What's going on with my mushrooms?

[spyderreef]

I posted a message a couple of weeks ago stating that I had too many mushrooms, now they are dying. (I was willing to give them a new home, they didn't have to kill themselves.) It seems to be in one specific area where I also had pulsing xenia. I just let things happen naturally and the mushrooms took over. I noticed the other day that there were mushrooms on top of some of the xenias. The mushrooms covered the xenias with brown slime and I knew they were goners but I didn't think the mushrooms would die. Slowly a lot of the mushrooms are turning to a brown mush. What's going on? Does this threaten the rest of my tank? Hammer coral, frogspawn, what's left of my xenias are doing well. I just purchased a elegance and that also looks like a goner but I don't think that it is related. Any ideas? I have never lost anything like this before.

 

[ryebread]

It sounds as if the mushrooms and xenia stung each other and there are going to be no survivors. Unfortunately xenia and mushrooms can be considered the weeds of the reef tank. I personally like both of them but, they can hurt other corals.

 

[spyderreef]

Is the residual slime harmful? As I see more dead mushrooms I suck them out with a hose.

 

[blondenaso1]

Yeah, that slime can contain nematocysts which are the stinging cells of the corals. You wouldn't expect xenia of shrooms to pack a pwerfull punch, but what I have heard they are pretty agressive. If you can try to siphon out any of that slime that was covering the mushrooms. If it floats away and hits another coral it could harm it.