's and VHO actinics and in medium flow.

 

[flricordia]

Originally Posted by hagfish
This exact same thing happened to me. But, there were no significant changes in my tank. And before the die off, the rics were growing like crazy. I had started with about 10 and was up to about 50. Now I've got about 5. I had them for about 2 years before they started disappearing. So I doubt exposure to air was the problem. And I wasn't touching them or doing anything like that. Most of them were on a huge rock that I couldn't move without messing up the whole display. They were always under 250 watt MH's and VHO actinics and in medium flow.
Maybe your nitrate test kit was inaccurate.

 

[worldwide zoo]

There are a few varieties of large flatworm that eat both yumas and rics, but more commonly rics. Almost all rocks that I've seen w/more than 5 heads has one of these on them. They only come out in the middle of the night and blend in perfectly. It takes a great deal of observation to find one. This may not be the case here, just something to consider.

 

[emm0909]

Yummas are rics.
Folrdia Ricordia
Yumma Richordia

 

[ibew]

Originally Posted by emm0909
Yummas are rics.
Folrdia Ricordia
Yumma Richordia
no they are two different type of mushrooms

 

[ibew]

Originally Posted by emm0909
I had a rock with about ten Yumma ricordias on it. For the last two months they have been slowly dying one by one. I have four left on the rock. They end up detaching and I find them in other places in the tank. So I have 7 total. They start to get smaller and not looking so well then they are just gone. Some I find.
I have four 96w powercompacts with no reflector. The first month was only two 96w with no reflector.
Could this be a lighting problem?
Water parameters are pretty good.
Amonia:0
nitrate is slowly dropping: 10 but was higher.
calcium: 480
alk: high - it's blue so it's good (red sea)
PH: good. The aquarium pharmacudicals is hard to read. I got a red sea, trying tonight.
How affected are ricordias to nitrates?

no reflector that could be your problem for sure. being that there PCs for one and also running them with no reflectors is like haveing candles over your tank