Help with a new mushroom?

[laezur]

Hiya guys! Just found this forum after researching some help, I was told this would be the best place as you’re all so knowledgeable!

I bought a red mushroom a couple of weeks ago that was stunning in the LFS. I got it home, acclimated it, and placed it in the lower water column where there isn’t too much flow.

it’s been around 2 weeks and I haven’t seen it open up once. I’m aware that some of my parameters are off, I’ll post those below, but my other coral (torch, Goni, finger leather) are doing really well so unsure if that’s the sole case, or there maybe something I’m missing.

I’ve noticed that my Goby tends to leave sand absolutely everywhere while he’s redecorating, and it gets on my mushroom a lot. But I’ve not found a spot that it’s safe from that. I don’t have a frag rack but I can look to get one.

salinity 1.026
Calc 420ppm
Dkh (low) 7.4
Nitrate (high) 5ppm

thank you!

 

[Impala67]

Hiya guys! Just found this forum after researching some help, I was told this would be the best place as you’re all so knowledgeable!

I bought a red mushroom a couple of weeks ago that was stunning in the LFS. I got it home, acclimated it, and placed it in the lower water column where there isn’t too much flow.

it’s been around 2 weeks and I haven’t seen it open up once. I’m aware that some of my parameters are off, I’ll post those below, but my other coral (torch, Goni, finger leather) are doing really well so unsure if that’s the sole case, or there maybe something I’m missing.

I’ve noticed that my Goby tends to leave sand absolutely everywhere while he’s redecorating, and it gets on my mushroom a lot. But I’ve not found a spot that it’s safe from that. I don’t have a frag rack but I can look to get one.

salinity 1.026
Calc 420ppm
Dkh (low) 7.4
Nitrate (high) 5ppm

thank you!

Welcome to R2R!! Two weeks is a lot for him not to open up, is he in high or low light? They like moderate flow but not no flow try moving him into a different place give him a week if he doesn’t open then move him again, you just have to find the right spot!!

 

[Sebastiancrab]

Mushrooms like lower light. Try moving him to a different spot in low to moderate flow and see if he opens up.

 

[laezur]

Welcome to R2R!! Two weeks is a lot for him not to open up, is he in high or low light? They like moderate flow but not no flow try moving him into a different place give him a week if he doesn’t open then move him again, you just have to find the right spot!!

Two weeks is a long time! I worry every day that it’s died, but it’s not started to rot or melt or anything it’s just… black. I’ve not actually seen a mushroom closed up, this is my first one so I’m assuming it’s closed and not dead - it looks the same as it did when I got it home from the LFS.

Right now I’d say it’s in higher light than it was before, I’m struggling to find an area I can place it that isn’t the sand that is sheltered from light.

 

[Sebastiancrab]

Two weeks is a long time! I worry every day that it’s died, but it’s not started to rot or melt or anything it’s just… black. I’ve not actually seen a mushroom closed up, this is my first one so I’m assuming it’s closed and not dead - it looks the same as it did when I got it home from the LFS.

Right now I’d say it’s in higher light than it was before, I’m struggling to find an area I can place it that isn’t the sand that is sheltered from light.

I have never seen a black one. Can you post a picture? Did you purchase it from a reputable LFS?

 

[Impala67]

Two weeks is a long time! I worry every day that it’s died, but it’s not started to rot or melt or anything it’s just… black. I’ve not actually seen a mushroom closed up, this is my first one so I’m assuming it’s closed and not dead - it looks the same as it did when I got it home from the LFS.

Right now I’d say it’s in higher light than it was before, I’m struggling to find an area I can place it that isn’t the sand that is sheltered from light.

Please post a pic!!!

 

[Uncle99]

You listed only 1 nutrient level, nitrate.
Nitrates fine at 5ppm, no lower, higher is good for all softies.
What is phosphate?
Corals required stable availability to this as well, say, 0.05-.15ppm….or they starve (shrink).

 

[laezur]

Here is a picture from a few days ago

I have never seen a black one. Can you post a picture? Did you purchase it from a reputable LFS?

Please post a pic!!!

 

[laezur]

You listed only 1 nutrient level, nitrate.
Nitrates fine at 5ppm, no lower, higher is good for all softies.
What is phosphate?
Corals required stable availability to this as well, say, 0.05-.15ppm….or they starve (shrink).

Sorry my last phosphate check I have written down on my notepad is just “1” but I’ve been dosing NoPox for a couple of weeks, so I’ll have to test again to get an accurate reading for you

 

[Uncle99]

Mushrooms can be very slow.
Does look unhappy.
Make sure your nutrients levels in check.

 

[Uncle99]

Sorry my last phosphate check I have written down on my notepad is just “1” but I’ve been dosing NoPox for a couple of weeks, so I’ll have to test again to get an accurate reading for you

Probably 0.1ppm but good to check.
Both nitrate and phosphate must remain in the “bands” or softies look tired.
Nitrate is consumed directly by corals, phosphate in directly via bacteria which consumes the phosphate.

 

[Sebastiancrab]

Picture needs to be in regular light.

 

[laezur]

Here is a picture under white light. Ignore the sand on top of it, as I said the Goby keeps doing that while redecorating and the power heads haven’t moved it yet.
But it is one of the reasons I’m looking to move it

 

[Dbichler]

You sure it was a mushroom looks more like a leptastrea that’s dead. Mushrooms don’t turn black when they die they either bleach and shrink or turn to mush.

 

[laezur]

Without knowing too much about mushrooms or leptastrea, I can only say that it was labelled as “Red mushroom” in the LFS, and looked more like google pictures of such, than what Google throws back for Leptastrea.

 

[Sebastiancrab]

It looks dead to me. You don't mention the quality of the LFS. If it was like that when you bought it, I would take it back and say they sold me a dead coral.

 

[laezur]

Sorry, the LFS is the only marine fish store in my area, so unsure on the reputation of it. It’s a fairly small family run store. I don’t think they sold me a dead coral as it was open and rather beautiful when I saw it in the store and asked for it, it’s been like this since I got home (before I took it out of the bag)

I suppose I’ll purchase only from other reefers in future

 

[laezur]

Just to add to this, it looked like this in the store

 

[MaxTremors]

I think they gave you a dead piece of rubble glued to a frag plug. There is no mushroom there. If it looked like that in the bag, I think they they maybe accidentally grabbed the wrong plug out of the tank. If there was a mushroom there, even a severely retracted one, you’d be able to see it. Besides that, you should invest in quality test kits (not API), especially if you’re dosing stuff like NoPox. You should test weekly for NO3, PO4, Cal, and Mag, and every few days for Alk (at least until you know how much your tank is using consistently). You should also be keeping a log of all your test results so you can track stability (also, always try to test at the same time of day).

 

[Scottayy]

Your nitrates are great.
Don't lower them. Mine are at 10 and my softies just started doing great.