All my mushrooms upped and melted.

[Sandsnail]

For whatever reason after a 15% water change, all my mushrooms melted. Pretty much every rock was covered in mushrooms besides the other coral you see. I used ro water and instant ocean reef crystal salt mix, nothing out of the ordinary. Anyhoo after the water change everything looked fine and I went to bed. Woke up the next morning and the water was cloudy and fish were struggling to breathe, so I added oxygen. I started testing water parameters and they were fine. So I did a small water change with premixed sea water from a pet store and waited. 1 day later and another small water change later, there are almost no mushrooms left on any of the rocks or glass, and a couple of my other corals look rough and bleached after the ordeal. I’m stumped as to what I could’ve possibly done, if you have anything thoughts please share them. The only coral that looks like it’s enjoying life is the gsp.

 

[afrokobe]

clearly something is up if all of the mushrooms are gone and the rest of your corals look like that. You should post your full parameters not just the water is fine, as others are going to ask.

 

[Sebastiancrab]

+1 above but it sounds like you got a bad batch of water from the LFS.

 

[Sandsnail]

Yeah sorry.

Salinity was 1.024
Temp was 26c
Ph was a little low at 8
Alk was 9 dKH
Ammonia and nitrites were almost non existent
Nitrates were under 1ppm
Phosphates were less than 0.2 but somewhat high

 

[dvgyfresh]

+1 above but it sounds like you got a bad batch of water from the LFS.

One time I got rodi water from a place I do not frequent , at home opened up and smelled like dead rotten fish. Not all stores provide good water I learned lol

 

[Sandsnail]

+1 above but it sounds like you got a bad batch of water from the LFS.

I would agree, but the initial water change was mixed instant ocean salt mix and ro water. The premixed after I noticed the damaged seemed to help.

 

[Sandsnail]

One time I got rodi water from a place I do not frequent , at home opened up and smelled like dead rotten fish. Not all stores provide good water I learned lol

Probably the salt mix then.

 

[dvgyfresh]

Probably the salt mix then.

Do you make ye own water ? And have a tds meter?

 

[Jedi1199]

Probably the salt mix then.

I very much doubt it was the salt mix. I have used Reef Crystals for a long time and never once had an issue. Most likely is the RO water was bad.

 

[Sandsnail]

Do you make ye own water ? And have a tds meter?

I do not, I usually get the premixed stuff and it’s worked great for years now. Occasionally I’ll get salt mix and ro water in big jugs from the grocery store in case I need to do a quick water change. I guess it really could’ve just been a bad batch of water or bad salt and I just got unlucky. I have mixed saltwater before so it wasn’t a new thing.

 

[Salty Rambler]

Possible items to consider:

Are your fish still struggling, or have they recovered? Any recent livestock additions? Have you checked your equipment to see if anything is malfunctioning? Also, any chance an external contaminant got into the tank?

I would think that the mushrooms dying off would have spiked your nitrates and possibly your ammonia levels, so if your parameters are steady, it might be worth getting the water tested at a store to confirm your test results.

Best of luck!

 

[Sandsnail]

Possible items to consider:

Are your fish still struggling, or have they recovered? Any recent livestock additions? Have you checked your equipment to see if anything is malfunctioning? Also, any chance an external contaminant got into the tank?

I would think that the mushrooms dying off would have spiked your nitrates and possibly your ammonia levels, so if your parameters are steady, it might be worth getting the water tested at a store to confirm your test results.

Best of luck!

All recovered

Possible items to consider:

Are your fish still struggling, or have they recovered? Any recent livestock additions? Have you checked your equipment to see if anything is malfunctioning? Also, any chance an external contaminant got into the tank?

I would think that the mushrooms dying off would have spiked your nitrates and possibly your ammonia levels, so if your parameters are steady, it might be worth getting the water tested at a store to confirm your test results.

Best of luck!

I thought so too, and I’ve been testing on and off the last couple days. All my inverts/cleanup crew are fine, the fish are breathing normally and are fine and eating. Besides the coral just dying off rapidly over a day, you wouldn’t have thought anything happened (why I’m kinda stumped) . My tank is in an out of the way place and I’m the only person living here. All the equipment looks fine and is functioning.

 

[I wasted money]

Changing or mixing brands will do that.

 

[MnFish1]

For whatever reason after a 15% water change, all my mushrooms melted. Pretty much every rock was covered in mushrooms besides the other coral you see. I used ro water and instant ocean reef crystal salt mix, nothing out of the ordinary. Anyhoo after the water change everything looked fine and I went to bed. Woke up the next morning and the water was cloudy and fish were struggling to breathe, so I added oxygen. I started testing water parameters and they were fine. So I did a small water change with premixed sea water from a pet store and waited. 1 day later and another small water change later, there are almost no mushrooms left on any of the rocks or glass, and a couple of my other corals look rough and bleached after the ordeal. I’m stumped as to what I could’ve possibly done, if you have anything thoughts please share them. The only coral that looks like it’s enjoying life is the gsp.

1. Mushrooms can come back. (when they die, though, they can release toxins). If you're not using Carbon - (activated) - I might consider some chemipure blue or other good carbon.
2. How are your fish doing?
3. Did you happen to mix your salt well (according to their directions? Did you happen to measure the TDS of your RODI? Was your RODI due to be changed?

I recently had a similar issue - when I allowed the salinity to get too high. The mushrooms bleached -and shriveled - but now are coming back

Hope this helps.