How truly invasive are mushrooms/rodhactis?

Eleni18 · Oct 7, 2020

Hi all.This is a picture of the side of my 150 gallon tank. Although you can see the front full view from the living room, this is what I see from my work station. So, I would like to add some colorful corals on these side/back rocks as well. I have a rock of red/green mushrooms in the tank which I was thinking maybe positioning against the side/back rock structure and let them grow on it but I got second thoughts reading through posts on these forums that they may invade the whole tank eventually. So...what about colorful large rodhactis mushrooms? Are they less invasive? Would it be a good idea for the side/back of my main rock structure?

BlennyTime · Oct 7, 2020

I don’t really worry about invasiveness, besides for xenia. If it gets to a point it’s growing somewhere I don’t want, I just put a small rock there and it either stops the growth or gives me something I can pull off and sell/trade.

vetteguy53081 · Oct 7, 2020

Ive never had a problem with them. If they’re next to a neighboring rock, they may spread to next but if isolated will be a nice colony

Johniejumbo · Oct 7, 2020

I haven’t noticed any of them spreading uncontrollably in my tank. I’m a fan of them. I have some Florida ricordia shrooms I got from Live-plants.com that grow very slowly. Haven’t split yet in 5 months..... all my other types have split a couple of times since then.

Saaqib_Ansari · Oct 7, 2020

I’ve had some mushrooms for a year and not once have I seen them grow once

craigbuss · Oct 7, 2020

I’ve got some shrooms. They are everywhere and at total pain sometimes.

Halal Hotdog · Oct 7, 2020

I have quite a few different mushrooms in my tank. Most are fine and easy to control. The worst for me are green hairy rhodactis. If they establish a foot hold on a new rock, just ripping them off won't do anything. The remnants of the foot will grow into another mushroom. Kalk slurry placed right on top of them will cause irritation for a few days then it will be back to normal.

I highly recommend Yumas, they are beautiful and easy to control.

Eleni18 · Oct 7, 2020

Thank you! So as a general consensus, rodhactis and recordea are easier to control and less invasive than common discosoma mushrooms?

schuby · Oct 7, 2020

What I had in my previous tank may have been discosoma mushrooms (fluorescent teal colored). I consider them the spawn of Satan! They spread via spores so they show up anywhere in your tank, not just next to an existing one. I think I was able to get rid of them using Joe's Juice or something like that. Never again!

LosReef · Oct 7, 2020

If it's cheap, it's probably invasive.

I've got several mushrooms that aren't fast growing. The higher priced seem petty easy to trade or sell also. If you don't have wrasse that flip rocks, buy or make some rubble for your sandbed. You can let the mushrooms multiply on rocks that you can easily take out.

Eleni18 · Oct 7, 2020

LosReef said:
If it's cheap, it's probably invasive. I've got several mushrooms that aren't fast growing. The higher priced seem petty easy to trade or sell also. If you don't have wrasse that flip rocks, buy or make some rubble for your sandbed. You can let the mushrooms multiply on rocks that you can easily take out.

Thanks. Problem is I want to put them on the back of my main rock structure. I don't want to fill the tank with hundreds of pieces of stray rock I can pull out, while leaving my main rock structure empty

JayLu · Oct 7, 2020

I have been overrun with the common/inexpensive red mushrooms for about a year now. They are very difficult to kill. Even Franks F Aiptasia doesn’t kill them. Plus, they don’t really look good anyways. I also have some Rhodactis that are much prettier and not invasive.

LosReef · Oct 7, 2020

Also consider how turbulent that side is. If there is too much current, most will release from the rock and end up somewhere else. In my experience anyway.

Chessmanmark · Oct 7, 2020

Get yourself a chisel.

LesPoissons · Oct 7, 2020

It probably depends on your tank. I have the common purple discomas for about 3 years and they haven’t taken over anything although they have reproduced and gotten larger- they are still in one small area. If you have a lot of flow and high light levels to support acros etc- in my experience they stay down in the lower nooks and crannies. I have ricordia too but those haven’t reproduced as much or gotten as big.

Eleni18 · Oct 8, 2020

JayLu said:
I have been overrun with the common/inexpensive red mushrooms for about a year now. They are very difficult to kill. Even Franks F Aiptasia doesn’t kill them. Plus, they don’t really look good anyways. I also have some Rhodactis that are much prettier and not invasive.

Thank you. This is exactly the answer I was hoping for

Eleni18 · Oct 8, 2020

LesPoissons said:
It probably depends on your tank. I have the common purple discomas for about 3 years and they haven’t taken over anything although they have reproduced and gotten larger- they are still in one small area. If you have a lot of flow and high light levels to support acros etc- in my experience they stay down in the lower nooks and crannies. I have ricordia too but those haven’t reproduced as much or gotten as big.

Thanks, my red ones too so far. Problem is, they reproduce as you say, in low area nooks on the bottom, which are very hard or even impossible to reach so I can kill them

MabuyaQ · Oct 8, 2020

Discosoma sp. will take over your tank if you don't control them. Rhodactis sp. and Ricordea sp. grow slower and sting less so are unlikely to take over your tank.

Greg Gdowski · Oct 8, 2020

Frilly greens.... ugh what a pia. You can't really cut them off easily. They have to be almost chiseled off. My rocks are not easily removed. I just end up killing them when they are in the wrong place.