Melting Mushrooms

[northstaraquatics]

Hey all,
I have a small problem. My mushrooms are dying faster than I can find a solution. About 3-4 days ago I added Seachem Phosguard, which I have removed now. A few days before that I added a couple of acro frags of which one didn't make it. No other real changes have been made. I did a test about the same time as the Phosguard was added for Ca and Ka. Ca was 320 and Ka was 7.4. Both are pretty low but never caused problems. I added 5 gallons of day old reef crystals today and added Seachem marine buffer. I also moved what was left of the dead mushroom rock and blew off some of the dead tissue. Could it be bacterial or aluminum from the Phosguard? I forgot to mention the Saddleback clown has developed popeye also during this time....

Jon

 

[Anthony Calfo]

I think its much more likely that a cnidarian (specific or not) pathogen from the necrotic acro tissue spread to the coralimorphs. They are similarly and commonly afflicted by such ailments/bacteria in shipping alike Acropora

 

[northstaraquatics]

An ideas on how to stop this from destroying all corals and remaining mushrooms? I feel a bit lost and too far behind the problem to stop it.

Look Martha, The horse just left the barn! I guess I better go close the gate.

Jon

 

[Anthony Calfo]

the good news is that such pathogens are usually fairly specific... they will quickly kill every living X, Y and Z but leave all others in the tank unphased.

Your best bet is to pull all afflicted or sick looking specimens to your QT tank and do daily water changes. Adding ozone would be a huge help. If not, you can depress the salinity and add small amounts (mfg normal dose) of iodine daily and consider freshwater dips (1-3 minutes... or 30 seconds under cold tap water believe it or not... rather effective for many)

Be sure to put all new animals through a strict 4 week minimum QT first or pull any display animal out quickly at the first signs to prvent this in the future.

 

[redrooster]

I had a disease like that once from my first attempt at fragging. I tried to frag a colt coral, and some of the small frags didn't make it. I think I left them in my tank too long as I wasn't sure how long it should take them to recover. I should have realized sooner that they were dead. Anyways I'm pretty sure it lead to a 'tree' coral specific disease. All the colts died, including other healthy specimans as well as my kenya trees and nepthia. All of the other 25 species or so in the tank were totally unharmed. It scared the hell out of me as I was fearing everything would die. But alas the plague skipped over anything that wasn't soft and branching. I lost the battle, but the tank quickly filled those voids with new growth so all is well. Hopefully your situation will be similiar and the damage will be contained.

 

[sc18702]

Similar problem, only my hairy mushrooms seem to be having problems. Almost in a single day they became covered with a white coating and seem to be detiorating. Nothing has changeed with my water parameters although my nitrates have always been a little on the high side.

I moved them on day 2 (yesterday) but not certain yet if any impact.

How do you run carbon in case it is the result of toxins from other corals ? Do you have a mechanical filter with a carbon media or just toss it in a media bag in the sump ?

 

[Jan]

I wonder if this is why my paly colony is deteriorating...it started happening after adding an LTA that was not in perfect health. This LTA came from a LFS where another anemone had died. The LTA didn't look good and the proprietor said he had "the flu" from being exposed to the dead anemone. I shouldn't have taken this LTA home, I know. But I did and I now wonder if this is the cause of my paly colony's problems (about half of the 40 polyps are closed and covered with mucous). It's difficult to figure out causation when so many factors come into play....

 

[Anthony Calfo]

passive use of carbon is good for removing color from the water and not much more than that. You need flow through my friend. A cheap powerfilter or small canister filter will do the job nicely.

 

[sc18702]

and you agree it is helpfult to reduce toxins when housing a variety of corals ?

 

[Anthony Calfo]

its not just helpful... it is necessary for long term success. Else you will suffer "mystery" coral deaths that are not so mysterious in time. Ozone with carbon use is even better for this.

 

[Jan]

are there combo filter devices for both ozone and carbon media? Any specific suggestions? (I've just been floating my carbon in my sump, near the input flow...)

 

[northstaraquatics]

I have the perverse counter thought that I just leave it alone and the tank will recover. I really didn't have a choice since the mushrooms had covered the walls of the tank. I let it run it's course and believe the survivors are now stronger for it. My other concept was to not disrupt tissue into the water column worse than it was. I lost nearly 100 red mushrooms and a couple dozen hairy mushrooms. The numbers are starting to increase again. I don't recommend this tactic. I also believe that the disease is always present in the system and is waiting to return when "something" is out of balance.

After rereading my posts and changes I've "Not" made, all I can say is that I'm a Lazy Reefer asking for the same problems again.

Jon

 

[sc18702]

Interestingly, the hairy mushrooms have turned white and become tulip shaped, they don"t look good but are not deteriorating all that quickly. If I run my finger over them they still have some density and a good hold on the rock. I am hesitant to just get rid of them and don't have a qt tank. Please, no lectures on QT tanks, I get it but am not going down that road. Just strange how water conditions unchanged, many healthy inhabitants, but a few that seem stressed.

I'm also curiouos how so many people talk about xenia as if they can"t sto pit from growing. Some days mine seems healthy and others the stalks appear less stretched, darker in color and wrinkled. Typically, I picture healthy xenia as very stretched, pulsating, and the stalk almost translucent in color from being so stretched. I believe I will never have the answer but someone will always recommend another device or additive yet others have great success without some of these add ons. Uuuggghhhh