Mushroom Splitting - Leave it Alone or Separate It

[Joe.D]

Here’s a series of pics starting on Aug 25 and the last one from this morning. Had an issue with water change on Sept 5 where I forgot to diable ATO and my salinity dropped to 1.020, then I think I tried to raise it back up too quickly (rookie mistake - my tank had only been up since late May) and I also lost a Duncan from this situation.


Water parameters have stabilized and am now dosing All For Reef 15ml per day (93 gallons total system, 73 gallon display).

My Zoas all are doing pretty well along with a couple of other corals. Fish seem fine too.

My question is, should I leave the mushroom alone? Separate and move the new individuals? I thought initially it was splitting into 2, now it looks like maybe 3?

Looking forward to hearing what you more experienced reefers have to say!

Thanks!

 

[Bucs20fan]

I feel like your asking a question that your personal preference will have to decide. Do you have anything against leaving them where they are? if you arent going to try to frag them to sell or trade, just let them do their thing. Regardless of what caused it, its happening, and you dont need to mess with them. Just let them split and hopefully all recover well.

 

[Joe.D]

Appreciate the quick response! I don’t really have a preference - it’s one of these cases where I don’t know what I don’t know. If letting it do its thing won’t cause any harm, I’m all for it! Just didn’t know if it would be beneficial for each to have more space.

 

[bnord]

I would let it do its thing and recall why mushrooms need to be placed strategically from the get go

 

[AFHokie]

I would leave it alone and let nature do its thing. Even if you want to do something else with it later you can still do that after it splits.

 

[Joe.D]

What are best practices for placement? I have it on the side of the tank where my power head is - in lower third. My thinking was flow in that location would be a bit lower. Power head is about 1.5” below surface.

 

[AFHokie]

What are best practices for placement? I have it on the side of the tank where my power head is - in lower third. My thinking was flow in that location would be a bit lower. Power head is about 1.5” below surface.

In my experience shroom placement is only somewhat controllable. They split quick and will let go to float wherever they want. If you have them in lower flow areas there is less of a chance that they will let go and blow where you don't want them. Also keep in mind that they will often multiply faster than you want. It's great at first but for some people they become an invasive annoyance.

 

[Bucs20fan]

In my experience shroom placement is only somewhat controllable. They split quick and will let go to float wherever they want. If you have them in lower flow areas there is less of a chance that they will let go and blow where you don't want them. Also keep in mind that they will often multiply faster than you want. It's great at first but for some people they become an invasive annoyance.

+1 to this, expecially regarding ricordia and yuma, they are probably the closest related coral to anemones. They share a striking similarity from mouth, to foot, to splitting or sexual reproduction. This includes stinging polyps. Ricordia arent usually considered an aggressive coral, because they arent, but they will sting a coral if it touches them.

 

[Joe.D]

Thanks for your help everyone!