Hello from WI & question bleached shrooms

jmmontag

Member
Hello everyone! It is cold up here in Wisconsin. It is now officially time for me to curl up in the house and watch my reef tank. I have always loved all living things. Well not mosquitoes much... I have a 90 gallon low tech tank. It has been set up for about 10 years. I have a question about some of the original inhabitants. My mushroom polyps have bleached! I also lost several of my favorite ricordea yuma polyps. I had them in this tank for 10 years... The only new thing is aquacultured live rock I purchased about 2 months ago. No fish or other coral is affected ie pineapple coral, cup coral, tube worms all fine.
Could I have introduced a critter that stresses the mushrooms causing them to bleach? Could it be a pathogen that only affects mushroom polyps? I am actually very fond of my red, florescent orange, and blue/pink yuma polyps. The mushrooms in all areas of the tank were affected at the same time. They are not happy I just don't know why? Has anyone heard of this? I would really appreciate any help. I love all my critters big and small. Thanks Jeanine
 

Kazzy

Active Member
Welcome to RS!
Did you recently move your lights? Or maybe switch the bulbs and/or fixture? I suspect it may have been something to do with light. One of my flor. ricordea bleached a bit ago, but it is almost back to normal now. I am not sure why you would lose shrooms from it if it was a one time thing.
 

jmmontag

Member
Thank You for the welcome :wave: I try to be very careful not to ever change lighting/ current/ph/alkalinity etc. I did do several w/c before and after getting the live rock. I duplicate the tank water as much as possible before using it for w/c. I didn't change anything like light or current feeding etc. I am stumped why just the shrooms are stressed. It reminds me of a massive caulerpa bleaching/ die off I once saw. :alien:
 

framerguy

Well-Known Member
Welcome to RS. Someone here will know what's wrong but that's not me, sorry. Maybe they just got old? (that's half joke, half serious) How long do they live?
 

blue_eyes53813

Well-Known Member
Hello Welcome to RS.. I am from Wisconsin too. I'm am not sure about your shrooms. Did you add any Meds or additives to the tank that may have stressed them? Are they in the same area in the tank or spread throughout the tank? It is possible to have a hitchhiker from the liverock that was picking/stressing them.
 

jmmontag

Member
Hello, Thanks for the help and greetings. I have not added any new additives. Pretty much the same as always. I use a two part calcium additive like always. The normal iron, iodine, magnesium, coral vite etc as always. It is every one of the shrooms regardless of placement in tank. Only the shrooms. I could say they got old since I have had them for over 10 years. They were constantly multiplying before this happened. It looks like I only have 1 lonely florescent orange yuma left now:( They never eviscerated themselves, but slowly bleached and died. The yuma polyps bleached, detached ,drifted then died. I keep looking for a culprit. No One in sight! Argh!
Nice to meet you Vicky! I am in Manitowoc, WI. I am hoping it gets a little warmer today so I can finish winterizing my pond. The Koi say Brrrr. Time for the winter dormancy.
Take Care, Jeanine
 

blue_eyes53813

Well-Known Member
Nice to meet you too. Im sorry Im not much of a help. Could any other corals in the tank be stinging them? I have had a few shrooms do the same and I found out my galaxea stinger tenicles would be out and sting them at night. As corals spread they may fight for room.. Watch for Hitchhiker snails, nudibranches crabs that may have picked on them.. The hitchhikers can be tricky and hide during the day.. Good luck.
 

jmmontag

Member
Thank You, I am keeping my eyes open. I am thinking whatever it is there must be a lot of them since every shroom in the tank got sick at the same time. I would move them into the hospital tank, but I know they don't like it there. The last ones melted in there. I did find several tiny filter feeding sea cucumbers, but I don't think they did it. Would emerald or blue leg hermit stress them? Well I love having an excuse to sit and stare at my tank for hours. Happy reefing! Jeanine & many tanks
 

blue_eyes53813

Well-Known Member
Jeanine , I am leaning towards something a miss in the water chemistry. It is odd it is only affeacting the shrooms though. As I think more about your situation the bleaching of the shrooms keeps coming back. Where did you get the liverock from? ANd is it possible they used any kind of chemicals/copper when the liverock was in their tank? Did the shrooms start to die after the addition of the rock or was there some loss before the rock? Mushrooms can usually take alot. Some people will cut them up to get them go spread in the tank. A hitch hiker would irritate them but I dont think they would bleach over that. Did you add any carbon/ nitrate removal media? Sometime these medias can pull to much out of the water at once and irritate corals.
 

jmmontag

Member
Hello, Thanks for helping. The live rock is from gulf-view. Taken from the gulf of mexico then shipped to me. I have had it for several months already. The shrooms started bleaching after I had it for 6 weeks. I did several water changes, but I use no chemical treatments like charcoal or copper ever. I believe in doing water changes not using chemicals ( probably because of my discus) I make sure to age the water, heat it and match salinity. I use protein skimmers and power heads with few fish & lots of rock(120#). The new live rock ( 30#)has cycled already. I use the health of the hard coral and growth of corraline algae to gauge this more than tests. I just keep thinking it is something specific to shrooms. The anemones, starburst polyps, green button polyps etc are fine. The pet shop said not to panic that shrooms are cheap. I said oh yeah then find me cheap ricordea yuma in rose/ purple/ orange/ and blue& pink! Argh! Perhaps the shrooms can't compete with the new life on the rocks? I have a lot of filter feeders on the new rock? I try to work with Mother Nature on things. I let whatever wants to grow on the live rock to thrive. I just know my shrooms used to like their home, and now they don't! Perhaps a pathogen specific to shrooms? I just don't know. Maybe they will mysteriously bounce back? Tanks a lot for all the help! Jeanine
 

charlesr1958

Active Member
Welcome!

Never knew there were so many cheeseheads here...lol Was born/raised in Wisconsin myself. Gawd I miss muskie fishing in Eagle River.

Chuck
 

bluespotjawfish

Well-Known Member
That is odd that they all were affected at the same time. I think it had to be something in the water. The only time I have had this problem is when I needed to FW dip my mushrooms to treat for flatworms. They have all bounced back, but they were pouty, shriveled up and without color for a while. I figured I messed up and didn't match the pH close enough.
 

sasquatch

Brunt of all Jokes~
PREMIUM
you did mention iodine? what level is your test kit showing? it can add up for a nasty suprise. Steve
 

hma

Well-Known Member
First of all .... Welcome to RS ..... :snshne:

Here are a few observations and experiences that I have collect over 20 years with Rocordias . I hope it helps a little to isolate the problem.

In the Ocean during storms pale Ricordea florida anemones color and are virtually partially transparent. It is clear that Ricordeas as a kind of chameleon to adapt to external circumstances. It requires a while, until the Ricordeas their colorlessness back to full color in all its splendor recovered. Ricordias can react very sensitively to changes of light and current, as already described. Also a change in the location in the aquarium can lead to this phenomenon. I know where reports of a real boiling inside reported. As the photosynthesis in Ricordias a crucial role in the diet should be very careful here not too much to illuminate. Unfortunately, I have no other known reasons, with the exception of the lack of magnesium and/or calcium, but it may be in this case excluded. I assume that the values in the normal course there?
 

jmmontag

Member
Hello, Thank You for all the suggestions. I add small amounts of iron,iodine,magnesium,coral vite etc when I do water changes. Since I did more water changes than normal I only added these once in the last 2 months. I had heard that too much is bad. I admit I do not test levels. I use the old if it looks good and smells good leave it alone. I did add rock so it has to be the change in light and current. They are getting less light, less current. I will have to wait and see. I have had no new fatalities.
 

JFK_Jr

Well-Known Member
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7-whassup_bud.jpg
 

jmmontag

Member
Thank You all for your help. I ended up losing almost all my ricordea/ mushrooms and even polyps. It is strange that no hard coral or soft coral like toad stool or leather were lost. The remaining single orange yuma and purple mushroom are finally starting to get color back. Not sure what happened, but looks like it is over for now. I am going to start a new thread with another question since all you guys are so smart and helpful. Jeanine
 
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